OCNews

Community Support

Student chefs prepare dinners for wildfire evacuees.
OC student chefs supporting community

August 25, 2023

You can call it cooking with love.   Students from the Okanagan Chef School at Okanagan College dropped plans this week for a final feast to celebrate the end of their program and jumped into supporting the local emergency response instead. Typically, students at the Okanagan Chef School host a community dinner at the end of their year and one was planned for this week. However, when the event had to be cancelled due to the area wildfires, the students decided to shift their focus to preparing meals for those engaged in the response and imp...

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Members of the OC community drop off food for wildfire workers.
OC community steps up to support wildfire efforts

August 24, 2023

The OC community has been busy this week, stepping up to support wildfire efforts in their communities and supporting friends, family and neighbours in many different ways. The cancellation of this week’s  Connections event at Okanagan College, an event led by employees to kick off a new school year, meant some timely donations of lunches and snacks went out to people who are supporting the wildfire efforts in the Okanagan Valley. It was just one example of the many efforts the OC community has undertaken in their communities. Thank you to ...

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Dr. Sylvia Janet Russell
$40,000 gift creates lasting tribute to former Okanagan University College Professor Dr. Sylvia Janet Russell

June 27, 2023

In her twenty-year tenure as a history professor at Okanagan University College (the predecessor to Okanagan College), Dr. Sylvia Janet Russell breathed life into bustling classrooms, transforming them into vibrant hubs of knowledge and inspiration. Now in a fitting tribute to her legacy, an anonymous $40,000 gift will establish a bursary fund in her honour. The Dr. Sylvia Janet Russell Memorial Fund will provide bursaries to students who have fulfilled the graduation requirements for Okanagan College’s Associate of Arts diploma - with a pa...

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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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Former OC instructoor Lloyd Davies and his wife Janet Armstrong.
Sowing the seeds for a better future for student parents in Vernon

April 28, 2023

College Foundation hosts fundraiser for new Sunflower Childcare Centre Sunflowers blooming, the promise of new beginnings, and brighter futures for student parents in Vernon will be the focus of Okanagan College Foundation’s upcoming Plant a Seed Day Fundraiser. The fun-filled event will take place on May 10, between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. and will support the new, affordable, 44-seat on-campus Sunflower Childcare Centre, operated by local, non-profit childcare provider Maven Lane.   Guests will be invited to “tap into their inner child” with f...

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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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Volunteer to Tutor
Inspire at OC Revelstoke: Volunteer to Tutor

April 4, 2023

One of the ongoing programs the Revelstoke Centre of Okanagan College is proud to continuously offer is the Volunteer Literacy Tutoring program. Melissa Jameson, a resident of Revelstoke since 2007 whom some may recognize from her work at Community Connections, or more recently the civic affairs reporter for the Revelstoke Mountaineer, has been the volunteer coordinator for the program since October 2022. Jameson has been struggling to match several learners with tutors and wonders if there is a misconception about what the tutor position i...

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A young child plans ping pong toss with their parent.
Ready, Set, Grow! Okanagan College Foundation kicks off its Sunflower Childcare Centre Campaign with an inspiring event at the Vernon Campus

March 15, 2023

Enthusiastic young volunteers led games and activities at the launch of Okanagan College Foundation’s $1.25 million campaign in support of a new on-campus childcare centre, planned to open in the fall of 2024. Held on Mar. 1 at OC’s Vernon campus, the event drew 65 guests and celebrated the kickoff of the Sunflower Childcare Centre fundraising campaign. Donor and former College instructor Lloyd Davies spoke about his family’s decision to contribute $500,000 to the cause.   "Time and again, I would have students missing class, missing labs, ...

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Photo of Spring Hawes with event details for Understanding Ableism event
Understanding Ableism: Join us for an Anti-Ableism presentation by Spring Hawes at OC Kelowna on Jan. 19

January 13, 2023

A group of Okanagan College students and employees are further advancing conversation and action around anti-ableism and accessibility at OC this winter through an upcoming talk and series of follow-up events.  Okanagan College Kelowna’s Accessibility Alliance invites the OC community to attend an anti-ableism presentation by entrepreneur and advocate Spring Hawes on January 19 from noon -2:30 p.m. in the Centre for Learning Atrium (E Building).  In her presentation Hawes will illustrate ableism and disability through examples of lived expe...

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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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Sisters Tiffany Ayalik and Inuksuk Mackay come together to create the Inuit-style throat-singing duo PIQSIQ.
Throat-singing duo PIQSIQ to perform at OC's Penticton campus

October 18, 2022

Okanagan College joins forces with Route97 Culture to present fast-rising throat singing duo – PIQSIQ in Penticton Live music will return to Okanagan College's Penticton campus this November 4, 2022, for students and music fans alike. In collaboration with the Route97 Culture Road Trip series, Okanagan College will co-present the debut of PIQSIQ in the region, who will perform a special concert inside the LEED Platinum-certified building known as the Centre of Excellence in Room 113. You can buy tickets for the show here. With a style perpe...

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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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Text of "Kelowna votes" overtop of a lakeview image of the city
Kelowna mayoral candidates invited to public debate hosted by Okanagan College, UBC Okanagan

September 20, 2022

Mayoral candidates in Kelowna will speak specifically to issues that matter to university and college students at an on-campus debate at the end of September. Okanagan College and UBC Okanagan have teamed up to host the event, which will be moderated by CBC Radio host Sarah Penton at OC’s lecture theatre on K.L.O. Road. “We are thrilled to be welcoming the candidates, students and the community onto our campus, to hear from the individuals running to be the next mayor of Kelowna,” says Dr. Neil Fassina, president, Okanagan College. “Post-...

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Erum Ahmad
OC alumna gives back with bursary for high school grads

June 22, 2022

Okanagan College alumna Erum Ahmad has been spending her time teaching Vernon high school students how to be smart with their money. Now, she is giving one of those students a chance to put their learnings into action by creating a bursary to fund the next steps of their educational journey. Erum, who graduated from Okanagan College in 2021, found a passion in sharing financial literacy with high school students after experiencing a lack of financial training herself. “When I was in grade 10, I realized there were no classes to help me lea...

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Indigenous stoles
Convocation stoles featuring Syilx, Secwepemc pictographs honour graduates

June 20, 2022

As Canadians prepare to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21, Okanagan College is recognizing Indigenous graduates in a new and special way. This year for the first time, Indigenous students who cross the stage at OC convocation and commencement ceremonies are being gifted with a specially designed convocation stole, embroidered with Syilx and Secwepemc pictographs. “On National Indigenous Peoples Day and every day, it is critically important that we remember and appreciate the privilege it is to live, work and play on the beauti...

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