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It’s a day circled on the calendar for many Grade 9 students across the country.
On the first Wednesday of every November, Take our Kids to Work Day allows students in Grade 9 to experience the world of work through their parents and guardians at their respective work environments.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event switched to a virtual setting in 2020 and is sticking with the online setting for the second straight year. COVID continues to change a lot of the ways students learn and adapt new concepts, and this day is no different.
Dr. Kiven Erique Lukong, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Saskatchewan, had a chance to share a virtual presentation to students across the country through The Learning Partnership program.
Lukong stressed this day has become more productive for all parties involved through the online version as opposed to the traditional style.
“It’s very important,” Lukong said. “The main advantage of this is that we’re able to reach many more kids that in certain communities couldn’t have the opportunities to be taken to work by their parents.”
In his presentation called Unsung Heroes of Science, Lukong says it’s important for those who come from diverse communities to know they can look up to someone who comes from a similar background in the work environment.
“These youthful minds are (going) to lead us into tomorrow,” Lukong said. “The kids need to see the role models that look like them and be encouraged to ignite their curiosity to go into the field of sciences or whatever they want to go into.
“We want to tell the students about the challenges we faced.”
The Learning Partnership was able to serve approximately 300,000 kids online in 2021, after serving just 140,000 in 2020.
Since the day is all about career exploration, the virtual setting allows students to see multiple avenues to go down one day. With so much to learn about each different career path, it makes sense to see a variety of options as opposed to just one with a parent.
Most students say they prefer the online version of this day going forward now anyway. After the 2020 presentation, 74 per cent of students reported they felt better prepared for the workforce after participating in the virtual program.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an amended version of this story, correcting the spelling of Dr. Lukong’s name.