Atura Power has generously donated $20,000 to St. Clair College to purchase two additional Temi Robots for use in the Community Integration through Cooperative Education (CICE) program.
These robots have helped remove both academic and social barriers that students with developmental disabilities sometimes experience. Students in the CICE program have learned how to program these Temi Robots while working with the school’s Enactus team, through the leadership of business professor Mike Spadotto and students in the Mobile Applications program.
These robots have been able to:
- Guide CICE students to their classes.
- Make presentations for those students who may have a speech impediment or are non-verbal.
- Read aloud test questions for students who cannot read.
“Atura Power is very proud to support the communities where we live, work and learn,” said Geoff Saunders, plant manager of the Brighton Beach Power plant, which is owned by Atura. “Our donation to the CICE program is an example of Atura acting on a core value of being inclusive, as it’s helped the college buy two Temi robots which will support students in overcoming some of the obstacles in their way to becoming productive and valued members of our community,” he added.
From a social integration perspective, Temi has brought together CICE students and other post-secondary students as they learned how to program Temi. Those CICE students then become leaders in their own class showing others how to work the robot.
This has helped our CICE students integrate into College life and become valued members of the greater College community.
“We want students in our CICE program to feel connected to St. Clair College,” said President Patti France. “These Temi robots will help our CICE students develop the vocational skills necessary to find employment and gain independence. We are so grateful to Atura Power for being a community partner and supporting our goal for inclusivity in the classroom.”
St. Clair College will officially thank Atura on May 25, at 10 a.m., at the front entrance of the College, 2000 Talbot Road West, Windsor. For more information, please contact John Fairley, Vice President of Communications, at 519-819-4882.