The psychology student studying in the Faculty of Arts joined St John’s college as part of the college student membership, where she hoped to find people to connect with, scholarship opportunities, and a place to study on campus.

In her roles throughout campus, including university one student council, let’s talk science, and art student body council, to name a few, Kezia is proud of her involvement around SJC and UM.

“I’ve enjoyed the opportunities St John’s has offered me. Meeting other students, staff, and alumni at various events has helped me connect on campus.”

The former SJC scholarship recipient acknowledges her gratitude for the financial support she received during her undergraduate studies as a college member.

“The scholarship opportunities with the student membership are helpful. They supported my studies throughout the years.”

Stepping into a new chapter following her undergraduate studies, Kezia looks forward to continuing her studies in the fall.

To learn more about the St John’s college student membership, visit our website. To sign up for college student membership, visit the steps on our membership page.

“We are proud that MSSS has reached this important milestone. For 45 years MSSS has stimulated student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields,” said Alastair Komus, a member of the MSSS board of directors. “This event continues to provide students with a valuable opportunity to share their experiences in scientific research and experimentation. Many of our alumni have used this experience to become leaders in their chosen fields.”

On Friday, students will participate in interactive science activities and mentorship opportunities.

The Friday activities are being expanded this year to include tours of the University of Manitoba science and engineering labs for grade 10-12 students, while younger students will have the opportunity to participate in hands on science activities led by UofM Let’s Talk Science students. On Saturday, the students will present their projects to judges from industry and academia.

Eight students will be chosen to participate at the Canada-Wide Science Festival (CWSF) being held in Montreal, from May 15th to 20th. In addition to the trips, more than $25,000 of awards will be presented to the Grade 4 to 12 students.

The winners will be announced on Sunday, April 24 during the Grand Awards Ceremony at 2:00 p.m. in the Investors Group Athletic Centre.

Projects will be available for public viewing on Sunday, April 24 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

More information on the program, including its schedule, is available online.

For general information, email: info@msss.mb.ca

Science Rendezvous is a science outreach pioneer in Canada, offering direct engagement with 6,000 of Canada’s top researchers and scientists at 300 simultaneous events and thousands of hands-on experiments for the public to try themselves. The annual festival takes science out of the lab and onto the street, working with Canada’s top research institutes to present a coast-to-coast open house and festival that is free for everyone.

Science Rendezvous is Canada’s largest celebration of the amazing feats of science and engineering happening right here at home. It’s a public platform to promote science awareness and increase science literacy in Canada, engaging and transforming the general public from passive supporters of science and engineering to active, passionate champions with an understanding of the important role science plays in our rapidly changing world.

Participating faculties and groups at the University of Manitoba include:

Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources
Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Science
Let’s Talk Science
WISE Kid-Netic Energy

When: May 9, 2015, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: University of Manitoba, Fort Garry Campus, Engineering and Information Technology Complex

As they report:

I Love Science Week will see over 23 in-classroom activities, and two mall outreaches.

The first mall outreach will be held at Kildonan Place Mall on March 28 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, and the second mall outreach will be at St. Vital Centre on March 30 from 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

“I thought of the idea when I was thinking about ‘I Love to Read Month,’” said Richard Jung, coordinator for the U of M’s Let’s Talk Science branch.

Chrissy Troy of 103.1 Virgin radio will be present at one of the events during the week.

The idea of I Love Science Week was brought up during the Let’s Talk Science Western Regional Conference, which was held in February and hosted by the University of Manitoba. Representatives from Simon Fraser University, as well as the universities of Victoria, British Columbia, Calgary, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg were all present. This conference brings together Let’s Talk Science coordinators from Western Canada to discuss future activities, brainstorm, and troubleshoot any problems the branches are facing.

This will be the first year that Let’s Talk Science hosts I Love Science Week. Jung hopes that next year the event will expand nationally and that the event brings the same kind of attention to science as other awareness campaigns bring to their various causes.

“No money is being collected; we just want to get people’s attention and raise science awareness,” said Jung.

To read the full article in the Manitoban by Chantelle Dubois please click here.

ITS REACH: Let’s Talk Science has been established at 40 universities throughout Canada. The U of M began its partnership more than a decade ago and has grown to over 200 volunteers and reached more than 13,000 students in Manitoba in 2013-14.

THE GOAL: To improve science literacy through leadership, innovative educational programs, special projects, research and advocacy.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: “I continue to be impressed by the young people organizing the day and dealing with the kids—they are very upbeat role models for these young people,” says parent Vona Vledhuis. Let’s Talk Science inspires leadership development in student volunteers like Moiz Kapasi. “In my time spent volunteering with LTS, I have had the opportunity to become a part of the close-knit team of dedicated LTS staff and volunteers,” says Kapasi. “I have greatly enjoyed working with and learning from those involved with LTS … It has been extremely gratifying to work with many different ages of children and, as a consequence, has solidified my passion for education and improved my presentation skills. I have become more confident because of the knowledge I have gained with my involvement with LTS.”

FUNDERS: The national Let’s Talk Science site (based in London, Ont.), the Faculty of Science at the University of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Jets True North Foundation, and the University of Manitoba Students’ Union

LEARN MORE

• Let’s Talk Science

“It was surprising,” says Celina Wang, a fourth year genetics student who works as an LTS volunteer coordinator. “We sent out emails [promoting the event] to the educators and many responded. We can see the program growing, mostly through word-of-mouth,” she says. Numbers for the second annual “Spooky Science” doubled from last year; the event was held in the Engineering Building on October 26.

“The positive experience results in more positive feedback and more word-of mouth — and so many more people that LTS reaches out to.”

Word-of-mouth brings the program volunteers as well. Last year, Richard Jung heard from friends about the U of M chapter of the not-for-profit organization. Run by university student volunteers, Let’s Talk Science creates and delivers unique, hands-on learning programs for K-12 children and youth through workshops that the volunteers deliver on-site.

He wanted to get involved.

“I always liked science, but I never thought that I would like teaching it,” he says. “That’s partly why I continued [volunteering]. Then I got involved with the All-Science Challenge [an LTS event], which was fabulous. This year, I applied for an LTS coordinator position.”

In fact, the honours biochemistry student enjoyed the teaching aspects of the volunteer position so much that he wants to teach as a career, possibly as a science prof, he says.

Highlights of the program for the volunteer coordinators

For Celina Wang, who also started as a volunteer, it’s been surprising being on the other side of the program — working as a coordinator of other volunteers, which includes liaising with educators and the national organization.

“It was a lot of fun volunteering and getting to promote science outreach to the kids but then it’s another side to be a coordinator and help these volunteers, seeing how passionate they are and dedicated to the program.”

Of the three LTS coordinators (along with three more assistant coordinators), Victoria Truong is the veteran. After being introduced to the program by friends during her student orientation, she started volunteering.

Similar to Jung’s experience, the program allowed her to develop leadership qualities she didn’t know she had. So much so that she applied for one of the coordinator positions — and in 2013, even switched from dentistry to Asper’s commerce stream because she enjoyed the management side of things. She’s now a third year honours commerce student.

A highlight for her was this year’s new “Crazy Cryptography,” a computer science workshop — the first computer science activity for the national LTS organization — developed by volunteers at the U of M. The workshop is one of 24 different LTS workshops, from “Magnet Madness” to “CSI Mystery” to “Sew an E-coli” to “Strawberry DNA Extraction.” Each workshop lasts about an hour.

“Crazy Cryptography teaches the basic tenets of computer science,” explains Truong. “Taking something like a video game and breaking it down into small tasks that are feasible for each individual to do; showing kids that [computer programming is] more of a teamwork challenge. It also shows kids how to code — like a secret message. It gets kids to understand that you need to have [the programming side] of the message to get the other half of the message.”

It’s important, she says, because basic computer programming skills are not emphasized in schools, even though computers are ubiquitous.

What Richard Jung likes best about his LTS experience is that the “students figure stuff out that I would never imagine.”

 

Jung has also designed a new workshop, a bio-tech kit aimed at Grade 12 students. It teaches participants about gel electrophoresis — separating DNA into its constituent molecules and fragments by running it through an electrical field, an application used in various sciences.

What he likes best about his experience with LTS, he says, is that the “students figure out stuff that I would never imagine.” Every time he teaches one of the workshops, he says, “something unique happens.”

At this year’s All-Science Challenge, there was a workshop in which participants had to build their own robot arm. “None of us could figure it out,” he laughs. “But every group, in about a half hour, built a functional arm!”

“Kids’ imaginations are still really growing — you could see it first-hand at the design challenge. ”

That level of creativity is inspiring.

Victoria Truong: “Our program is really fresh … as students, we make the most of what we have.”

 

And Jung’s redesign of the workshop is just one example of the dedication and passion shown by the volunteers, says Truong. Volunteers are also responsible to get themselves to the school sites where they deliver the workshops, up to 2 hours away.

Truong says that it’s gratifying to see “the transformation of volunteers” over the school year.

To illustrate her point, she mentions last year’s Volunteer of the Year, a first year university student “who is naturally very soft spoken” — but by the end of her volunteer experience, she was comfortable with public speaking and teaching classrooms of students.

“The program itself pushes you to challenge yourself, and to put yourself into situations you wouldn’t normally put yourself into,” Truong sums up.

And, she adds, “Our program is really fresh. We see an opportunity and jump on it. And sometimes funds are in play, but as students, we make the most of what we have.”