University of Toronto Scarborough x Swab The World

When Dr. Steve Joordens, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough, heard about Swab The World, he was struck with a great idea. How can we get as many young people as possible to learn about the dire need for more BIPOC stem cell donors? As a professor with 1,800 students taking his course, Dr. Joordens decided to pick Swab The World for a project where everyone in his class would create public service announcements (PSAs) highlighting the need for more BIPOC stem cell donors. Students split up into teams and pretended to be consultants for Swab The World and used their psychology knowledge related to attention, memory, and persuasion to make PSAs that encourage youth in BIPOC communities to become stem cell donors. Above all, this project gave university students from diverse ethnic backgrounds an opportunity to apply what they’ve learned to help fix real-world problems. These PSAs were a way for them to appeal to their diverse communities and make a real difference in the lives of patients searching for life-saving stem cell donors.

Top 3 Public Service Announcements

A panel of judges – including Dr. Joordens, Dr. Suzanne Erb (Department of Psychology Chair), Cherilyn Scobie Edwards (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office Director), and Mai Duong (Swab The World’s co-founder) – reviewed the top 10 PSAs and selected the top 3. The first, second, and third place PSAs are featured below.

Third Place Winners – Group 63

Click here to watch their awesome PSA.

This PSA was made by Kaarunya Kandeephan, Sumaiya Ahmed, Rabia Hameed, and Virina Maged Atia Malty.

Second Place Winners – Group 221

Click here to check out their amazing PSA.

This PSA was made by Ivoire Beguinott, Temi Samuel, Lynda Dufrasne, and Alicia Matano.

First Place – Group 257

This PSA was made by Rachel Ruth Guanlao.

Congratulations to the Winners!

We want to give a HUGE shout-out to the amazing PSA winners and all the UTSC students in Dr. Joordens’s class who created PSAs for Swab The World. If you’re interested in becoming a swab ambassador and joining our chapter at UTSC, click here to learn more.