York/Seneca Summer Science and Technology Program (YSSSTP)
The York-Seneca Summer Science & Technology Program (YSSSTP) began in 1992 as a York University and Westview Centennial Secondary School partnership, which sought to encourage Grade 11 students of the highly multicultural community surrounding the Keele campus of York University to actively engage in the world of science and technology. Now hosted by the York/Seneca Institute for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (YSIMSTE), this project-turned-program creates opportunities for Grade 11 students of four neighbouring high schools to develop their own career aspirations and post-secondary educational goals through participation in work placement sessions and classroom sessions. These two major components of the program are described in the following paragraphs, and reflect the experiences of our 2010 YSSSTP students.
Students begin their work placement sessions during the second week of the program, from Monday to Thursday for five weeks. Throughout their work placements, students engage in hands-on tasks and projects under the supervision of science professors and researchers, graduate students, technology professionals and laboratory technicians situated at York University’s Keele campus, the Seneca@York campus of Seneca College and related sites. These academics and professionals are known as mentors or supervisors. In addition to gaining practical work experience within scientific and technological disciplines, our Grade 11 students are paid a stipend for their work placement duties.
Work placement sessions are complemented by classroom sessions, which take place during the first week of the program and on each subsequent Friday until its completion. The instructor for the classroom sessions is typically the coordinator of the program and a York University Faculty of Education graduate student. During the classroom sessions, students are exposed to a diverse range of educational workshops and presentations, facilitated by experts who can inform them about important post-secondary academic and financial strategies, career planning tips, and science and technology safety practices. Also central to the classroom sessions are opportunities for students to develop positive self-awareness through personal growth assignments, and to participate in team-building activities and games.
A special component of the classroom sessions is the collaborative cumulative projects known as the Legacy Projects. For each Legacy Project, students work together in teams to design a technology-based product that effectively describes the program to future students, mentors, sponsors and members of the greater community. For the past several years, including this year, there have been three types of projects: a website; a digital video yearbook; and an appreciation luncheon that incorporates the use of technology.
Collectively, the classroom and work placement experiences are meant to help students: 1) become more interested in a diverse range of careers within science and technology; 2) gain confidence in pursuing post-secondary studies in science and technology; 3) identify their strengths, interests and talents in relation to scientific and technological fields; 4) further develop professional career-preparedness skills; and 5) refine their collaborative, interpersonal, communication and organizational skills. Upon successful completion of both their classroom session assignments and work placement tasks and projects, students receive a Cooperative Education Credit that is recognized by the two school boards they represent: the Toronto District School Board and the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
To find out more about the program from the student perspective, please browse the 2010 YSSSTP website located in the upper right hand side of this page. This website, which was one of the 2010 Legacy Projects, contains students’ own personal descriptions of their experiences in its Student Profiles section. In addition, you may peruse past student-designed YSSSTP websites that date back to the 2007 instalment of the program.