OCNews

Articles tagged "OC Foundation"

A rendering of the Recreation and Wellness Centre
THRIVE HERE campaign kicks off with record-level support

October 25, 2023

Okanagan College Foundation launches campaign to build a new Recreation and Wellness Centre at its Kelowna campus; Folk family makes record-setting gift KELOWNA - It’s ‘Game Day’ at Okanagan College! Today, OC students, donors, leaders, staff and community members came together to celebrate the launch of the Thrive Here campaign to build a new Recreation and Wellness Centre on the Kelowna campus. Making the announcement to the approximately 100 people in attendance, including members from the OC Coyotes basketball and baseball teams, Okanag...

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A poster that promotes the Glow Up event in Vernon on Oct. 21.
OC fundraiser to light way for new childcare centre

October 18, 2023

Dress up with your kids, enjoy a matinee, then parade downtown Vernon with glow up lanterns and a stilt walker. An upcoming event aims to cast a glow on children’s faces while also lighting a path for a new childcare centre at Okanagan College’s Vernon campus.  The Okanagan College Foundation is hosting Glow UP: A Matinee, Masquerade and Lantern Light Up Saturday, Oct. 28.  Participants can make their own lanterns at an upcoming workshop hosted by local artists at Okanagan College Saturday, Oct. 21 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.  For the main e...

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Mackenzie Lucier and Kendall Pennington from Princess Margaret Secondary, Eva Braam from Summerland Secondary and Ollie Jaques from Penticton Secondary have each been awarded $2,500.
Empowering Tomorrow: Rick and Yasmin Thorpe and Friends Scholarship Celebrates Future Leaders

October 4, 2023

The Rick and Yasmin Thorpe and Friends Scholarship continues to be a launchpad for South Okanagan high school graduates as they begin their educational journey at Okanagan College.    This year, Mackenzie Lucier and Kendall Pennington from Princess Margaret Secondary, Eva Braam from Summerland Secondary and Ollie Jaques from Penticton Secondary have each been awarded $2,500.    The scholarship annually champions students who combine academic achievement with community involvement.  "These young individuals are our community's future. Suppor...

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Rob Phare, Sunflower Childcare Centre Campaign Committee Member; Sam Jackson, People and Culture Lead, Maven Lane; Helen Jackman, Executive Director, Okanagan College Foundation; Lloyd Davies, Leadership Donor, Sunflower Childcare Centre Campaign - pictured with children from Maven Lane
Plant a Seed Day fundraiser sprouts an impressive $66,000 in gifts for the new Sunflower Childcare Centre on OC's Vernon Campus

May 17, 2023

Okanagan College Foundation is thrilled to announce the success of Plant a Seed Day, a fun-filled, family-friendly fundraiser that, thanks to generous community support, raised $66,000 for the Sunflower Childcare Centre. The funds will be put towards equipment, furnishings, supplies, and a creative outdoor space where kids can learn and play. Event guests had the opportunity to experience child-led yoga, sunflower-themed art classes, country line dancing, and a delicious lemonade crawl – all made possible thanks to generous sponsors: Kal Ti...

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Vernon student housing announcement
New Okanagan College student housing, childcare centre on target to open in 2024 in Vernon

April 21, 2023

When she decided to attend Okanagan College, student-parent Sarina Parsons was faced with the challenge of finding childcare while balancing her course schedule. She says it added stress at a time where she wished she could have been more focused on her learning.   In just over a year, students like Sarina will have access to childcare and on-campus living options at Okanagan College’s Vernon campus, when doors open at a new mass-timber student housing building currently under construction. The 100-bed student housing project and Sunflower ...

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Salmon Arm Student Housing Announcement
New Okanagan College student housing centre on target to open in 2024 in Salmon Arm

April 21, 2023

Finding affordable housing isn’t just a challenge in the big city – it can be difficult in smaller, more rural communities as well. For students like Dylan Taylor, who are also focused on completing post-secondary education and entering the workforce, access to housing is transformational.    “There are many pressures on students already right now, so having a way to access a place to live on-campus takes away a huge amount of stress and makes it possible to focus on my education,” says Taylor, an Arts student at the Salmon Arm campus.   Th...

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Emil Anderson group photo
Bridging the way to success: Emil Anderson Construction gives $75,000 to modernize Okanagan College’s Civil Engineering Technology Program

April 17, 2023

If you walk past Okanagan College’s Kelowna campus on a weekday afternoon, you’re sure to see Civil Engineering Technology students spread out across the grounds, gathering environmental data using surveying equipment. This skill is essential to their education and will one day help them shape our built environments. Thanks to a generous $75,000 gift from Emil Anderson Construction, students will have increased access to state-of-the-art surveying equipment to train on by fall of 2023. “We are proud to support Okanagan College’s Civil Engin...

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Connie Denesiuk
OC Foundation chair’s book launch supports students in need

March 27, 2023

Honouring the past and supporting the future: Connie Denesiuk’s new book has ambitious goals. The Chair of the Okanagan College Foundation Board is launching a book next month about a story close to her heart, with the hope it will benefit the community around her. ‘Til Papa Returns; Surviving as a child refugee in WWII is the true story of Alfred Columbus, the youngest of eight children and father to Denesiuk. Alfred was learning how to farm the land their family had worked for more than 200 years, following advice and guidance from his ...

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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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