Bees, Birds, and Butterflies need your help. Pollinator Partnership Canada works to support their habitat, creating a better world for pollinators, people, and the planet. Visit pollinatorpartnership.ca. Donate and make a difference today.
May • 2022
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Investments in STEM Education Will Pay Dividends for Generations The world we live in is rapidly changing, and there is a high demand for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills in multiple disciplines to drive the innovation needed to thrive. Kids are natural, curious learners, and the way they discover the world around them is inspiring. They have an innate desire to ask questions, explore everything, and test theory after theory. Engaging youth in STEM education from early years through high school nurtures these skills, inspires curiosity, and encourages all students to push boundaries and imagine the impossible. By encouraging kids to ask and answer questions, you foster the development of reasoning skills that are essential to understanding and discovering STEM-based concepts. They begin to think about their world by making connections and exploring new ideas, which is essential to developing curious, critical thinkers as they grow
older. Questions open the door to inquiry and wonder. They stimulate discussion, interest, and exploration that may otherwise go untapped. Due to its foundation of inquiry-based learning and problem solving, STEM education provides youth with the skills they need to grow into our future job and wealth creators who are prepared to tackle the most pressing issues facing our planet. From practical or technical skills like using a piece of machinery to digital literacy to advanced skills that enable us to take risks, invent new technologies, and create solutions for sustainable development, youth are faced with a future that will be increasingly dependent on STEM.
with the resources, strategies, and tools necessary to help prepare youth in Canada to participate and thrive in a digital economy. “Coding and digital skills are becoming the new ABCs, fundamental to jobs of the future,” said Bonnie Schmidt, President and Founder of Let’s Talk Science. “Children and youth across Canada need to be curious, ask questions and be capable of challenging the status quo in order to succeed.” Connecting youth’s passions and interests will spark curiosity and encourage collaboration while broadening their awareness and value of STEM education. Together, we are helping youth build the skills they need—because our future depends on it.
DIGITAL SKILLS ARE BECOMING THE NEW ABC’S Let’s Talk Science recognizes the importance of providing youth, parents/caregivers, and educators
To find out how Let’s Talk Science free programs and resources engage children and youth virtually and in the classroom, visit letstalkscience.ca
Education For All: Waterloo Students Offering Tutoring Services to Students in Ukraine ALLIE MURRAY
Noticing the lack of academic support for younger students adjusting to online schooling, a group of students in Waterloo joined forces to create HomeworkHub Tutoring—a
non-profit organization dedicated to providing free, accessible and quality education to all students. The group now extends across Canada, the U.S., China, India, and around the world. The organization pairs high school or university tutors
THE HOMEWORKHUB TEAM MAKING BACKPACK DONATIONS © COURTESY OF HOMEWORKHUB
with elementary students for one-on-one, virtual, eight-week tutoring sessions in all school subjects. Students can register for up to three subjects at a time to get the help they need. “HomeworkHub Tutoring started last year in February,” founder and president Paris Cai explained. “During the pandemic, a group of friends and I realized that there was a lack of academic support going around for younger students struggling to adjust to the online learning format and a lack of volunteering opportunities for older students to engage with their community, so we decided to tackle both issues at once and created HomeworkHub.” The team works to support students in need of academic support not only in Waterloo, but across Canada, the U.S., China, Kenya, India, and now, Ukraine. Amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of students have been displaced from their
homes, schools, and forced to put their education on hold. “HomeworkHub has a pretty sizeable Ukrainian community and we’ve utilized our own members as well as outside institutions such as various church and newcomer support groups to reach and facilitate tutoring for Ukrainian students currently caught up in war,” Cai said. Cai shared that offering these services has been a slow and steady process, but one that has gained a lot of momentum since they’ve begun offering their services to Ukrainian students. They have a quality assurance team hosting English Second Language (ESL) tutoring training sessions, and they have been extra diligent with tutor requirements when onboarding new volunteers. “Currently, we have many students residing in and around Ukraine, and it’s honestly really inspiring to see
them continue to pursue and better their education even when under such stressful circumstances,” Cai said. “Some of our students have to visit bomb shelters multiple times a week and it’s really amazing that they can still make time to study with our tutors. For now, we welcome all students affected by the war and we hope to start working with Ukrainian newcomers in Canada a little later on.” There are roughly 1,000 students using the tutoring services offered by HomeworkHub, and approximately 60 of them are students from Ukraine. To help make a difference, Cai shared that they are always looking for more tutors to join their team. As they expand their efforts to reach more students worldwide, they have students on their waiting list that they would love to help—and they need more tutors to support students in need. ADVERTORIAL
Conserve Land and You Conserve Life Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy’s (EBC’s) 25th Anniversary! EBC was formed in 1996 to protect lands on the Niagara Escarpment and in its watersheds. With our first project, we learned that land is not just acres. It is alive. Views, hiking, mammals, places for migratory birds and monarchs. People. EBC set out to Conserve Land and found we were Conserving Life.
stand out. Bob Barnett, EBC’s Director; an architect by training, a doer by habit. Bob meets landowners; they arrange conserved futures. Bob was part of EBCs start and is part of each EBC nature preserve. Our Chair, Saba Ahmad, a devoted environmental activist since her teens, is now a lawyer and mother of three. Saba led
the clean air drive to electrify Toronto’s airport trains. Then, she joined EBC’s Board and electrified our operations and outlook. Since joining us in 2013, Saba has worked on over 100 new nature preserves and funding to secure and steward others. Saba’s vision has helped EBC work for reconciliation with First Nations. EBC, time
aware, care and results-driven. day hikes for visitors in an oldJoin us. growth forest. RESULTS YOU CAN WALK ON; RESULTS YOU CAN BREATHE EBC’s Heaven’s Gate project in 2021 joined 2,400 acres linking Killarney to La Cloche Prov. Park. Protecting 12 rare species, a spectacular trail, and
EBC’S NATURE IS YOUR NATURE 200+ preserves; variety to explore for a lifetime and never see it all. 100 km of trails in every season. Spring frogs in chorus. Bird calls from shaded trees. Loons alone in fall. Silent groves of snow. Species so rare, we tell no one. EBC’s nature is your nature. Open, but some secrets. EBC’S PEOPLE Alive and diverse, each sharing a keen awareness they are in and of nature and that harm to the earth is ongoing. Two
Find us at www.escarpment.ca
SAVE LAND AND HELP MONARCH BUTTERFLIES, ALL IN ONE GO Scan the QR code and donate $25 for land. Your donation will help conserve 370 acres on Manitoulin Island, and you will get a packet of Milkweed seeds to make homes for monarch butterflies! People, nature, and conservation come together in EBC. Over 100 families donated land outright. It is their nature, and they want it to endure. Land conservation is for people now and to come. It is your nature and life for all people, all creatures. Help EBC grow. Visit EBC preserves. Be part of a growing land trust. Help EBC conserve 2,500 acres for our 25th Anniversary. For you. For generations. Conserve land. Conserve life.
LEFT: SABA AHMAD AND BOB BARNETT © SASHA SEFTER; RIGHT: HEAVEN’S GATE FROM THE SOUTH IN THE EARLY MORNING FOG. © COURTESY OF ESCARPMENT BIOSPHERE
Largest Ontario focused land trust 20,000 acres conserved: including 20 kms of Lake Huron shore, Habitat for 70 species at risk, Linking La Cloche & Killarney Parks, Rare orchids, Phenomenal birding, Monarch butterfly protection, 100 kms. of trails, Charitable number 88878 2570 RR 0001
