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New OC Art Club blends creative pursuits with friends

March 10, 2023

Do you dabble with drawings? Unwind with watercolours? Play with paint? Sketch out the world around you? Or are you just curious about creative expression and want to meet new people?  A grassroots movement has started an Art Club at the Kelowna campus, giving OC students and staff a blank canvas to have fun.  Thi Tuong An Huynh, Greta Friesen, Ryan Rubadeau and Hannah Knox are founding student members of the club, which is sponsored by Business professor Devin Rubadeau and Communications professor Michael Saad.   Art Club aims to connect p...

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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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Red Dot Players
OC’s Red Dot Players present The Beast of Blackthorn Manor

March 1, 2023

Spring may be in like a lion out like a lamb, but a different beast is on the prowl at Okanagan College this month, courtesy of OC’s theatre troupe. The Red Dot Players are excited to present the premiere production of The Beast of Blackthorn Manor, a new comedy by Okanagan College English professor Jeremy Beaulne. The plot promises to delight fans of gothic literature and those new to the genre: When she accepts a position at Blackthorn Manor, an isolated manor house in the Yorkshire moors, governess Charlotte Vole has no idea that she is ...

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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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Taylor Hubick
Plasma donor drive campaign boosts OC nursing student with $3,000 bursary

February 22, 2023

Okanagan College nursing student Taylor Hubick learned a valuable lesson this year: persistence with plasma donation pays off. Hubick is the recipient of the Canadian Blood Services bursary of $3,000 for her studies in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, for recruiting 23 plasma donors between May and October last year. Hubick says she originally got recruited to donate by a friend who was studying on Vancouver Island. “She pulled out of the challenge because she was going travelling, and that’s when I realized I should do th...

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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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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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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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Ben Halsall in front of Kelowna's H20 pool
Halsall nominated for 2023 Community Sport Hero Award

February 2, 2023

An Okanagan College employee is being recognized for making a splash in the sport community. Ben Halsall, an Educational Technology Coordinator with Learning and Applied Research, has been nominated for a 2023 Community Sport Hero Award, in the category of Volunteer/Sport Leader. The Community Sport Hero Awards were created by the City of Kelowna and PacificSport Okanagan, recognizing athletes, sport leaders and volunteers for their outstanding contributions to sport in the community. This year will continue to focus on those who demonstrat...

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Amanda Jones
OC to celebrate first graduates of 2023

January 26, 2023

Amanda Jones will be one of hundreds of OC graduates taking a momentous step this weekend, as she and her peers cross the red carpet at the College’s first Convocation ceremonies of the year. And for the Penticton mother of two – who juggled a return to classroom with supporting a family and running a successful business during a global pandemic – the long-awaited moment brings feelings of pride and a continued desire to keep learning. Okanagan College will recognize graduates at two ceremonies in Kelowna on Saturday: 10:30 a.m. – Science...

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Business Expo and Employment Fair
Okanagan College’s 15th annual Business Expo and Employment Fair returns on Feb. 1

January 18, 2023

For those on the hunt for a new job – or wondering about the educational pathway to kickstart a career change – one of Okanagan College’s most popular community events is back and bigger than ever in 2022. OC’s Business Expo & Employment Fair will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 1 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the Centre for Learning (E Building) Atrium and in the Trades (T Building) Atrium at the Kelowna Campus, 1000 KLO Rd. The Expo is presented by the College’s School of Business, in collaboration with OC’s Trades and Apprenticeship and t...

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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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Katie Thielman
Salmon Arm Campus is More than You Think….

December 13, 2022

Katie Thielman joins a lengthy list of locals who have made Okanagan College’s Salmon Arm Campus her first-choice destination to begin her post-secondary education after high school. She is now one semester in – with no regrets.   Thielman describes Okanagan College (OC) as “a college full of safety nets so you don’t just survive but thrive” in your studies and in life. She explains this means professors are available, know your name, and are willing to go the extra mile to help you succeed. Katie also noted the many support services availa...

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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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Candlelight Vigil text overlay on an image of candles lit in the background
Candlelight Vigils return to OC’s Vernon and Salmon Arm campuses

December 6, 2022

Okanagan College’s Vernon and Salmon Arm campuses will once again be aglow with candlelight on Dec. 6, as a symbolic commitment to end violence against women. Communities in the Okanagan and Shuswap are marking the 33rd anniversary of the École Polytechnique Massacre, in addition to the ongoing cases of missing women from the region, with a Candlelight Vigil on Tuesday, Dec. 6 co-hosted by a network of organizations and volunteers. The event is a collaboration by Okanagan College, Okanagan College Students’ Union (OCSU), Vernon Students’ As...

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Chef Han Lin adds sauce to his rice dish as part of his demonstration to the documentary series host in the background
OC Chef stars in House Special docuseries

November 29, 2022

When it comes to comfort food, sometimes the simplest dishes from childhood land closest to the heart. That's the secret behind the recipe Chef Han Lin shared, when he was interviewed for a Telus documentary, House Special Episode 3: Hungry for Home. House Special is a docuseries exploring Chinese-Canadian history through small town restaurants and the families who run them. In episode 3, the host explores secret menus and hidden Chinese supermarkets, and even features a Kelowna driving range. The episode caps off with a lesson from Han, wh...

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