A UWindsor student has sparked a partnership between the Windsor Cancer Research Group and the local Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) to develop a summer camp to help elementary and middle school students understand cancer research.

Rebecca Nakhoul, a fourth-year biology student, pitched the idea to Windsor Cancer Research Group assistant director Karen Metcalfe. With the group’s approval, Nakhoul developed a morning pilot program and debuted it on August 14 with 45 children taking part.

Nakhoul has served with the YMCA as a group leader in its after-school Kids Club program.

“I had a lot of interaction with these kids, and saw how much they loved science, and how much they loved research,” she says. “I was a mega nerd in front of them, but they would always tell me how much they thought my doing research was cool.”

A number of activities were planned for the morning pilot, including cancer dodgeball, a pipette challenge, and a version of the “Family Feud” game show involving cancer facts.

“The kids loved the buzzers,” Nakhoul says.

The ultimate goal is to expand the program to a week-long YMCA summer camp. Nakhoul is planning on enrolling in a service learning course to further develop the program she already started.

“I made a mini-manual with how each of the activities work,” she says. “But I want to take that and expand on it so that it can work with a bigger group of kids and for a longer period of time.”

She will co-ordinate the undertaking with Metcalfe, who will supervise the program’s development.

“There were many activities that we were unable to include because we were crunched for time,” says Metcalfe. “If we are to expand to a full week, we can also better balance outdoor activities with some indoor lab skills and showcase the collaborative nature of research.”

She calls engaging children a natural way to reach out to the community.

“We get to share with them not only what researchers at the University of Windsor are doing, but also the student experience at the university as well,” Metcalfe says. “That we are not just a place where students go to school, but that there are benefits to the community in having our university students going out there and sharing their research experiences.”

—Darko Milenkovic

Registration is now open for a student competition to tackle accessibility barriers in the local community.

In groups or alone, undergraduate or graduate, full-time or part-time, the Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA) competition is open to all students willing to submit and present an idea for a chance to earn cash prizes:

• 1st place - $500
• 2nd place - $250
• 3rd place - $150
• 4th place - $100

The competition closes January 31. More details are available at www.uwindsor.ca/ohrea/idea-competition.

A day of activities at the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Engineering is designed to encourage girls to explore the field of engineering Saturday, October 20.

Sponsored by the Ontario Network of Women in Engineering, Go Eng Girl is an opportunity for girls in grades 7 to 10 across Ontario to visit their local university campuses and learn from female professionals, academics and students about the world of engineering.

The free event features hands-on activities, guest speakers, and opportunities to interact with Windsor Engineering faculty and students at the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Space is limited. To register, visit events.onwie.ca. For more information, phone 519-253-3000, ext. 2560, or email winone@uwindsor.ca.

A celebration of the fifth anniversary of the National Self-Represented Litigants Project will include all those interested in joining the discussion online.

The organization, which works to advance understanding of the challenges facing Canadians who come to court without counsel, grew out of a research study by Windsor Law professor Julie Macfarlane.

The law school will host a “Continuing the Dialogue” event on October 12 and 13, recreating the format of the project’s 2013 founding — a conference of 45 justice system professionals and 15 self-representing litigants.

The event is small by design, to foster intimate conversation and concrete outputs, but organizers encourage all supporters, faculty, and students to join in the discussion online by tuning into Facebook Live interviews throughout the event, retweeting event quotes, by providing feedback to the questions being asking in the small working groups, and by sharing thoughts with the event hashtag, #SRLdialogue.

Find more information about the dialogue event on the website, representingyourselfcanada.com.