OCNews

Articles tagged "Vernon"

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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Entrepreneurship Professor Andrew Klingel hangs out with Chewbacca during a holiday break
Meet Andrew Klingel, Business Administration Professor

April 27, 2021

Q: What is your education and background? A: I have a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master's of Business Administration from Queen’s University. Q: What is your area of interest? A: Prior to joining Okanagan College, I consulted for major corporations such as Telus, TD and General Motors — but my true passion is entrepreneurship. I have been involved with many new ventures as an operator, investor and advisor.  For example, I joined a software start up that grew from $0 in sales to ov...

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Vernon Trades student
Knuever Legacy Fund makes major investment in Vernon students

March 30, 2021

A new awards fund at Okanagan College will more than double the value of annual support available for students attending the Vernon campus. Kurt and Jutta Knuever have donated $210,000 to create the K&J Knuever Legacy Awards, which will provide up to $70,000 annually in tuition and living support to students entering trades programs or the Health Care Assistant program over the next three years. The awards reflect the value the Knuever family place on education, especially hands-on skills training that can add value to an individual’s l...

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Aja Zeniuk, Esthetics and Nail Technology graduate
College Esthetics grad lets creativity shine

January 20, 2021

Grads celebrate educational achievements with virtual ceremony Jan. 23. Aja Zenuik knew she had an artistic eye and wanted to apply her creativity to an industry that would keep her skills in demand in the Okanagan and beyond. She found that opportunity through the Esthetics and Nail Technology certificate program at Okanagan College. On Jan. 23, she will join more than 2,000 OC students being recognized during the College’s first-ever online convocation ceremony which celebrates the efforts of students graduating from June 2020 to this Ja...

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Masked elementary student with a hat on picks an apple in an orchard
Enactus’ FruitSnaps transitions into social enterprise

December 8, 2020

The award-winning Enactus initiative FruitSnaps is now running as a social enterprise after the student-run team recently launched apple juice boxes. The direct result of an abundant number of apples over the fall semester, the five-litre boxes of fresh apple juice are now available locally and online for purchase. All proceeds go back into the program and help to keep it sustainable. OC alumni, staff and community members were among the first people who showed up to help the Enactus team pick the approximately 13,000 pounds of apples that ...

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