Indigenous Programs

Western Engineering Outreach partners with Western Indigenous Services on several outreach initiatives. These include programs for both elementary and high school students.

Elementary School Outreach

Our team provides STEM workshops to Indigenous students in-community and on-campus at Western. 
Learn more.

High School Outreach

Western Engineering Outreach partners with Western Indigenous Services on Mini-University programming during the summer. Additionally, Western Engineering Outreach offers a variety of high school leadership and mentorship programs throughout the school year. Learn more.

2023 Summer Camp

Aamjiwnaang Summer Camp Sponsored by NOVA Chemicals, July and August 2023

This past summer, the Western Engineering Outreach team were visitors to the Aamjiwnaang First Nation Community Centre (Maawn Doosh Gumig). With sponsorship from NOVA Chemicals, we facilitated two weeks of summer camp for youth in the community. During this time, over thirty children aged five to eleven participated in STEM-themed engineering camp. The camp also involved two high school-aged Junior Instructors from the community who supported the execution of camp.

 

The Western Engineering Outreach Instructors and Junior Instructors led the campers in over twenty-five activities! Activity highlights include:

  • Berry Inky: Campers used blueberries, blackberries, red onions, and yellow onions to create dyes and painted with them.
  • Handmade Birdfeeder: Campers used birdseed and binding ingredients to mold hangable bird feeders into different shapes.
  • Dash and Cue Robots: Campers programed robots using block coding. Their robots made music and completed challenges around the gymnasium.
  • Sun Shelter: Campers used household materials like construction paper, cardboard, and popsicle sticks to build a shelter that didn’t allow sunlight in. Campers tested their structures outside by placing UV beads inside the structure and seeing if the translucent bead changed colour (determining whether or not the shelter let in sunlight).
  • Leaf Relief: Campers collected leaves and used an artistic process to create a relief that transferred the real outline and veins of their leaves onto paintings.
  • Super Structures: Campers worked together to create a truss bridge that was 1.5 meters long! It was strong enough for some children to crawl through it.

 

Additional activity highlights made use of the ­­­excellent facilities at the Aamjiwnaang First Nation Community Centre, including:

  • Visiting the greenhouse: Campers went on a tour of the greenhouse by one of its caretakers and got their hands dirty planting flower seeds.
  • Testing cars at the skatepark: Campers used wooden wheels, cardboard, and skewers to make miniature cars. They tested the cars on the inclines of the nearby skatepark.
  • STEAM activities under the pavilion: Campers combined science and art by combining water, salt, and marker ink to make crystals. They did this activity under the shade of the outdoor pavilion so that their creations could dry outdoors.
  • Games at the splash pad: Campers got creative making up games to play at the splash pad.
  • Field day: Campers rotated around activity stations on field day. Each station had different equipment to try out such as lacrosse sticks, badminton rackets, scoop ball, and skipping ropes.

 

Western Engineering Outreach is already preparing for next year’s summer camp at Aamjiwnaang First Nation. We extend a sincere thank you to the staff in the community that welcomed us and facilitated Camp with us. We look forward to working with you again soon!