THUNDER BAY – High school students from all across Northwestern Ontario took part in a challenge in the city to learn what really ‘rocks’ about mining.
The MineOpportunity Challenge brought in 100 students and teachers from French and English schools to get a hands-on chance to explore careers in the mining and automotive industries.
Nicole Tardif, program coordinator for the Goodman School of Mines at Laurentian University, said the challenge is a game the university has played with Sudbury high school students for the past 15 years.
“The reason it was developed and offered is to help students learn about the mining, and the automotive industries in this case, to have them explore through experiential learning what the companies in our communities are doing to service those industries as well as what the college and other participants are doing to offer programming that leads to those careers,” she said.
While taking the program on the road, Tardif has worked with multiple post-secondary institutions, including Confederation College. She said the collaboration's success opens the door for the possibility of working together again.
“There’s a lot of great conversations that have been happening for new collaborations, partnerships, and sharing some of the technologies and the niche expertise that we have at each institution and try not to reinvent the wheel to promote careers for student,” she said.
“But also, try to share each other’s micro-credentials and courses so that we can work better as a community and not be so siloed as post-secondary institutions."
