On April 11, Carleton University students, staff and faculty joined Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and City employees at City Hall for the annual CityStudio HUBBUB event to celebrate a showcase of select student projects that were part of the CityStudio Ottawa initiative this year. Carleton announced its partnership with CityStudio Ottawa, a collaboration between the City of Ottawa, Algonquin College and the University of Ottawa, last fall. The partnership brings together students, faculty and City employees to explore municipal challenges from different perspectives.
“CityStudio Ottawa creates an environment where Carleton can work more intentionally, more systematically with the City of Ottawa and our colleagues at Algonquin College and the University of Ottawa,” reflected Chantal Trudel, Director of Carleton’s Centre for Community Engagement. “This first collaborative experience has been exciting and highly enriching for Carleton students, faculty members and all champions of community engagement who support such important civic initiatives.”
The projects featured at the HUBBUB showcase were selected by a committee comprised of faculty from each academic institution and City staff, and were evaluated on the project’s innovation, impact, scalability and problem-solving.
Following the students’ presentations, one team from each academic institution was recognized. Carleton students Chloe Sykes, Will Bordeleau, Jemma Woschitz and Natalie Kislev won for their project “SATURN Method,” which was supervised by Professor Alexandra Arraiz Matute (Interdisciplinary Studies). The project aims to improve access to health resources and programs by enhancing the advocacy skills of youth in medical settings, shedding light on the lack of education children and youth receive about their rights in healthcare, often resulting in a lack of autonomy in medical settings.
“Far too often, children and youth’s care falls through the cracks in the medical system, even in pediatric settings,” said Sykes. “It is my hope that I can be part of a future that prioritizes the healthcare needs of young people.”
Prof. Arraiz Matute believes strongly in the power of community-engaged work.
“I always try to bring community engagement into my classroom and this was a great way to do it in a manner that was supported by the university,” she said. “It is so useful for students to be able to apply the conversations we have in class to the community they live in, into the real world. This learning is truly invaluable.”
Three additional teams from Carleton presented their projects.
This academic year, 950 students from access all three academic institutions participated in CityStudio Ottawa projects. Sixty-two project proposals were matched with 43 City employees who led the projects aligned with courses or academic disciplines.
Members of the public can learn more about the innovative work of CityStudio Ottawa and participating institutions by visiting the exhibit at City Hall in front of Jean Pigott Place until April 26.
Reprinted and adapted with permission from the City of Ottawa.