City Idea Lab Mentorship Program

In the fall 2018 term students in Dr. Scott Aquanno’s POSC 3000 City Idea Lab course worked with City of Oshawa policy experts to co-design a solution to the following challenge question: How might the City of Oshawa better engage youth in priority neighbourhoods? One of the proposals involved the creation of a student mentorship program aimed at supporting the academic journey of high school students in at-risk communities.  This proposal was presented to the City’s leadership team at the Idea Showcase in December and gained immediate traction.  Working with City Idea Lab, the FSSH Practicum Office then created a winter term placement to implement the proposal.  This saw a fourth-year Criminology student developing a policy solution composed by a group of third-year Political Science students.

In April 2019, the City of Oshawa, in conjunction with City Idea Lab, Ontario Tech University, Durham College and G.L. Roberts Secondary School launched the mentorship program, implementing the classroom policy work of FSSH students.  As constituted, the program involved three peer-to-peer engagement sessions, including two-panel discussions and a campus tour of both Durham College and Ontario Tech University.  During the tour, high school students learned about the financial aid process and visited different university and college classrooms.  Through the City Idea Lab Student Leadership Program, two FSSH students participated in the program as student mentors, working alongside City officials and key community stakeholders to provide a valuable new service to the Oshawa community.