Laurentian University’s Goodman School of Mines is taking part in a province-wide initiative to expose students of all ages to careers in the growing auto sector.
Since the coming electric vehicle revolution requires a supply chain that begins at the mineral extraction stage, the school of mines wants to raise awareness of the emerging trends in innovation and technology in the automobile and mobility sector, as well as show the importance of critical minerals.
Naturally, from Sudbury’s perspective, that supply chain begins with mining.
The Goodman School of Mines received $448,550 from the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) and the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) to develop activities to groom the workforce of the future.
The school is running a series of projects, dubbed “Electrifying the Future” , that aims to build awareness of post-secondary programs involved in the supply chain, from mineral exploration all the way to the automotive and mobility sectors.
Events will be staged to appeal to students at the elementary, high school and post-secondary level.
Next week on June 7 and 8, students in grades 7-12 will compete in “MineOpportunity: the automotive and mobility edition” at Dynamic Earth. In a game setting, students work together to become the “wealthiest” team by successfully answering questions, completing challenges and activities about technology, engineering, geosciences, the environment, careers, corporate social responsibility and the automotive and mobility industry.
In July, there will be two weeks of free summer day camps from July 17-21 and July 31-Aug. 4th for students aged 10-14 years where STEM and non-STEM lessons and activities will be delivered at Laurentian University, Cambrian College and Collège Boréal. The camps include one-day field trip to key project partners in Epiroc, Technica Mining, and Laurentian Chrysler.
“We have such a unique position to support the automotive and mobility sector and are interested in showing off these great career opportunities for students to explore,” said Nicole Tardif, coordinator at the Goodman School of Mines, in a news release.
