OCNews

Q: What’s your hometown?

A: Salmon Arm, I’ve lived here for most of my life.

Q: How did you end up at Okanagan College?

A: Honestly it was a number of different things that had me deciding on Okanagan College. The biggest contributor was the location, the Shuswap is a beautiful area and I have family here in Salmon Arm. 

Q: How did you choose your program?

A: Nearing the completion of high school, I wasn’t 100% sure what I wanted to do afterwards. In the end I decided on the Business Administration program because I believed that it would provide a good, safe foundation for a number of different career paths, or further education depending on what I later decided. The program was an excellent option to leave a great many doors open for my future, and I’m quite happy with my decision.

Q: What is your area of interest?

A: That’s a tricky one, there’s lots of interesting material. When I started the program, I was pretty positive that marketing would be the most interesting to me. It actually ended up being management that held my interest the best of all my first-year classes. As of late, I’ve also taken an interest in business as it relates to Canadian law and legislation.

Q: What do you like most about the program?

A: I would have to say the support that is provided. The professors are great at answering questions and making sure the class content is well understood. The smaller class sizes tend to make the whole experience a little less intimidating as well. Additionally, many other academic resources, such as the Success Centre, have been very helpful with my studies.

Q: Favourite class experience?

A: I’ve done my first year through online learning because of the current state of the world. While that could be taken as a negative, it gave me numerous opportunities to meet and speak with people outside my community. I’ve been given the chance to speak with students as far away as Beijing and the Philippines, which are experiences I never would have had otherwise and consider pretty awesome.

Q: Who gave you the best advice you ever received?

A: That’s another tricky one. I can’t think of an isolated example, but my friends and family have always supported the message of “doing whatever you want to do with your life.” It sounds simple but I think it’s really important. If you’re not doing what you really want to do with your life, it’s a lot harder to be happy with it.

Q: What advice do you have for new OC students?

A: Organization and planning are your best friends, try to keep an up to date schedule with what you have to do, and when it needs to be done. Make use of the resources provided, there are plenty of them, and they are all there to support your learning. Lastly, be good to yourself and don’t be hesitant to take a step back if you find yourself getting overwhelmed.

Q: What will you be doing in 10 years?

A: I seem to have a different answer to that question every year. There are so many interesting things to do out there. Ideally, in 10 years I would like to be practising business law or environmental law in the Okanagan, hopefully doing work to support a more sustainable future for our planet.