Volunteer Newsletter

With the support of our amazing volunteers and partners we were able to engage over 900 youth over the past 4 months in hands-on activities here on campus and in their communities! Thanks for your hard work and valuable time in making these interactions meaningful. 

The SciXchange team hopes you have a wonderful winter break! We hope to continue working with you next year to make science accessible and impactful for everyone. Here are some opportunities you can get involved with:

Open Opportunities:

• Technovation Girls Mentors (sign-up by Dec. 16 to start in January)

Volunteers Opportunities Open for Next Term:

• Community Partnerships (after-school program)

• High School on-campus lab volunteers

• Social Media Team

  Open Opportunities

Become a Mentor with Technovation Girls

January - April, 1-2 hrs / wk

SciXchange is now recruiting mentors (all genders) for Technovation Girls 2026, a global tech entrepreneurship program where girls ages 8-18 create mobile or web apps that tackle real world problems.
 
No technical background required! Mentors focus on supporting their team through their journey in solving problems, creativity and project development.

Ready to sign up? Join one of our upcoming intake sessions and talk to our chapter ambassador, Dr. Emily Agard:

• Tuesday, December 16, 6–7 PM

Register here: Information Session Sign-up Form

Find more information on our website.

High School Labs

Each school year, SciXchange brings hundreds of high school students to campus to experience what a University lab is like. Our volunteers help facilitate these labs and support students building STEM skills.

Working with a team of like-minded volunteers, you will facilitate in-person lab activities with high school students. Classes will come to TMU's campus with their teachers to complete these activities on a weekly basis. Volunteers will be provided with all necessary training and must commit to 2 shifts per month.

Available Labs:

Chemistry

• Shifts: Mondays, 9:30 am - 12:00 pm

• Volunteers facilitate the 1st year chemistry lab TMU-SVU where students analyze phosphorus levels in water using a photospectrometer 

• WHMIS and familiarity with wet labs needed

Robotics

• Shifts: Fridays, 9:30am - 12:00 pm

• This workshop introduces high school computer science students to robotics and intermediate coding.

• Some coding experience is required (arduino)

Medical Physics

• Shifts: 10:30 am - 12:00 pm - the day of the week hasn't been determined yet. It will be Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

• Volunteers support a medical physics research student run a MatLab activity to analyze medical images.

• Some understanding of MatLAB is required

DNA Fingerprinting

• The Ontario Science Centre DNA lab will return in March and we'll recruit volunteers closer to the start.

Join Our Social Media Team

Help us create engaging content on our socials! We mainly use Instagram and LinkedIn, but also TikTok. Our Social Media Team covers SciXchange events and programs, creates science communication campaigns and supports our other communications needs.

To volunteer, please sign up using this form.

SciXchange partners with community centres and organizations to provide hands-on STEM learning opportunities that support equity-deserving communities and under-represented communities in STEM. As part of this program, volunteers are required to commit to visiting a single community partner several times over the course of a term.

Most partners are located in downtown Toronto, within 15 minutes of campus. We deliver activities on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Generally, we offer after-school activities, so you must be available one evening per week.

Please apply to volunteer. 

  Upcoming Opportunities

Don't see something that resonates with you? We'll be recruiting more volunteers and hosting more events in the new year!

1. Virtual Events - This January & February support our Valentine's or Cultural Astronomy programs (Lunar New Year or Ramadan) by facilitating online activities for youth

2. Re:SciComm 2026 - Science Communication Conference co-hosted by SciXchange and RCIScience. Open to aspiring and professional science communicators.

  Latest News

New to SciXchange?

We're the outreach office for the Faculty of Science. We host opportunities for the community to engage with STEM while supporting TMU students and scientists in building science communication skills.

Have you graduated recently?

Some volunteer opportunities are available to non-TMU students. However, if you no longer wish to receive our emails (we understand you're moving on!) please unsubscribe! 

  Contact Us

Have an outreach opportunity we should be part of? Don't hesitate to contact us at scixchange@torontomu.ca

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