In photos: Bring Our Children to Work Day
The University of Toronto Mississauga hosted a group of special young guests this month – the children and wards of UTM faculty, staff and librarians.
The visit was part of Bring Our Children to Work Day, a U of T program based on one that began more than 30 years ago in the United States.
More than just a career day, the program aims to help children, especially those in Grades 5-8, as they explore future opportunities for work, in their community and at home.
The day began with a welcome from Nader Boutros, director of human resources at UTM.
Alysha Ferguson, assistant director for campus and community engagement, spoke of some of the things that make UTM special.
The campus is situated on 225 acres of protected greenbelt along the Credit River. It's home to more than 3,400 faculty, staff and librarians as well as approximately 16,100 students.
Oti Igbinosun, senior HR advisor of projects and analytics, detailed plans for the day.
The young guests spent the morning participating in a variety of activities designed to introduce them to the wide range of work done across the campus.
They toured a lab hosted by the department of chemical and physical sciences, where they participated in hands-on – and sometimes even full-body! – science demonstrations.
The young scientists took turns, two at a time, throwing a basketball while sitting on a rotating wood platform to demonstrate the Coriolis effect, which is tied to the Earth’s rotation and is responsible for many large-scale weather patterns.
Various lab demonstrations lit up the room and temporarily wafted clouds above their heads as UTM researchers helped bring scientific concepts to life.
The group of children visited the Recreation, Athletics and Wellness Centre, where they did stretches and took in a Zumba class with RAWC fitness instructors.
The RAWC offers group fitness classes as part of a range of programming for staff, faculty, librarians and students, as well as the wider community.
The young guests visited the UTM Library, where Chris Young, head of collections and digital scholarship, showed highlights of the library’s collection.
The library has millions of print and online resources in its catalogue for academic and recreational use. A recent addition to the library is the Syd Bolton Collection, one of the largest collections of video games and gaming accessories in the world.
The guests played NBA Jam and other classic games on a vintage Super Nintendo Entertainment System console.
Following lunch, the children capped off their Bring Our Children to Work Day by job-shadowing their parents and guardians in their respective workplaces on campus. The afternoon gave them a chance to further explore the work environment and the Mississauga campus with their guardians.