Electrical Engineering Technician – Power Students Wrap Up Program with Design Pitch Competition
Most people fear public speaking, yet on April 14 and 15, 127 Electrical Engineering Technician – Power students overcame those fears—in suits and matching, branded T-shirts—to bravely pitch their designs to industry judges and Mohawk College faculty.
The students competed for gold, silver, and bronze, and for job interviews. Each pitch sought to solve an electrical challenge presented to the final-semester students in January.
This high-impact experience is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Electrical Design Project professor Glenn Kinaschuk and Career Advancement professor Christine Boyko-Head. Over the past nine years, both professors have seen students explode with both pride and relief as their final pitches mark the end of a long road of hard work and late nights.
“I remember being on the other side of the table as a student presenter, and I prefer being a judge,” one judge laughingly recalls. “Yet, without this experience, my current employer might never have seen me and offered me a job.”
While Kinaschuk hasn’t counted how many students have been hired as a result of this skilled trades/humanities collaboration, he does know it is effective. “You can create the best electrical design there is, but if you can’t communicate that design, you won’t get the job,” he says. Boyko-Head agrees and adds that “making the learning authentic and real makes all the difference with students.”
To prepare the teams for pitch day, students first create DIY projects on a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal topic, which they share virtually with domestic and international elementary school kids and Canadian theatre professionals. Through the DIY projects students practice communication and collaboration skills. Many teams say it is a bonding experience that prepares them for the design capstone presentation.
DIY audiences provide feedback on the projects’ entertainment and educational values. Over the years, kids in Croatia, Morocco, India, New Zealand and Canada have given smiley or frowning faces to rate the projects, while theatre professionals have given Mohawk College students one-on-one performance consultations virtually.
Since 2024, the International Department has supported the DIY project under its Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) initiative and given all participants an extra-curricular certification emphasizing global competencies. This year, Computer Science students from School Centre Nova Gorica, Slovenia and Dr. Kyle Parnell from Rochester Institute of Technology joined the COIL.
Although this is the final year of the Design Project/Career Advancement partnership, the faculty would like to thank the elementary school teachers, students, SCNG professors, undergrads, and theatre experts who contributed to students’ success over the years. And a special thank you to all the industry leaders from the electrical and utilities sector who volunteered their time over the years by evaluating, advising and offering employment opportunities to new Electrical Engineering Technician - Power students.