Post-secondary students gathered this week at a student symposium showcasing projects completed under this year’s City Scholar program. The program has helped bridge the gap between campus and community by creating strong partnerships.
City of Lethbridge Partner Services Manager Perry Stein says the City has been working with Lethbridge College and the University of Lethbridge over the past year to bring students closer to the work at the City. “It helps us connect students to what is going on in the community and builds community engagement amongst the students. Students represent about 15,000 or 15 per cent of our population.”
“It’s important we consider their perspectives in the work we do. It also helps the City to connect into new and emerging perspectives and ideas to improve the way we design and deliver programs and services,” adds Stein.
Over the last two terms, Stein notes, there have been over 20 different projects with a few dozen students from the college and the U of L. “The event is to showcase the projects students have done for us. Everything from projects focusing on AI to urban design to planning and heritage management. It covers a cross-section of the work the City does every day that benefits community residents.”
“They’re bringing a lot of interesting and diverse perspectives into our work. We’ve been thrilled with the work done so far this year,” says Stein.
Post-secondary student Sydney Whiting has been involved with City Scholars since last fall.
“It’s been an interesting way to try out new projects with the City. I’ve been on two separate ones, so I get to see different parts of the program. In the fall, I worked on a land-use bylaw project, where I looked at neighbourhood redevelopment and zoning requirements. I shifted into one focused on labour markets and development of Work Integrated Learning, so how to get students from the academic environment back into our community.”
Students, Whiting adds, often wonder where they will go next after post-secondary studies and how to take learned skills and apply them to future careers.
“Being able to move between those different spaces and bring it out of the silo of academia to see the relevance at the City of Lethbridge and with community projects has been valuable,” says Whiting.