Full house for Trent Open House, with panels on AI, Taylor Swift drawing crowds in Oshawa

With plenty of new programs, a downtown presence to add to their main Oshawa campus in the city’s west end and a keen eye for tapping into what today’s youth are interested in, Trent University Durham’s Open House was a pretty big deal in the city Saturday.

More than 1,500 people, including 700-plus students, registered for an event that drew crowds to both buildings at the campus on Thornton Road, with prospective students – often with a parent in tow – getting a grand tour of the university and a look at some of the new programs being offered.

Saturday was also a day for a few unique panel discussions, including one on artificial intelligence, one on the impacts of climate change and the most attended panel of the day, Let’s Talk Taylor Swift.

“We wanted to have some panels about stuff actually going on today,” said campus Vice-President Dr. Scott Henderson. “Hosting panel discussions on subjects relevant to the daily lives of students allows us to connect the learning experience to current issues in an engaging and fun manner.”

“When you come in at 8:30 in the morning for a class, you want to be talking about something that interests you.”

Henderson also cautions people not to dismiss the Taylor Swift phenomena, with the pop star and her six shows this week in Toronto having a huge impact on the GTA economy.

“You can dismiss some (of the media attention) but there’s lot of complexities to it,” he said. “Branding, pop culture, the way the fans identify with her and why it resonates with them. And the economics is massive. It’s easy to dismiss pop culture but economically, it’s a driver.”

Subjects like artificial intelligence, which was the focus of another well-attended panel Saturday, are also creating a buzz on campus.

An innovative new degree in Artificial Intelligence – available as a B.A. or a B.Sc. – recently received ministry approval and will be available at Trent next fall.

“It’s about getting our students to work alongside AI, whatever field they end up in, and understanding the ethics of the program,” Henderson explained. “

The Open House was also about helping future students understand the college experience, he added, noting that what high school students think university is like “doesn’t always line up with reality.”

The bottom line, Henderson said, was that if the student has a passion or interest, “they can entertain that while they’re here.”

Students and guests attending the Open House also got the details about Trent’s recent increase to all renewable entrance scholarships, with first year students with a 95 per cent average earning full scholarships for the first year, with the packages also renewable up to $4,000 for each year they are at Trent – a deal worth as much as $18,000.

The university has also boosted its prestigious scholarships with 15 annual awards with funding up to $30,000 over four years to recognize the academic and community achievements of top scholars, with a dedicated booth staffed by financial aid employees to answer any questions.

The scholarships are available at all campuses in Peterborough and the Durham GTA campus in Oshawa.

Information on paid co-op streams was also available at the event.

Trent University Durham marked its 50th anniversary in Oshawa in October, commemorating when the school started offering part-time evening courses out of Oshawa’s Eastdale Collegiate in 1974.

By the early 1980s enrolment of part-time students reached 550. In 1993 Trent Durham GTA welcomed the first cohort of full-time students and the main campus on Thornton Road opened in 2010, growing ten years later to include a new residence and academic building.

Trent Durham also boasts the Advanced Learning Centre downtown, which opened last year. The school’s newest campus caters mainly to professional and postgraduate certificate programs and is a dedicated home for the Master of Management program.

Today, Trent Durham is home to nearly 3,000 students and more than 35 undergraduate, postgraduate, and graduate programs.

“What truly defines Trent Durham is the community we’ve built – a community rooted in the values of collaboration, growth, and resilience. At the heart of Trent Durham’s story is a deep commitment to innovation, education, and the idea that a university is more than just a place to learn – it’s a hub for growth, creativity, and connection,” said Henderson, who praised the City of Oshawa and Region of Durham for their help and support over the years. “I am incredibly proud of what we have built together.”