OCNews

Articles tagged "OC Foundation"

Yael Cohen and Helen Jackman
Watt a gift! Okanagan College’s Electronics Engineering Technology Program gets an $80,000 boost from a local engineer

March 6, 2023

Yael Cohen, a Vernon-based communications engineer, recently donated $80,000 in state-of-the-art electronic equipment to Okanagan College’s Electronics Engineering Technology program. The gift included hundreds of electrical components that will be used by program instructors to build in-class electrical circuits and test demos and will be made available to students for use in their end-of-term capstone projects.  “I was fortunate to receive numerous scholarships when I was in school, and I wanted to pay it forward,” says Cohen, an Okanag...

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Caring for Health Care Students Fund
Health care students in the South Okanagan Similkameen are about to breathe a sigh of relief thanks to a new bursary fund

February 23, 2023

Local philanthropists Yasmin and Rick Thorpe have partnered with Summerland’s Penny Lane Legacy Fund to create a $50,000 bursary fund to help bolster the future of health care in the South Okanagan Similkameen. The Caring for Health Care Students Fund will provide $750 - $1,750 awards for eligible students studying at Okanagan College’s Penticton Campus.  “We know if we educate healthcare professionals in Penticton, there’s a good chance they’ll stay and work in the region,” says Yasmin John Thorpe. “We want to help increase the number of ...

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Laura and Jason Boyer
Local couple's Okanagan Dream Rally contribution is a dream come true for Okanagan College students

February 14, 2023

Jason and Laura Norup-Boyer are passionate about education; that’s why when they participated in the auction at the 2022 Okanagan Dream Rally, they requested their $40,000 contribution go to bursaries for Okanagan College students. The Okanagan Dream Rally is a well-established fundraising event hosted by the August Family Foundation. The Rally, which has raised upwards of $3 million for local charities since its inception, pairs special needs children with high-end cars and drivers for the day. Last year’s event drew more than 50,000 spec...

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Vernon Awards
Okanagan College Foundation distributes over $450,000 in student awards in under two weeks

December 6, 2022

The holiday spirit came early for Okanagan College students who were the recipients of 426 bursary, scholarship and awards this past month, which totalled over $450,000. Students also had the chance to meet the donors who support the bursaries, scholarships and awards at receptions held at each of Okanagan College’s Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton campuses in November. Each event included an Indigenous welcome, student and donor speakers and most significantly, time for all invited guests to connect and celebrate a shared commitment to ongoi...

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Prospera donation to OC
Prospera gives big in support of Women in Trades at Okanagan College

November 28, 2022

More women will get a chance to lace up their work boots and take the first step in a career in trades, thanks to a recent $79,660 gift from Prospera to a program at Okanagan College that has already trained over 1,300 women since it was founded.   The Women in Trades Training program was created to remove barriers for women interested in pursuing trades education and help meet the community’s surging need for skilled trades professionals.   “These bursaries and added equipment provide opportunities for women to pursue trades training, supp...

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Rick and Yasmin Thorpe presenting the Thorpe and Friends Scholarship to Wylie Rowan and Mattias Van Bergeyk
Thorpe and Friends Scholarship recognizes two Okanagan College students

October 26, 2022

Local students say the generosity of two prominent Penticton philanthropists is helping them take the next steps in their education.   Since 2006, former MLA Rick Thorpe and his wife Yasmin John-Thorpe, along with their friends, have given more than $160,000 in scholarships to students in need at Okanagan College’s Penticton Campus. Two of this year’s recipients, Wylie Rowan and Mattias Van Bergeyk, received $2,500 to put toward their education. Both students are Summerland Secondary School grads in their first year of studies at Okanagan C...

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Kalamalka Garden TD gift
TD gives $85,000 to help kids and newcomers access Okanagan College’s Indigenous Garden

October 18, 2022

Hawthorn, wolf willow, and sage are among the traditional plants growing in the garden on the hillside at Okanagan College’s Vernon campus, which this year was visited by more than 250 local school children, thanks to generous support from TD Bank Group. TD’s gift, made earlier in 2022, is funding tours of the K'nmaĺka Senqâĺten - Kalamalka Indigenous garden for children and newcomers to Canada. The garden is located on Okanagan College’s Vernon campus. Okanagan College has already received a portion of the funding; the remainder will be d...

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Thomas standing in front of the Four Food Chiefs sculpture in the Health Science Centre
Thomas Klein

September 1, 2022

Even as a kid I knew I would go into the trades. An office job wouldn’t work for me because my ADHD makes it hard for me to sit still for too long, and my reading and writing aren’t the best.” “One of my high school teachers got me into sheet metal. The school helped me enroll in Okanagan College’s Sheet Metal Worker Foundation Certificate program. The program allowed me to learn a lot of new techniques, test out ideas, and try new things. When I first found out that I got the G...

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Sophie Wilson sitting at a table studying
Sophie Wilson

September 1, 2022

“I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to study at Okanagan College’s Penticton campus. My professors were fantastic, and learning close to home allowed me to spend more time with my daughter. I completed a Business Administration diploma this past fall. I’ve tried to go to school before, but financial insecurity always ended up holding me back. I would end up having to work part-time, and then I would end up working full time and then I would end up having to leave school altog...

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Caylee wearing her nursing scrubs holding a graduation cap and a photo of her late child
Caylee Donovan

September 1, 2022

"I found out I’d received the Marcia J. Aitkens Memorial Bursary in Practical Nursing in the middle of lab. I was so shocked I pretty much dropped to the floor.  At the time, I was a full-time student in Okanagan College’s Practical Nursing program, and I was working up to five days a week. The workload was just too much to handle, especially as a mother of a child with special needs. My eleven-year-old had recently been diagnosed with autism and needed more of my time.  Receiving ...

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Royal Canadian Legion cheque presentation
Royal Canadian Legion Poppy Sales Help Fund the Future of Healthcare in the Okanagan

June 29, 2022

The Royal Canadian Legion has donated $80,000 from its Poppy Fund to support Okanagan College’s new multidisciplinary Health Sciences Centre. The Centre, which is located at Okanagan College’s Kelowna campus, is a state-of-the-art training facility for health and social care students. It opened its doors in 2021. “We took a building tour and were extremely impressed with the advanced level of training being provided. We believe in the power of education, and we’re proud to invest in the next generation of health care providers,” says Darl...

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Scotia Bank Donation
Scotiabank makes $250,000 investment in youth skill building at Okanagan College

May 31, 2022

The donation will support gateway programs focused on technology and entrepreneurship for students who have faced barriers to education Kelowna Secondary School Grade 12 student Kiana Nazembokaei has known for several years that she’s wanted to study computer programming. Having moved to Canada from Iran, Nazembokaei thought she’d have to wait until university to begin her learning journey. That all changed when she signed up and was accepted into Gateway to Tech, presented by Scotiabank, at Okanagan College. The 17-week program is designed...

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Student Investment Fund
Surprise gift from Stober Foundation helps Okanagan College’s new student-led investment fund open for business

April 20, 2022

A trio of Okanagan College Business students envisioned an investment fund that has attracted overwhelming community support, including a generous $40,000 gift from the Stober Foundation. The group began fundraising in January and met their $100,000 seed funding goal in record time. Riley Dunsmore and Steven Fiust, both OC Business students, along with recent alumnus Justin Rantucci, created the Okanagan College Student Investment Fund to give students experiential learning opportunities and benefit future students with bursaries and schola...

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OC 'Sticks Up' Indigenous Student Award
OC ‘Sticks Up’ for Indigenous Student Awards

April 13, 2022

OC Indigenous Services and the OC Foundation have teamed up for the annual ‘Sticks Up’ campaign. They are excited to launch this fundraiser for the NHL’s 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. All of the proceeds from this event will benefit the OC ‘Sticks Up’ for Indigenous Students Award. Yvonne Oppenheimer and Erica Seymour were the inaugural recipients of the OC ‘Sticks Up’ for Indigenous Students Award. The Awards are available to students with Indigenous ancestry who are enrolled in full-time study in any degree, diploma, or certificate program ...

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Shanise Scherk
Okanagan College to graduate hundreds of new Health Care Assistants through innovative provincial program

February 24, 2022

When 29-year-old Shanise Scherk graduates this month as a Health Care Assistant (HCA), she is excited to start caring for seniors and other clients living in their homes. While working full time since high school, Scherk had always dreamed of having a career in health care. So, when she learned about a new Okanagan College program that offered paid training and work experience to become an HCA, she jumped at the chance to follow that dream. “It was such an incredible opportunity to receive an education and get hired right away,” says Scherk...

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Katie Newman
Meet Katie Newman, Board Director at the Okanagan College Foundation

February 17, 2022

Q: What is your name?A: Katie Newman What are your pronouns?A: She, her Where do you work? A: I am a Director of Financial Planning and Advice Effectiveness with CIBC. Why did you want to join the Okanagan College Foundation board? A: The opportunity to impact change in my community and help to support the students' journey was very appealing to me. Q: Our mission is to support the transformative power of education. What drives your passion for education?A: Education and in particu...

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