Volunteer Resources
Thank you for volunteering with our office. Below you'll find information on our volunteer opportunities and FAQs. If you need to contact our office you can email scixchange@ryerson.ca or call 416-979-5000 x3134. There is usually someone in our office Monday - Friday, 8:30 am - 4:00 pm. Please see FAQs if your matter is urgent.
Events
SciXchange runs many events throughout the year that volunteers can help with. Some events happen every year while others happen just once. We communicate our need for event volunteers through our e-newsletter and Volunteer Facebook group.
Events are a great way to engage with the public in science communication. They generally require a shorter time comittment and less training. We host orientation meetings before our events to provide our volunteers with training and an overview of their role at the event. Typical roles at events include:
- Administration - registering participants, greeting people, providing directional guidance, helping to serve lunch to participants and/or volunteers
- Facilitatation - run a program or activity for participants at the event; engage visitors in fun science activities
- Promotion - help with social media leading up to or at the event; engage with the public and promote the event to get people to join in
- Coordination - for some events, we create a planning team where volunteers coordinate activities for the event
New events take place throughout the year at SciXchange, however there are a few events that happen every year. We engage thousands of people at these events each year and we need lots of help to ensure they are a success.
Science Rendezvous - 2nd Saturday in May
This is our biggest event of the year! We have hundreds of volunteers from many Departments at Ryerson participate to showcase their science research and provide hands-on experiences for the public.
Let's Talk Cancer - end of May (Thursday after Victoria Day)
Our Let's Talk Science team provides a full day of hands-on activities and research talks for high school students.
Science Literacy Week - 3rd week of September
An entire week dedicated to promoting science literacy! We host hands-on activities, public lectures and fun events for the Ryerson community and general public.
Soapbox Science - September (Word on the Street)
This event is dedicated to promoting female scientists and the research they do. It's an international program run annually by SciXchange in Toronto, with events happening all over the world!
Coding & Cocktails - December
In celebration of Computer Science Education Week we host an Hour of Code session for adults.
Education Programs
SciXchange partners with Let's Talk Science to provide educational activities, labs and hands-on experiences to youth. We work with elementary and high schools to visit classrooms and host classes on campus.
These Education Programs run September to April. We do not schedule activities during the December and April exam periods.
Volunteers may sign up to join one or more program(s) to work with a team of volunteers to deliver that lab/activity or group of labs. Please see the name of our staff team lead for each program below.
| Program | Team Lead | Contact |
Volunteer Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer Literacy | Leigh |
scixchange@ryerson.ca | *We are revamping our computer programs* |
| Chemistry | scixchange@ryerson.ca | Facilitate the 2-hour C.S. Rye chemistry lab for high school students | |
| Elementary & Community Partnership Program |
scixchange@ryerson.ca | Partner with an elementary class or community group to facilitate 3 activities over the course of the year **requires a VSS |
|
| Mentorship - Women in Computer Science | Leigh |
l.paulseth@ryerson.ca | |
| Mentorship - Environmental | Adisa |
scixchange@ryerson.ca |
|
| Social Media | Steph |
scixchange@ryerson.ca | Develop education campaigns and report on SciXchange activities on our twitter, facebook and instagram accounts |
Frequently Asked Questions
SciXchange is the Let's Talk Science Outreach Site at Ryerson University. Let's Talk Science is a national charity dedicated to STEM education. When you volunteer with SciXchange you may also be volunteering with Let's Talk Science (LTS) at the same time. Many of our Education Programs fall under LTS. Not all of our programs are part of LTS (ex. Soapbox Science).
Links:
Ryerson University LTS Outreach site (external link, opens in new window)
Let's Talk Science Outreach website (external link, opens in new window)
SciXchange keeps track of all volunteer hours related to programs and events. If you are part of a planning committee and want to track your volunteer hours please keep your own records. Simply email our office or your team lead to get a record of these hours. They will include the date and total number of hours you volunteered and what program/event(s) you volunteered at.
If you volunteer with an Education Program that falls under Let's Talk Science, you or someone from your team will be responsible for logging those hours on the Let's Talk Science portal (external link, opens in new window) . You can access all your volunteer hours and programs for Let's Talk Science through the portal.
Absolutely! We love providing references for our volunteers!
We require 2 weeks notice to fulfill this request. Our typical letter includes a synopsis of SciXchange and our programs, a list of your volunteer work with our office, and a brief description of the roles and attributes you've demonstrated as a volunteer.
If you require a different or more detailed type of reference letter please provide an outline of the criteria and roles or attributes that you would like referenced in the letter.
You can access the google forms to submit data from the Soapbox event using the following links. These links should only be used by Soapbox Science volunteers.
(google form) Data Hoarder Google Form (external link, opens in new window)
(google form) Questionnaire Google Form (external link, opens in new window)
You should contact SciXchange immediately: scixchange@ryerson.ca, 416-979-5000 x3134. If you are cancelling within 48 hours of your volunteer shift please contact one of our Coordinators directly: Leigh, l.paulseth@ryerson.ca or Amber, amber.sandy@ryerson.ca
You should contact your Team Lead (see above) as soon as you know that you are unable to make it to a volunteer commitment. When a volunteer cancels it impacts our programs; sometimes the entire activity needs to be cancelled. If you are able to find a suitable replacement please do so. Of course we understand that last minute issues sometimes prevent our volunteers from fulfilling their commitments - this is why we try to schedule 2-3 volunteers per activity.
Yes. WIthin the City of Toronto we provide 2 TTC tokens to our volunteers to travel to and from a school. You can pick tokens up from our office before or after the visit and you will need the exact date of the visit for our records.
If you are travelling outside of the City of Toronto travel arrangements will be made by one of our Coordinators. If you have questions contact Leigh or Amber.
Currently, only those volunteers who are part of the Elementary OR Community Partnership Program are required to have a Vulnerable Sector Screening (VSS) Check complete.
The Toronto District School Board and our community partners require any volunteer who will be on school property to have a VSS completed and registered with the School Board or the Community Centre prior to a visit. This policy has impacted our ability to deliver activities at elementary and high schools.
SciXchange will cover the cost of a VSS when our volunteer is required to have one as part of their volunteer role with our office.