Toronto high school students got a glimpse into university life by taking part in hands-on sessions on curation and print making offered by St. Mike’s Continuing Education.
On March 27 and 28, arts and culture students from the Toronto Catholic District School Board’s (TCDSB) Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program visited the campus to learn from experts in their field, access to one-of-a-kind resources, and gain practical experience in a university setting.
“This offering was a part of bridge building efforts between St. Michael’s and the TCDSB. We want our students to continue to connect with their faith after they graduate, and St. Mike’s has built a strong Catholic community. We were looking at ways to encourage a pathway to St. Mike’s and one of those ways was increasing students’ knowledge of what’s available here. Once we discovered all that St. Mike’s has to offer, especially for the arts and culture piece, we couldn’t wait for our students to come check it out for themselves,” said Lendyl D’Souza, SHSM resource teacher at TDCSB.
Students enrolled in the SHSM program graduate high school with specialized skills, knowledge, and certifications relevant to their chosen industry. By participating in these workshops, students received a certification that goes toward their high school graduation requirements.
“This collaboration represents the university’s commitment to cultivate a healthy, welcoming community, supportive of its members and community partners such as the Toronto Catholic District School Board,” said Michael Salvatori, Director of Continuing Education.
On March 27, students attended the curatorial techniques workshop hosted by Francesca Rousselle, Processing Archivist at the Kelly Library. She guided students through the process of creating their own exhibit using archival material from two collections that can be found in the John M. Kelly Library’s Special Collections: Archives and Rare Books.
“St. Mike’s is an interesting choice for exhibition work because we’re both a research and educational institution. We have the knowledge of the materials and exhibition techniques, and we can draw from our rich collections,” said Rousselle.
“It’s interesting to come see what things are like at a university and get different perspectives, like careers paths that you can get into by going to university. I didn’t know that something like this [curation] was a career option,” said Grade 11 student Dayary Candelo.
“I learned a lot about exhibiting and the work that goes into putting together a presentation like how to gather the right information and not taking it out of context, picking a topic and expanding on one topic rather than going into a bunch of different topics,” said Grade 11 student Jasmine Clark.
On March 28, students had the opportunity to try their hand at print making using the iron hand and cylinder proof presses found in the Print Studio under the direction of Book and Media Studies Professor Kit MacNeil.
“Thanks to all the various technologies that we have in the Print Studio, we’re able to show students historic forms of letterpress printing and examine the history of printing. St. Michael’s College has made the space and prioritized this as part of a branch of study in the Book and Media Studies program,” said MacNeil.
“I liked learning from people at the university. It’s different from being in a high school classroom, because these people work with university students everyday. They know first-hand that the information they’re giving us is what we would need if we were at university,” said Grade 11 student Chrysanthi Andreopoulos.
Following the workshops, students were treated to a lunch in the Canada Room dining hall and St. Michael’s President David Sylvester presented them with their certificates. Their visit to St. Michael’s was capped off with a campus tour.
