OCNews

Articles tagged "Vernon"

Vernon student housing announcement
New Okanagan College student housing, childcare centre on target to open in 2024 in Vernon

April 21, 2023

When she decided to attend Okanagan College, student-parent Sarina Parsons was faced with the challenge of finding childcare while balancing her course schedule. She says it added stress at a time where she wished she could have been more focused on her learning.   In just over a year, students like Sarina will have access to childcare and on-campus living options at Okanagan College’s Vernon campus, when doors open at a new mass-timber student housing building currently under construction. The 100-bed student housing project and Sunflower ...

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Erum Ahmad and family
OC alum finds golden opportunity for unique jewelry business

April 17, 2023

OC alum Erum Ahmad polished up a business idea that lets her creativity shine. Now she is building that interest into a business that allows her to tap into her culture and draw from her Pakistani roots. Erum, who completed her Bachelor of Business Administration from OC in 2021, has been busy since graduating. Along with starting ERUM, her jewelry business, she works as an accountant and is studying for her CPA certification. In addition, she is head of finance with Bollywood Bang, a local fundraiser event benefiting the Vernon Jubilee Ho...

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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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Grid of images from OC campuses, clockwise from top left: Penticton, Vernon, Kelowna and Salmon Arm
Alumni engagement poll

November 21, 2022

The Okanagan College Alumni Association invites alumni to participate in a quick poll. It will help assess the current state of alumni engagement at Okanagan College and establish a baseline for future tracking. OCAA is hoping to engage current OC employees who are also alumni, who may not receive messages. The survey should take approximately 2-4 minutes. To ensure confidentiality, your responses to this survey will be anonymized and combined with those of other respondents. Complete the survey by Tuesday, Dec. 6. To participate, please c...

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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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Salmon Arm Open House
Fall Open House and Info Sessions return at Okanagan College

October 14, 2022

High school students, parents and people of all ages considering post-secondary education – mark your calendars. Okanagan College is opening its doors this fall for a series of Open Houses and Spotlight Sessions across the region, the first of which is happening at OC’s Salmon Arm campus on Tuesday, Oct. 18. Events will then follow: Open House and Spotlight Sessions in Penticton on Wednesday, Oct. 26 First Year FAQs in Vernon on Oct. 26 and Open House and Spotlight Sessions on Wednesday, Nov. 2 Open House in Kelowna on Saturday, Nov. 19 “We...

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OC English Professor Hannah Calder (left) with Lake Country poet Sharon Thesen
Evening marking 15 years of OC Writing and Publishing program celebrates creative community

September 12, 2022

Writers and fine artists in the North Okanagan have found a lot of reasons to celebrate this fall. Fifteen years’ worth of reasons, to be exact. The community of poets, fiction and creative non-fiction writers are coming together for Celebrating 15 Years of Writing and Publishing, an evening devoted to the collective showcase of students, alumni, instructors and former faculty members. “We have such a dedicated and talented community of writers, with a long history of promoting creativity in the region. This is a significant milestone for ...

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Early Childhood Educator working with children
OC pilots tuition-free work-integrated learning for Early Childhood Education

July 26, 2022

Okanagan College is offering tuition-free Early Childhood Education (ECE) training with an innovative approach – providing students the opportunity to become certified during work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences as they provide education and care for young children. “Okanagan College is keenly aware of how many trained ECEs are in demand across the sector. This pilot project, with support from the Government of B.C., will increase access to education for people seeking certification, going a long way to meeting that need,” says Yvonne...

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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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Day of Mourning
Day of Mourning BC 2022

April 25, 2022

A gathering that honours the memory of workers who have been killed, injured, or suffered illness because of work-related incidents is taking place at the end of the month.  In 2021, there were 161 work-related deaths in B.C. This is the highest it has been in the past six years, with the most dangerous subsector being General Construction. Three work-related death claims have been filed in the Okanagan-Similkameen region.  Day of Mourning BC hopes to renew our commitment to creating safer workplaces.   First recognized in 1984 by The Canad...

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English Professor Hannah Calder reads while sitting in her home office by a window
Gala screenings for Why We Write: Poets of Vernon showcase work of OC faculty

April 21, 2022

A documentary that began in 2017 will screen next week with its first screenings.  The project, produced and directed by OC English Professor and self-proclaimed budding filmmaker Hannah Calder and Curtis Emde is having upcoming gala screenings at the end of the month in Vernon.  Why We Write: Poets of Vernon features the thriving writing community in the North Okanagan community. Calder and Emde wanted to showcase poets who were born in Vernon, who have chosen to live their lives in the valley and the Syilx storytellers who have long been ...

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Candlelight Vigil text overlay on an image of candles lit in the background
Dec. 6 Candlelight Vigils return to OC’s Vernon and Salmon Arm campuses

December 2, 2021

Candlelight is returning to Okanagan College’s campuses, as a symbolic commitment to end violence against women. Communities in the Okanagan and Shuswap are marking the 32nd anniversary of the École Polytechnique Massacre, in addition to the ongoing cases of missing women from the region, with a Candlelight Vigil on Dec. 6 co-hosted by a network of organizations and volunteers. “The SAFE Society has been partnering with Okanagan College and students for over a decade to offer the Dec. 6 event, as an important way to remember and honour wome...

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Two Early Childhood Education students showcase their presentation during National Child Day
ECE department celebrates National Child Day

November 19, 2021

Education is a powerful tool to advocate for those who can't advocate for themselves, which was why Early Childhood Education (ECE) students spent National Child Day talking to peers about the difficulties children face in Canada and around the world. National Child Day is officially observed on Nov. 20, but ECE Instructor Rebecca Ayotte said she and her students wanted to do something this week to bring awareness not just in the ECE department, but throughout the College as well. The class set up presentations in the CFL Atrium in Kelowna ...

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Melissa Munn and Chris Clarkson
Okanagan College professors pen in-depth book on history of Canadian corrections

October 22, 2021

Discourse about the lived experiences of those behind bars is about to break free across the country, with a special virtual book launch event next week. Okanagan College Sociology Professor Melissa Munn and History Professor Chris Clarkson joined forces to co-author Disruptive Prisoners: Resistance, Reform and the New Deal, published this fall by University of Toronto Press. The book is a collective biography that reconstitutes the histories of Canada’s federal prison system in the mid-20th century – constructed after years of extensive r...

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FruitSnaps Team
Volunteers needed for a sweet cause: Enactus OC students invite community to join them in picking apples

September 17, 2021

A group of Okanagan College business students are once again 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. Launched in the fall of 2018, Fruit Snaps is a Vernon- and Penticton-based project co-ordinated by Enactus OC students in partnership with the North Okanagan Valley Gleaners Society facility. It’s focused on taking unused apples from local orchards and dehydrating them into snacks for local schools. The Fruit Snaps team ...

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