LCS Students Attend the 2021 Virtual World Affairs Conference 

On Saturday, February 6, 2021, LCS students attended the virtual World Affairs Conference hosted by Upper Canada College. It provided a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn about current global issues and hear from industry professionals about current trends and their predictions for the future of business, society, and the planet. 

Lakefield College students were among pupils from over 56 countries who joined the conference virtually to gain insight into the four plenary topics addressed in the conference. The 2021 conference theme, Together Towards Tomorrow, focused on how young people can work together to make the future brighter in terms of diversity and innovation.

“The World Affairs Conference was a fantastic opportunity for our students to listen and engage in some key global issues. The conference was well organized and the speakers provided some key perspectives on society, the impacts of social media, and the importance of social justice today.” - Tim Rollwagen, LCS Director of Global Learning

Students had the opportunity to join four plenary sessions, each of which focused on a different aspect of the future: 

The main focus of this plenary was to address the changes businesses have made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how these changes will impact businesses in the future. In this session, students heard from Bharat Masrani, Group President and Chief Executive Officer of TD Bank Group and Opher Baron, Distinguished Professor of Operations Management and the area coordinator for Operations Management and Statistics at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.

This session reviewed the change and discussion brought forth in 2020 with regard to anti-black racism in light of current events. Students met Ajani Charles, Toronto-based professional photographer, producer, mental health advocate, and Canon Canada ambassador. They also heard from Mehrdad Baghai, Chairman of the Alchemy of Growth (a strategy and advisory firm in Australia). 

“During the Social Justice session, Mehrdad Baghai discussed the need for society and especially the youth of today, to see through false narratives perpetuated by the media. Stating that ‘when you live in your own reality without questioning it, you accept your own world as the true world.’ Pushing our students to question the world around them is something that we continue to focus on in our education at LCS. This is an important piece of advice for our students to hear while they continue to navigate the complexities that our modern world places on them.” - Tim Rollwagen 

Students learned about the future of social media and discussed issues such as personal security/privacy, fake news, conspiracy, and more. David Carrol, Associate Professor of Media Design at Parsons School of Design at The New School in New York City discussed the global shift in digital media. Students also learned from the Producers of The Social Dilemma Film, which was released in 2020 and highlighted the dark side of social media. 

During this session, Maxwell Lu ‘21 said he was able to ask the speaker(s) a question he had been pondering about the future of social media platforms. “The answer I received changed my thinking...in the future, there will likely be newer, more mature, and more secure versions of the platforms we use today.”

This session covered the challenge of sustaining the world’s current standard of living and concern about the future habitability of the planet. Students heard from Dr. Louis Friedman, emeritus executive director and Co-Founder of the Planetary Society and Janet Ivey, creator and CEO of Janet’s Planet Inc.

When asked about her key takeaways from this experience, Sofiia Onopriienko ’21 was impressed by the way the event was organized and was happy to have heard so many professionals speak about different topics. “I feel that there was something much greater at this conference than the words spoken by the speakers—it is in the actions they took and the effort of those who organized the conference.”

The events closed with an address from keynote speaker, Dr. George Elliott Clarke, Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic who served as the Poet Laureate of Toronto from 2012 to 2015 and as the 2016/17 Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate. Mr. Rollwagen said, “I was taken aback by Dr. Clarke who shared a key perspective on the intersectionality and importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in society. He highlighted the benefits of embracing diversity because ‘Excellence is diversely present in the general population.’”