OCNews

Learning & Programs

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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Spaghetti Bridge 2023
Spaghetti Bridge Building Contest serves up fun and learning at OC

March 3, 2023

Friday marked a triumphant return for a popular pasta-themed community event at Okanagan College, as the 38th annual Spaghetti Bridge Building Competition brought loads of fun and friendly competition to a boil. More than 250 students from elementary through post-secondary converged on OC’s Kelowna campus on Mar. 3, to see whose spaghetti bridge would reign supreme. In addition to furthering their knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), participants of the contest – back for the first time since pre-pandemic – also c...

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A group of Early Childhood Education students at Okanagan College.
Personal connections highlight Early Childhood dual credit program

March 1, 2023

Emily Patenaude knows what it’s like to be misunderstood as a child; she also understands a thing or two about fighting through adversity. The experience and knowledge will serve the Kelowna high school student well as she looks to begin her post-secondary education. Emily is one of 10 Central Okanagan-area students completing a five-month Okanagan College course in Early Childhood Education while still in high school, known as a dual credit program. Emily’s passion for childcare began early as she watched her brother struggle to connect an...

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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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ECE
OC increases access to early childhood education in the South Okanagan

February 22, 2023

Okanagan College (OC) is opening new spaces for people interested in working in early childhood education, as childcare facilities across the region and British Columbia continue to face staffing challenges. The Early Childhood Education Certificate program starts at OC’s Penticton campus in mid-March and runs through May 2024. The intake will have space for 24 students, adding to the more than 145 Early Childhood Education students studying at Okanagan College in Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton this year. According to the province’s Labour M...

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Joanne Stacey
Acclaimed musician brings Songwriting 101 to OC Salmon Arm and Revelstoke

February 16, 2023

Have you ever had a song that you couldn’t get out of your head? An award-winning local musician is presenting a day-long introduction to the craft and joy of songwriting at Okanagan College in Salmon Arm and Revelstoke. Joanne Stacey has spent most of her life working in the music business as a performer, musician, recording artist, and songwriter. On Feb. 25 in Salmon Arm and again on March 11 in Revelstoke, Stacey will be pouring that lifetime of music industry experience and songwriting expertise into a new course: Songwriting 101. “Th...

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Spaghetti Bridge
OC’s Spaghetti Bridge Building Contest set to return for 38th year this spring

February 13, 2023

Spaghetti is back on the menu at Okanagan College this spring. A fixture on the spring calendar in the Okanagan for nearly four decades, the College’s popular Spaghetti Bridge Building Contest will return this March for the first time since 2020. OC will host the 38th annual contest on Friday, March 3 at the Kelowna campus. Organizers are putting the call out to teachers and students from elementary through post-secondary to participate. Students can enter the following competitions: Elementary School Students: Elementary School Demonstra...

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Student Keith Schmatlz standing in front of his professional truck.
Okanagan resident sharpens skills with Continuing Studies program

February 7, 2023

Vernon resident Keith Schmaltz spent most of his career working in the heavy-duty equipment industry. But after a nearly 40-year career, he decided he wanted to learn some new skills and continue that career in a related field. Enter Okanagan College’s Continuing Studies department, offering programs and courses to suit all different learning needs. Keith enrolled in the Professional Industry Driver program, offered by Okanagan College in collaboration with Taylor Pro Training and BC Forest Safety Council. The program is funded by the Gover...

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Executive Chef Ruth Wigman
Former ‘Top Chef’ takes the reins at Okanagan College’s Infusions restaurant

January 17, 2023

Fans of Canada’s Top Chef will recognize the name of the new Executive Chef at Infusions. Ruth Wigman, whose 20-year career has taken her coast to coast, brings a fresh and exciting perspective to the restaurant at Okanagan College staffed by Culinary Arts students. Wigman, who was a contestant on the Food Network’s Canada’s Top Chef program in 2014, most recently worked as the executive sous-chef at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport for over three years. Before that, she worked at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and the Fairmount Southampton i...

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Construction Craft Worker
Okanagan College launches sponsored trades training opportunity to help open doors, create job-ready workers in Salmon Arm

January 6, 2023

Students with limited or no previous experience in trades can access training that will lead to employment and future careers in construction, thanks to a program that starts at the end of January at Okanagan College’s Salmon Arm campus. Okanagan College will be offering an intake of the Construction Craft Worker program starting on Jan. 30 at the College’s Salmon Arm Trades Centre. “This new program is supporting students to gain the skills they need now, helping them get good jobs in industries where communities need them,” said Selina R...

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ELEN alumnus Aaron Edis sits in front of a computer and electronics components.
Meet Aaron Edis, Electronics Engineering alumnus

December 2, 2022

  Q: What’s your hometown? Where are you now? A: Burnaby and Kelowna. I now live in Salmon Arm, B.C. Q: What years did you attend OC? A: 2008 to 2010 Q: How did you end up at Okanagan College? A: I was living in Kelowna at the time and I was interested in Electrical/Electronics, perhaps an engineering degree. I figured the college was the place to start since I could be a technologist after 2 years of school and then had the option to start working if I chose. That, and I had heard...

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Hospitality Professional Program
Partnership helping to fill staffing gaps in hospitality and tourism industry

December 1, 2022

Like many industries, the hospitality and tourism sector has been hard hit by staff shortages over the past few years with a declining youth population and an aging workforce combining to create significant challenges. But a new program designed in partnership by Okanagan College (OC) and the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) will help to reduce those shortages. The first of four new cohorts of students enrolled in the Hospitality Professional Program this fall, a flexible program open to students anywhere in the Thompson-Okana...

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ELEN graduate works remotely from home, sitting at his computer desk with multiple screens.
Meet Jedidiah Forrest, OC Electronics Engineering alum

November 29, 2022

Q: What years did you attend OC? A: 2014-2016 Q: How did you end up at Okanagan College? A: Engineering technology programs caught my eye. Needed a career path change. Q: How did you choose your program? A: I applied to all three engineering programs and Electronic Engineering Technology responded first. Q: What did you like most about the program? A: The immersion was incredible. Every day is a science whirlwind, and labs were fantastically engaging. The staff is made of caring pr...

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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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Kelowna Campus
Okanagan College to host Kelowna campus open house, program spotlights this Saturday

November 17, 2022

Soaring careers in aviation. Sustainable building for the future. Life-changing health care roles. The social sciences that help us understand and better our world. The trades that keep our province and country running. Business skills for the leaders of today and tomorrow. Upgrading that opens doors to new career paths. How to apply and finance your education. All this and more will await guests to Okanagan College’s Kelowna campus Open House this weekend. Okanagan College is opening its doors to the community on Saturday, Nov. 19 from 10:...

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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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