OCNews

Collaboration & Partnerships

Medical Cannabis
OC partners with Durham and NorQuest Colleges to offer Medical Cannabis Essentials for Health Professionals

January 20, 2021

New course for health care providers explores rapidly-evolving medical cannabis use in Canada Okanagan College is partnering with Durham College (DC) in Oshawa, ON and NorQuest College in Edmonton, Alta. to deliver a two-day Medical Cannabis Essentials for Health Professionals course. Facilitated live online over the weekend of Feb. 6 and 7, this unique introductory course is aimed at new and experienced health care professionals across Canada seeking to better understand medical cannabis in the context of client-centered care. “Since addi...

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Beverlie Dietze, Director, Learning and Applied Research
From Colleges to Communities: Lawson Foundation supports early childhood education project at OC and partner PSEs

January 19, 2021

A major investment by the Lawson Foundation will support researchers from Okanagan College and three partnering institutions in their innovative approach to advancing outdoor early learning and teaching across Canada. Okanagan College has received a grant of $750,000 for a collaborative project with Bow Valley College, New Brunswick Community College and Saskatchewan Polytechnic called Outdoor Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education: From Colleges to Communities. This goal of the three-year project is to demonstrate a model of outdoor pedago...

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Zahra Salon and Spa team
Zahra Salon takes a cut for College fundraiser

December 18, 2020

Experience in – and experience of – health care services has led management of Zahra Salon and Spa to turn their attention until the end of January to supporting the education of health care professionals at Okanagan College. Zahra Salon will be inviting its customers to make a holiday or New Year donation to the College’s Our Students Your Health campaign, along with selling raffle tickets for a gift basket valued at $1,000. The salon’s medical spa will also be donating 10 per cent of all laser treatments services to the campaign during th...

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Masked elementary student with a hat on picks an apple in an orchard
Enactus’ FruitSnaps transitions into social enterprise

December 8, 2020

The award-winning Enactus initiative FruitSnaps is now running as a social enterprise after the student-run team recently launched apple juice boxes. The direct result of an abundant number of apples over the fall semester, the five-litre boxes of fresh apple juice are now available locally and online for purchase. All proceeds go back into the program and help to keep it sustainable. OC alumni, staff and community members were among the first people who showed up to help the Enactus team pick the approximately 13,000 pounds of apples that ...

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Screenshot of five panelists talking on a call
OC’s Thurnheer sheds light on lessons from the pandemic in CPHR virtual roundtable

December 8, 2020

Laura Thurnheer, Okanagan College’s Associate Dean of Science, Technology and Health, was one of four panelists on the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR) Canada virtual roundtable on Dec. 1. Titled, “In Conversation with HR Leaders,” the session saw human resources specialists from across Canada discuss next steps on workplace recovery from the pandemic, asking crucial questions around changes made in light of the pandemic, mental health and attracting and engaging talent. With close to 300 attendees, the event also gave thos...

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United Against Violence Against Women Online Candlelight Vigil
OC joins Vernon and Salmon Arm communities to hold vigil against violence against women

December 1, 2020

Many activities stopped as a result of the 2020 pandemic. Violence against women, however, is not one of them. This is why communities in the Okanagan and Shuswap are paying special attention to the 31st anniversary of the École Polytechnique Massacre, in addition to the ongoing cases of missing women from the region, with a Virtual Candlelight Vigil on Dec. 6 co-hosted by a network of organizations and volunteers. “The SAFE Society has been partnering with Okanagan College Students’ Union and Aboriginal Services for over a decade to offer ...

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Okanagan College Culinary Arts student
Culinary Arts students help take a bite out of food insecurity, one apple at a time

November 24, 2020

As the Okanagan days start to get shorter and orchardists wrap up their harvest for the year, Culinary Arts students at the College’s Kelowna campus are busy transforming apples into healthy snacks for the community. Earlier in the fall semester, the Okanagan Fruit Tree Project (OFTP) approached the College’s Culinary Arts team with an idea: could culinary classes somehow help process apple donations into snacks, going into backpacks for local students in need? The answer was a resounding yes. With some creative thought on how to best meet ...

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OC Kelowna
College launches Applied Bachelor of Arts degree

November 23, 2020

New four-year degree focuses on community research and evaluation Who will be the future change-makers in our communities? Who will help organizations tackle the most pressing social issues we are faced with as a society? The answer might just be the graduates of a new program unlike any before it in the region. Okanagan College has received provincial approval for its first new degree program in more than 15 years – and its focus couldn’t be timelier. The Applied Bachelor of Arts: Community Research and Evaluation is a four-year baccalaure...

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An event image for Season's Eatings showing food and two wine glasses.
OC Foundation and Jane Hoffman Realty present Season’s Eatings, a virtual cooking class fundraiser

November 17, 2020

On Dec. 3, fire up your oven and your laptop to join a festive, virtual cooking class and wine tasting fundraiser. The Okanagan College Foundation and Coldwell Banker Jane Hoffman Realty are presenting OC Cooks: Season’s Eatings, with ticket sales benefitting the Our Students, Your Health campaign to complete a new Health Sciences Centre on the College’s Kelowna campus. “Season’s Eatings is an opportunity to come together virtually, enjoy good wine and cook alongside the College’s award-winning chefs,” says Okanagan College Foundation Execu...

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RBC, local experts offer up virtual financial advice for students

November 6, 2020

Okanagan College trades students will have a unique opportunity later this month to ask questions of local experts and learn how they can build a strong financial foundation. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is hosting Business Planning for Trades, a virtual panel discussion geared toward students currently training for a career in the trades at the College. Panelists include: Jason Williamson, Commercial Account Manager with RBC (previously a small business account manager and has worked with clients through all stages of their business) Brian ...

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Dr. Steven Piper, Monahsee Health collective
New app aims to enhance communication between health professionals and patients

October 27, 2020

An applied research project by Okanagan College with Monashee Health Collective is focused on developing an innovative new tool that will help allied health professionals connect with patients in real-time – and support them on their path to wellness. Funded by a grant from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the researcher and students are working to develop, test and launch a prototype holistic wellness app over the next six months. Monashee Health Collective (MHC) provides chiropractic, physiotherapy, acupunct...

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Dr. Monica Gattinger
Visiting scholar discusses polarization over energy and climate in Canada: How bad is it? What’s to be done?

October 9, 2020

How can Canada chart a positive path for its energy and climate future amid polarization, partisanship and regional differences? Dr. Monica Gattinger, Director of the Institute for Science, Society and Policy, Full Professor at the School of Political Studies and Founder/Chair of Positive Energy at the University of Ottawa, will be delivering an online keynote delving into this topic on Friday, October 16 at 1 p.m. PST. Gattinger’s talk is presented by Okanagan College’s Department of Political Science, in conjunction with the BC Political ...

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OC Co-op Students
Co-op Q&A with Salmon Arm Economic Development Society’s Lana Fitt

October 5, 2020

Meet Lana Fitt, the Salmon Arm Economic Development Society’s Economic Development Manager. In partnership with the College’s Salmon Arm campus, SAEDS hired three OC students over the summer of 2020, aiding a new initiative called the Digital Transitions Program. Okanagan College sat down with Fitt to hear her perspective as Manager and having students take part in Co-op education with SAEDS as well as the launch of the Digital Transitions Program in Salmon Arm.. Okanagan College (...

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Alison Beaumont
New work-integrated learning opportunities for OC students and employers across the region

October 5, 2020

Earlier this year, Okanagan College announced new opportunities through the Student, Graduate and Co-op Employment office for Indigenous learners and students who face accessibility challenges. With funding from the provincial government, the College is set to launch a third project to increase access to co-op and work-integrated learning for OC students and employers. Overseeing the project at OC is Alison Beaumont, a Coordinator in the Student, Graduate and Co-op Employment office. She notes that the new project has dual opportunities for...

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FruitSnaps Team
Harvesting help needed: Enactus OC students invite community to join them in picking apples for a good cause

September 30, 2020

A group of Okanagan College business students are putting the call out for volunteers from OC and the community to help them harvest fruit that will be used to make healthy snacks for children and others in need. Started in the fall of 2018, FruitSnaps is a Vernon- and Penticton-based project, which sees Enactus OC students partnering with the North Okanagan Valley Gleaners Society facility, where unused apples from local orchards are dehydrated into snacks for local schools. The FruitSnaps team will be hosting small, physically-distanced a...

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Talent Hackathon
North Okanagan Talent Hackathon Looks for Out-of-the-box Thinkers

September 25, 2020

OC students, employees and alumni: check out this opportunity to collaborate, demonstrate your skills and connect with other business and technology minds in the community as part of the North Okanagan Hackathon. Okanagan College is a sponsor of this event and encourages OC students to take advantage of this unique virtual networking opportunity! The following media release is shared on behalf of Accelerate Okanagan: On October 29th, 2020, the Accelerate Okanagan team will be hosting the first North Okanagan Hackathon virtually from The Ver...

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