BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS to Postsecondary Education

Serena Dykstra credits the Humanities 101 program for breaking down some of the barriers to postsecondary education that she and many others have faced. As a teenager Dykstra had dropped out of high school and was struggling with issues including homelessness and drug addiction. Today, she is finishing an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology at Lakehead and has been accepted to study law at Osgoode Hall starting in 2012.

Humanities 101 is a community-based outreach program offered through Lakehead University’s Faculty of Education. This free multidisciplinary program is an introduction to topics in the humanities and social sciences and it covers a broad spectrum of topics including social work, Aboriginal studies, women’s studies, anthropology, English, and environmental education.

Participants, who have been referred to the program by local social service agencies, attend evening lectures and participate in the discussions that follow. Over the course of the fifteen-week Humanities 101 program, they become familiar with the campus environment. In time, they gain the confidence needed to consider new pathways, and many of them, like Serena Dykstra, enroll in full- or part-time studies at Lakehead University or other educational institutions.

Since the program began at Lakehead’s Thunder Bay campus six years ago, more than 100 participants have “graduated” from the program. This year, Political Science Professor Doug West is relocating to Lakehead’s Orillia campus and is laying the foundation for a Humanities 101 program to begin operating in Simcoe County in the fall of 2011.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE - click to donate