Students
Success brewing for OC student with bursary award
January 31, 2022
Mother, volunteer, former brewer, Business student and now, award-winner. Annika Kirk has many titles and is used to juggling work, life and every other curveball that comes her way, which helped her shine when she applied for the Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) Paul and Gerri Charette Bursary Award. Kirk received the news in a unique way: AVĚěĚĂ President Neil Fassina announced she won the bursary during a meeting of the Board of Governors, of which she is a student representative. “It was a complete shock and I crie...
Read more...
Sexual Assault Awareness Month
January 25, 2022
The following is a statement from the Sexual Violence Prevention Committee at AVĚěĚĂ. According to a Statistics Canada report, 71% of students witnessed or experienced unwanted sexualized behaviours in a Canadian post-secondary setting in 2019. These behaviours reportedly happened on campus, or in an off-campus situation that involved students or other people associated with the school. Among students, 45% of those who identified as women and 32% of those who identified as men personally experienced at least one such behavior in ...
Read more...
OC business students seek community support to launch investment fund
January 5, 2022
Justin Rantucci and Steven Fiust speak highly of their education at AVĚěĚĂ, but there is one thing they would like to change. When networking with other finance students at post-secondary institutions across Canada, they learned that schools with a student-run investment fund seemed to result in a better transition to finance careers for their graduates. Seeing an opportunity to provide hands-on experience for more OC students while building capacity locally, Rantucci, Fiust and fellow student Riley Dunsmore are looking to...
Read more...
New year brings new career by starting studies in January
November 15, 2021
The coming year brings new career training opportunities for Shaylyn Douglas. Douglas will be returning to the classroom in January with her sights set on training to advance her career in health care at AVĚěĚĂ. In addition to beginning the Practical Nursing Diploma program at the Penticton campus, Douglas received a financial boost to aid her studies when she won the $5,000 OC Tuition Giveaway Contest. “I wasn’t sure what career path I wanted to pursue until I had the opportunity to interact with patients in the physician’s ...
Read more...
New funding connects people to tourism careers in the Okanagan
November 15, 2021
The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction has announced a program that will provide skills training to as many as 30 eligible British Columbians to prepare them for jobs in the hospitality industry in the Okanagan and Shuswap regions. “Graduates of this skills-training project will be qualified for a variety of jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors,” said Nicholas Simons, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction. “The training participants receive will prepare them for exciting careers and give them an oppo...
Read more...
Meet Dooshima Jessica Iyorchir, Marketing and Data Analytics student
November 1, 2021
Q: What’s your hometown? A: I was born in the big city of Lagos in Nigeria. Q: How did you end up at AVĚěĚĂ? A: I ended up at AVĚěĚĂ because they offer a unique data analytics program when compared to other colleges and universities. The contents of this program drew my attention to the college, I just had to apply to be here. Q: How did you choose the Marketing and Data Analytics program? A: I chose this program because it has always been of in...
Read more...
Meet Joey Bruno, Automotive Collision and Refinishing student
November 1, 2021
Q: Why did you choose a career in Collision Repair? A: I’ve grown up around the industry, my father’s been a technician for 30 years but has worked for Craftsman for over 20 years. My uncle also has 20+ years experience as an automotive painter and now works as a Red Seal Automotive Collision Technician for Craftsman as well. Q: How did your training with OC help prepare you for your current role? What is your current position? A: Currently, I am working as a Level 2 Collision R...
Read more...
Meet André Bertram, Computer Information Systems student
November 1, 2021
Q: What’s your hometown? A: Kingston, Jamaica. Q: How did you end up at AVĚěĚĂ? A: My immediate family settled in the Okanagan Valley for some time now, and I wanted to join them. After some thinking, I thought going to school and contributing to the Canada would be a good approach. I just had to figure out which school. With research, and with some assistance from my older sister and mom, I found that AVĚěĚĂ was an excellent institut...
Read more...
AVĚěĚĂ Coyotes win the Canadian College Baseball Conference
October 15, 2021
The AVĚěĚĂ Coyotes baseball team pulled out all the stops this past weekend, taking home first place in the Fall Championship of the 2021 Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) league. All eight teams in the CCBC came to play for the first time since May 2019. “It was really nice to see all the eight teams competing again after such a tough time due to COVID,” says Head Coach Geoff White. “I applaud all the student athletes from all the programs for sticking with it to get back to this point.” The Coyotes’ weekend started ...
Read more...
OC student wins completion grant as part of inaugural Tourism Management Diploma program
October 14, 2021
For one AVĚěĚĂ student, embracing Tourism Management Diploma (TMD) studies at the Revelstoke Centre has truly paid off. Stephanie Sonsona has been named the recipient of the Revelstoke Accommodation Association’s completion grant for 2021, receiving $1,000 to support her education. She first began exploring post-secondary study options while in her home country of the Philippines, and was introduced to the TMD program through AVĚěĚĂ’s International AVĚěĚĂ department. She was drawn to the new tourism-focused program...
Read more...
OC Culinary Arts students serve Thanksgiving meals to students in need
October 8, 2021
AVĚěĚĂ Culinary students and instructors helped to spread Thanksgiving gratitude to students on Friday with a holiday inspired meal. Students pulled out all the stops to prepare a Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings for students in need as part of the innovative OC Serves Up program. The program was launched in the middle of the pandemic last year to combat food insecurity and has just relaunched this past week for the new academic year. “OC Culinary Arts students serve 50 meals a day to students in need as part of the OC...
Read more...
New LPN Orthopaedic Program at OC Set to Start in January 2022
September 22, 2021
Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) will have a learning option for advanced orthopaedic knowledge and skills that keeps them closer to home. The new LPN Orthopaedic Certificate offered at AVĚěĚĂ (OC) is the first of its kind in British Columbia. Launching in January 2022, the online certificate program is set to increase access to advanced orthopaedic education for nurses throughout the province and minimize travel requirements. “This program will meet the provincial need for a local solution for training opportunities to buil...
Read more...
Lawren Richards
September 3, 2021
“I am a single mom to 17-year-old twins. We had been living in a 400-square-foot cabin about an hour from town when an opportunity came up that would allow me to purchase some land and build my own home closer to town and my kids’ school. I have always been interested in natural building but I don’t have a carpentry background so I enrolled in the Carpenter Foundation program in Salmon Arm. I was the only woman in the class and much older than my classmates, so I was a bit...
Read more...
Ty Sideroff
September 3, 2021
“I have always been interested in our anatomy and exercising so I enrolled in OC’s Kinesiology Diploma program. My first year was going really well, then COVID-19 hit. I was able to finish the first year in an online format. However, starting school in September completely online, I was struggling to stay engaged with my studies. Before COVID, many of our classes would be active and in the gym. I found it hard to stay present with everything online and not having the same conve...
Read more...
Saige Girouard, Red River, MĂ©tis Nation
September 3, 2021
“In my second year of studies I connected with a classmate over our shared curiosity to learn more about our Indigenous backgrounds. I’m MĂ©tis, but my family didn’t practice Indigenous customs. My classmate went on to be very successful in reconnecting with her culture. Watching her hit those milestones I knew that if she could do it, I could do it too. I’d say the tipping point for me was winning a bursary from AVĚěĚĂ to attend the Indigenous Women’s Leadership Summi...
Read more...
Incoming OC Salmon Arm student wins a $40,000 scholarship
August 31, 2021
Salmon Arm student Savannah Lamb has 40,000 reasons to be excited to begin her educational journey at AVĚěĚĂ this fall. Thanks to an external $40,000 scholarship from the Beedie Luminaries foundation, Lamb will begin the Associate of Arts program at the College’s Salmon Arm campus in the fall, worry-free. “When I found out about receiving this scholarship, I was so surprised and it took me a while to process it,” says Lamb. “After it sunk in, I shared the news with my family, and we had the chance to celebrate together.” Lamb a...
Read more...