50 YEARS OF TRANSFORMING LIVES AND COMMUNITIES
1963 – 2013
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September 27, 2013 BLACK PRESS
College provides a great foundation for education By Martha Wickett, Observer Staff
A Message from the Premier Fifty years is a milestone worthy of celebration and I am pleased to congratulate everyone who has contributed to the growth of Okanagan College – its infrastructure, programs and policies. I want to commend the Board of Governors, Education Council, Faculty members, support staff, all employees, industry planners, alumni and current students. They have all helped to create an institution that has changed thousands of lives for the better. Congratulations and enjoy the celebration! Sincerely,
Christy Clark Premier
A college education isn’t as good as one at a university, right? Not so, according to people who have firsthand knowledge of both. Starting out at college is often an advantage, say professors at the Salmon Arm campus of Okanagan College. Chris Clarkson is OC’s chair of history. He speaks of his time teaching at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, where his first-year classes could contain 250 students. Students would line up to have a word with him and, because of sheer numbers, he’d be able to give them a maximum of five minutes each. At Okanagan College, if a student has a question or problem regarding the material, it’s not uncommon for them to receive an hour of their professor’s time. Classes can have as few as 20 students in them. Clarkson points to his own academic history. He attended the College of New Caledonia in Prince George. In his later years pursuing his Masters and PhD at the University of Victoria and the University of Ottawa, he was a top student. Megan Mills is a professor with the Okanagan School of Business. The attitude at colleges and universities is differ-
ent, she says. First-year courses at universities tend to weed out students, while colleges help their students achieve. “Universities take the best students, colleges make the best students.” Brian May teaches first-year sciences at the campus. “We don’t make the exams any easier, we don’t make the topics any easier,” he says. “We do everything we can to make students succeed.” Courses taken at the college transfer well into university, says the profs. In arts and business, students can take their first two years of university studies and then transfer to university – usually to UVic, Thompson Rivers University or UBC Okanagan – to complete their bachelor degree. In the sciences, students take their first year at the college and then go on to university for a second year. In the business program, courses taken for a business administration certificate, for instance, can be used towards a diploma or degree. In the geography department, the unique Southwest Studies program combines geogaphy, English and philosophy by providing students with summer credit courses that include exploring locations such as the Grand Canyon.
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BLACK PRESS September 27, 2013
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A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
50 years
of Transforming Lives and Communities
By Jim Hamilton, President, Okanagan College Imagine yourself entering the doors of the BC Vocational School on Sept. 30, 1963, ready to start your first class in the new institution. If you’d used a phone to learn whether you were accepted to the school, it was connected to the wall by a cord. In all likelihood, you’d received the information via Royal Mail Canada and the envelope wouldn’t have carried a postal code. Those didn’t exist until 1971. Moreover, regardless of whether you lived in Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton or Salmon Arm, you had to leave the region to pursue post-secondary education unless you were in one of the eight programs initially offered in the BC Vocational School. Computers? In 1963, there were a total of 2,000 in North America. None was sitting on a desktop. Cars were mostly North American-made, with the exception of the occasional imported sports car. And seat belts? It would be two years before manufacturers started installing them in all automobiles. Five decades later so much has transpired that could not have been imagined: instant communications at our fingertips, a world of information just a few keystrokes away, and electric cars plugged into our on-campus charging units, all part of a College that offers over 140 programs to more than 20,000 people in 14 locations from Oliver to Salmon Arm. For Roy Brown, the first principal of the BC Vocational School, the administrators and the instructors, there were elements of the future that they could envision: a respected place of advanced learning, imparting skills and knowledge to help generations of students realize their career and life goals. Maybe they didn’t foresee the proliferation of campuses, the computer-aided welding and paint simulators that are part of the curriculum in 2013, or the computer labs and advanced robotics, let alone the significant contributions our students and professors have made to the arts and culture. However, they did know that the growth and development of the region depended heavily on providing access to training and education right here at home. In the same way, the current Board and staff at Okanagan College, which is now among the largest colleges in the province and BC’s second biggest trades training insti-
tution, know something about what the next 50 years will bring. First, they will bring change. There will be new buildings, new classrooms, enhanced shops, new equipment, new instructors, new programs, new curriculum, new technology, and new partnerships with other colleges and universities. What they can only guess at are questions like ... Will the automotive service technician apprentices of 2030 get to work on cars that drive themselves? Will our computer science students be working with our nursing students to diagnose a neural network that ties computers and the internet straight into our brains? Will students be attending classes virtually? Will they have to worry about buying textbooks? Those are questions to which we don’t have answers now, but that will be revealed over time. The next five decades will also bring challenge. Some of that will be wrought by technology. It will come as a consequence of how we access information and the way that is affecting how we learn and teach. It is said that the average Sunday edition of the New York Times today contains more information than a citizen of the 17th century would be exposed to in an entire lifetime. It’s impossible to fathom how much information is available to us now, but it is easy to recognize that it is changing the way we approach learning, and our very lives. Okanagan College’s future will be impacted by a changing economy as well as the needs of our province, country and those communities we serve. People of Aboriginal heritage will play an increasingly important role in the College and the workforce. We also know that Baby Boomer retirees will prompt an increase in the demand for skilled, educated people. We are already seeing greater demand for some trades as work spins up in the shipyards and in resource industries, and as we reinvigorate aging infrastructure or invest in new projects such as the correctional centre slated for the South Okanagan. Pressure is building for additional technology programs to meet industry need as the Okanagan blossoms with new animation and software companies. Health care programming will continue to evolve and grow as the population ages. Okanagan College is already building up its profile in wine, food and tourism programming to keep pace with the international reputation our region is earning.
JIM HAMILTON, President, Okanagan College With the benefit of input from the communities we serve, from industry, and from our own employees, we have identified all these areas – and many others – as points of focus for the College’s future. We are focused on building sustainable programming that supports our campuses and the access to education they provide. As it did back in 1963 and as it has throughout the evolution of our institution, our commitment to providing close-to-home access to quality educational and training opportunities served as the vital element of our mandate. Tens of thousands of alumni will vouch for that as we mark our first 50 years. Our successes have been achieved with the support of government, students, our Board, our staff, many partners and the communities of the Okanagan, Shuswap and Similkameen. We have grown well beyond the vision that launched the BC Vocational School 50 years ago. I am confident, that by 2063 the impact of this institution will be measured in terms of hundreds of thousands of people who have benefited from quality programs that address employer demand, student interest and community needs. Measured in the individual stories of student success, those accomplishments are something to celebrate now, and certainly something to anticipate as we enter another half-century of transforming lives and communities.
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When Premier W.A.C. Bennett planted a dogwood tree in Kelowna at the B.C. Vocational School, the roots spread throughout the Okanagan. The tree died eight years later, but the roots and the vision are thriving and stronger than ever. The tree was planted at the official opening in 1964 at the two-building school, which had opened Sept. 30, 1963 and eventually led to Okanagan College — with four campuses in Kelowna, Penticton, Vernon, and Salmon Arm and education centres in Revelstoke, Summerland and Oliver. But it took a long time. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, several groups in the Okanagan began the drive for a college, but in spite of all the efforts, neither the government nor UBC was interested in establishing a junior college in the Okanagan. In 1959, Kelowna mayor Dick Parkinson hired Dr. Anne Dawe to conduct a feasibility study and in 1960 produced a Supplement to the THE BC VOCATIONAL School’s first graduating class of Practical Kelowna Junior College Survey. Nurses, 1963-64. In 1962, UBC president John B. MacDonald had concluded the Okanagan needed a college. The MacDonald Report on Higher Education in British regional college and elected Frank Venables of Oliver Columbia and a Plan for the Future suggested that two- as chairman. year regional colleges be established, one in Kelowna, One of the first decisions was to hire an American which he recommended be a four-year college. expert on colleges to help them set it up and find a site. “I believe it is desirable … that the people of the They decided on the promontory on the Westside just Okanagan unite to establish a two-year college, which, above the bridge. in a few years, become a four-year Okanagan College.” Norman Walker, principal of a technical college in Okanagan College has a namesake. In 1906, the England, was hired in 1966 to run the proposed colfirst Okanagan College started in Summerland with 26 lege, but he came without knowing the concept had to students. The Baptist college, known as the House on be approved in a referendum. His first job was salesthe Hill, was affiliated with McMaster University in man. Ontario. It closed in 1916 due to the First World War “I went all over the Valley. I knew the Valley better and diminishing funds. than most. I knew the people better than most,” he later Unlike its namesake, the second Okanagan College said from his home in England. survived. Its conception was turbulent, its start rocky, The referendum failed, which sparked an angry exbut its vision grand. change between the Central and North Okanagan, and Even when Bennett vowed the Okanagan would illustrated the resentment that had poisoned attempts to never get a college unless people were willing to pay get a college. for half of it, when the Okanagan Regional College Vernon people were offended by remarks Venables didn’t even have a pencil to call its own, when its first supposedly made to a Vancouver radio station that imleased portable burned down, when the promised rivplied that the referendum failed because of their narrow er of dollars dried up during a change of government, minded and parochial views. that shining vision held true because the drive for exVernon demanded that the college council apolocellence had been imbued in people who worked there, gize, but it refused, saying the council hadn’t made the the real college. statements, but rather an individual member. While Bennett’s announcement of a vocational After the referendum was defeated, Walker resigned school in Kelowna — and Prince George, Nelson and and the $10,000-a-year-lease – for 99 years – on the Nanaimo — was met with rejoicing, it didn’t stop losite for the would-be college was allowed to lapse. The cal parents and politicians from continuing their efforts only thing ever erected there was a $9.50 sign saying to get a college. Site of Okanagan Regional College. In the mid-1960s, 15 men and two women met at But in spite of the animosity of the Okanagan and Kelowna Secondary School and decided to form a failure of the referendum, Okanagan school boards still
From humble beginnings, the evolution of Okanagan College
September 27, 2013 BLACK PRESS
wanted a college. In January 1968, a special committee proposed eliminating Grade 13 classes and starting a two-year university-transfer program in Kelowna, Vernon and Salmon Arm. “This is the way that basically we got started,” said Charlie Finch, second chairman of the Okanagan College council. “The government was funding Grade 13. I guess Bennett said ‘let’s get this business straightened out.’” Walker was in England spending his $30,000 severance when Rowland Grant took over as principal, and convinced Bennett to approve the multi-campus idea. In 1968, classes started in a high school in Salmon Arm, the army cadet camp in Vernon, at KSS in Kelowna. Penticton joined in 1974, starting in an elementary school. Growth came in fits and starts, with every high seemingly matched by a low; times were always tough, but in the early 1980s the college learned a whole new definition of tough. An orgy of growth followed the years of financial repression with new campuses in all centres, followed by expansion until, in 1995, the college evolved into a university college and offered its own degrees. Again, it was a push that had engendered broad community support; the campaign was called Getting There By Degrees. With baccalaureate degrees in hand, the push came to be able to offer Masters and Doctoral degrees. As new specialties evolved at the university college and the institution’s research profile started to blossom, with endowed chairs and the valley’s first Canada Research Chairs, federal funding and granting agency recognition, the institution began pushing the envelope of what legislation and government considered to be a university college. On March 17, 2004 a new era for post-secondary in the valley was ushered in with the announcement that OUC would cease to exist the following year, with UBC taking over many of the programs at OUC’s North Kelowna campus, and Okanagan College resurfacing to champion the role of community college at the KLO campus and in the Vernon, Penticton and Salmon Arm communities. The recent history of Okanagan College has been one of growth, development, a strengthened trades training profile, expansion into aircraft related programs, increased delivery of health care programming, a focus on sustainability, and increased number of undergraduate arts and science options with diploma programs such as human kinetics, writing and publishing, criminal and social justice, environmental studies, international development, and journalism studies.
BLACK PRESS September 27, 2013
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A PROUD PAST. A BRIGHT FUTURE. Thank you. From our community to yours. To our students, employees, alumni, donors, industry partners, employers, and trusted friends - your support is the foundation of our continued success.
1963 – 2013
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The Alumni Association established the Distinguished Alumni Award (DAA) in 2002 to recognize alumni who demonstrate excellence in one or more of the following areas: * Leadership * Public or Community Service * The Environment * The Arts * Business or Industry * Support for Okanagan College Distinguished Alumni Award recipients include:
September 27, 2013 BLACK PRESS
ALUMNUS 2012
ALUMNUS 2011
Ryan Holmes
George Abbott
2012: Ryan Holmes, one of the biggest names in social media today is CEO and founder the multi-million dollar social media management powerhouse, HootSuite. Holmes attended Okanagan College’s Vernon campus in the mid-90s where he took a range of Business, Arts and Computer Science courses. Since its inception in 2009, HootSuite has become the global leader in its field with more than seven million global users, including corporations like Virgin and PepsiCo Inc. using its web-based dashboard to monitor their social media communication on Facebook.
2011: George Abbott, a former MLA and Minister overseeing a variety of portfolios including Education and Health, has a long history with Okanagan College, first as a student in 1971 when he took general studies, then later as a professor of political science at the Salmon Arm campus in 1989. Abbott has been an ardent champion of postsecondary education in the province and most especially within the Okanagan and Shuswap regions.
ALUMNA 2010
ALUMNA 2009
ALUMNUS 2008
Lee Claremont
Launi Skinner
Don Turri
Lee Claremont, a graduate of the Fine Arts diploma program in 1989 has credited Okanagan College with much of her success. She is an internationally respected First Nations artist and aboriginal arts educator and was honoured for her commitment to the arts and education in the Okanagan. Claremont is a philanthropist, an educator and mentor to budding artists.
2009: Launi Skinner attended the Penticton campus and completed her Business Administration diploma in 1985. Skinner has steadily built her career and led successful companies as president including Starbucks, 1-800-GOT-JUNK? and now First West Credit Union, which landed her on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women to Watch list. Skinner has been a strong advocate of Okanagan College’s Business program lending her time to speak to Business student clubs to help mentor them as they embark on their own careers.
Don Turri, the managing director at the McKay LLP in Kelowna, attended Okanagan College in 1974-1975. His volunteer commitments in the local community and accounting industry are extensive, including the United Way, Sunrise Rotary Club, the BC Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Central Okanagan Foundation and Okanagan Sun Football Club to name a few.
ALUMNUS 2007
ALUMNUS 2006
ALUMNUS 2004
Nick Arkle
Robert Louie
Jim Cookson
Nick Arkle attended Okanagan College in 1980-1981 and completed one year of the University Transfer program in Science. He went on to become the Woodlands Manager and Chief Forrester at Gorman Bros Lumber Ltd. Arkle is a very active community volunteer and has been involved in many regional, national and international organizations, such as Hope for the Nations, the Regional District of the Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission, and the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce.
WFN Chief Robert Louie Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient
“Best Wishes on your 50th Anniversary!”
2006: Robert Louie, Chief of the Westbank First Nation, is a 1975 graduate of the Business Administration diploma program who went on to attain his Bachelor of Law degree specializing in Native law. His commitment to Aboriginal Affairs includes roles with the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board, First Nations Finance Authority Inc., Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and the Premier’s Advisory Council of Aboriginal Affairs. Louie is also Chairman of the First Nations Lands Advisory Board and Chairman and Board of Director member of Peace Hills Trust, Canada’s first and largest First Nation Trust Company.
Jim Cookson attained his Business Administration diploma from the Vernon campus in 1982. Cookson has extensive management experience in both domestic and international markets, as founder and president of B & C Entertainment and with Nokia Inc. for more than a decade. Cookson has demonstrated commitment to higher education and Okanagan College, in particular, by meeting with students and providing sponsorship and support to the Business Policy team, as well as establishing an endowment fund to honour the memory of his friend and former classmate Edd Kyle.
BLACK PRESS September 27, 2013
Every year at Okanagan College, Since 2003 alone, the Okanagan hundreds of students have their lives College Foundation has handed out touched by the kindness of strangers. more than $7.7 million in scholarships They’re the ones who cross paths and bursaries to more than 6,100 stuwith the Okanagan College Foun- dents. That’s not including donations dation. Some of them are academic to significant capital campaigns – like achievers. Others have decided to put the successful campaign that raised education first at a time when it may $9.2 million for The Jim Pattison Cenhave seemed impossible due to the cost tre of Excellence in Sustainable Buildof post-secondary education ing Technologies and Renewable These are the students who really Energy Conservation located at the stand out to Kathy Butler, and the ones Penticton campus. Now the Foundation is embarking on who many donors think about when they decide to give funds to the Oka- a new campaign to raise $5-million in nagan College Foundation. capital support as part of the $33-million “I’m always amazed at how many Trades Training Complex at the Kelowstudents are at a critical crossroad in na campus – a renewal project that will their life when they decide to come to serve the province well in addressing the Okanagan College,” said Butler, Exec- current skills gap. In addition, the Founutive Director of the Okanagan College dation is looking to raise another $2-million to support students Foundation. “They’re and programs. so often the ones who “This is a huge prohave found a passion for something, a focus and a “Our donors are gressive initiative that determination to make so generous, will set the stage for the future of trades traina change and advance and they really ing,” said Okanagan their lives through education.” Foundation care about the College This past year the President Alf Kempf. Foundation was able to students they “The fact that former support a single mothMLA Ben Stewart has are helping.” graciously set aside er who chose to return to school because she some of his time to lead ~ Kathy Butler this campaign as our wanted a better future for her nine-year-old Honorary Chair says a twins. Trina Carroll received numer- tremendous amount about the importous awards and bursaries that steadied ance of this initiative.” her and her family so she could conRounding out the campaign leadertinue into her third year of a Bachelor ship team is Campaign Chair Dennis of Business Administration degree. Gabelhouse, Okanagan College Presi“Our donors are so generous, and dent Jim Hamilton, Okanagan College they really care about the students they Foundation President Alf Kempf, Okaare helping,” Butler said. “They see po- nagan College Vice President Raghwa tential everywhere, and when students Gopal, Campaign Ambassador Mike realize that someone believes in them – Roberts, and Central Okanagan Regionit makes all the difference in the world.” al Dean Heather Schneider. More volunThe Okanagan College Founda- teers are needed. tion was established in 2000. Since Butler said ultimately people help then it’s received millions of dollars people. from donors. This money in turn has “When donors see the look of gratibeen handed out to students connect- tude on a student’s face, it never leaves ed to all four of the College campuses – them. We aren’t just handing over in Salmon Arm, Vernon, Kelowna and money. We’re providing them with an Penticton. education – and the tools that will have “In the last 10 years we’ve really a positive ripple effect for decades to seen the connections expand between come.” Okanagan College and the giving comIf you are interested in the munity. People understand that when work of the Okanagan Colwe support our students, we support lege Foundation, please email our future – both socially and econom- foundation@okanagan.bc.ca or call ically,” Butler said. 1-888-650-6968.
50 Years and Counting Your donations have put scholarships in students’ back pockets, equipment in their hands, and leading-edge facilities on Okanagan College campuses throughout this region.
In the Foundation’s first 10 years: • $7.3 million in donations to endowments • $7.7 million in scholarships and bursaries to more than 6,100 students At 50 years, Okanagan College wouldn’t be what it is today without you. Okanagan College Foundation is building for the next 50 years, starting with the new Trades Training Complex at the Kelowna campus.
Be part of the future. Support our students.
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Okanagan College Foundation helps students soar
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www.okanagancollegefoundation.ca Toll-Free: 1-888-650-6968 foundation@okanagan.bc.ca
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September 27, 2013 BLACK PRESS
50 PeoPle Who Made a difference Nominated by alumni, colleagues, students and members of the public, these 50 people made contributions that went beyond the ordinary in building Okanagan College, Okanagan University College, and the B.C. Vocational School or those whose service stretched into the larger community.
Marcia J. aitkens
Theresa arsenault
Keith Bevington
Barbara Bowmar
William (Bill) Boyd
Whitney Buggey
rod charlesworth
Practical nursing instructor
Board Member okanagan college okanagan University college
Volunteer
Past dean of developmental Programs
central Stores employee (retired)
Vernon centre director (retired)
alumnus donor
norm embree
Peter dill
les ellenor
okanagan Studies Professor (retired)
english Professor (retired)
Terry flannigan
Garry Gaudet
Kate Gilchrist
dave Goodall
Past Board chair
Past director of development
communications and community relations Manager (retired)
Past chair english as a Second language
iT Services Manager (retired)
Walter Gray Volunteer fundraiser
Marjorie harris
Michael irwin
nelson Jatel
Murray Johnson
Kara Kazimer
Graham Kershaw
alumna
Theatre lighting Technician (retired)
alumnus
fine arts instructor, dean of applied Studies (retired)
continuing Studies Program administrator President of okanagan college alumni association
Property and Services Manager
robert Koehle
John e. leech
John lent
Bill Macleod
heavy duty Trades instructor (retired)
executive director & registrar, applied Science Technologists and Technicians of Bc
english Professor regional dean north okanagan (retired)
dean of Trades and Technology dean of continuing education director of Kelowna campus (retired)
1963 – 2013
BLACK PRESS September 27, 2013
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50 PeoPle Who Made a difference Here are the names and faces of those who have been chosen as 50 People Who Have Made a Difference. But the chance to acknowledge those others who have made a difference isn’t past: you can still nominate people on the Okanagan College website, visit: www.okanagan.bc.ca/makingadifference
Marlene Mccallum Manager of employee relations (retired)
Stephen W. robinson facilities Management & campus Planning director (retired)
nelson Stromgren alumnus Volunteer
Sharon Mccoubrey Past education Professor
reid Schretlen
rory Mcivor
Beverly Mcnamara
Marie Molloy
Peter Murray
Past Board Member okanagan University college
alumna Practical nursing department chair (retired)
Past human Rights and Conflict Resolution Officer
Physics and astronomy Professor
Gary Schwartz
Sareena Sharma nickoli alumna
lane Shupe
Maureen Stephens
Paul Stephenson
heather Stewart
alumnus
electronic engineering Technology department chair (retired)
alumna Volunteer donor
literacy instructor (retired)
institute for learning and Teaching Program administrator
consultant instructor Volunteer
larry Taylor
edna Terbasket
drew Vincent
rick hirtle
Ki-low-na friendship Society executive director
rick Sheldon Thorpe
clyde Tucker
dean of applied arts and Technology (retired)
Past emeritus administrator of Salmon arm
Student President of enactus okanagan college
Past Board of Governors
Past honourary capital campaign chair donor
Maury Williams
Tony Williams
russ Winslade
Gwen Zilm
history Professor (retired)
Sociology Professor (retired)
Student Services director (retired)
Past VP information Services
1963 – 2013
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Bringing the community’s vision to life By Leah Blain It began as a dream a decade ago, but with hard work and dedication the dream of having a downtown college campus is working its way towards reality. “The Downtown Community Campus Committee’s vision is to expand and relocate Okanagan College to our downtown by 2020. The committee is working in partnership with Okanagan College, the City of Salmon Arm and CSRD to achieve that goal. Once this proposal was endorsed by the Okanagan College Board of Governors late in 2012 – that was a great step forward for us,” says Salmon Arm Economic Development Manager Lana Fitt. “We established sector discussion groups in health, agriculture, and creative arts and discussed long term market needs. These sector groups provided good insight into regional training needs.” Fitt says the BC Labour Market Outlook Report 2010-2020, indicates that the Thompson Okanagan Region is projected to have 110,000 job openings over that same period, the third highest rate of job growth in the Province, and she expects the Salmon Arm Campus of Okanagan College will help prepare residents to take advantage of the expanded opportunities. “Seventy-eight per cent of those jobs are expected to require some level of post secondary education.” In addition to the continuation of trades training and other programs already offered at Okanagan College, there were three program areas iden-
tified as opportunities to complement regional strengths and address industry needs in the Shuswap: agriculture, health and creative arts. “These were suggestions put forward for Okanagan College’s consideration. Agriculture in particular was a strong area of interest, given the industry advancements, particularly in farm management and farm technology.” Student housing will be a necessary component of the downtown community campus in order to attract out-of-region and international students. “The economic value will arrive in the form of student spending at our local businesses, job opportunities through potential expansion of Okanagan Col-
lege, and it will also come in the form of expanding our skilled labour pool, which can feed into our existing businesses as well as attract new industry to our region.” Fitt says what is truly unique about the proposed downtown community campus is that the entire project is driven by local residents and businesses. “The process is now about working with Okanagan Collge to access a suitable parcel of land which we see as the most important next step in moving this project forward.”
September 27, 2013 BLACK PRESS
Remarkable growth in trades training By Tracy Hughes, Observer staff An expanded trades training facility at Okanagan College in Salmon Arm is giving students more opportunities for education closer to home. “When you are doing your apprenticeship, you Okanagan College residential home construction stuoften have to get by and project supervisor Crystal Ensminger goes over on a lot less than when dent plans with Salmon Arm Mayor Nancy Cooper for a new resiyou are working, and dence being built by the program’s students under contractif you have to travel or Rudy Heyde of Heyde Werks Homes. far from home, it can make it out of reach,” said Chris Hanson, in The existing trades building was the carpentry program at Okanagan expanded by 259 square metres College. “It feels great that someone is (2,783 square feet) and a 600-square willing to invest in our future.” metre (6,456-square-foot) covered Carpentry is one of the programs work area has been added. The that has been able to flourish in expansion means Okanagan College Salmon Arm, with all four-years of has capacity for an additional 144 the program now available at the local students - 96 in carpentry and 48 in campus. other entry level trades programs, “Our government has invested including Gateway to the Trades, in innovation and infrastructure Women in Trades and Aboriginal to improve the quality of life for Careers in Trades programs. Canadians and set the foundation for “We have seen remarkable economic prosperity,” said MP Colin growth in trades training in this Mayes. “This investment created jobs region over the past few years,” for people at a critical period while said Okanagan College President improving the infrastructure that Jim Hamilton. “The federal and Okanagan College’s Salmon Arm provincial governments’ support, campus will need for years to come.” along with strong support from The $1-million expansion was this community, has gone a long funded through the Knowledge way in providing greater access to Infrastructure Program, a federalunique and in-demand programming provincial cost-sharing partnership for the people of the region. to improve post-secondary campuses Their commitment demonstrates across the province while stimulating the importance and value of this the economy during the economic investment in education.” downturn.
to all our many Okanagan Colleges for enriching our area for 50 years
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Golden Day of Service to mark five decades of Okanagan College connections with communities On February 14, 2014 Okanagan College will honour 50 years of sustaining strong and dynamic connections with the region’s communities with a Golden Day of Service – a day designated for employees and students to take the opportunity to volunteer at a non-profit organization of their choice. The Golden Day of Service will pay tribute to the relationship between Okanagan College and the communities it serves and will honour the past and present contributions of passionate and tireless College volunteers. Embedded in the local and always responsive, connected and engaged – the College’s main focus has been and remains the life-long learning needs of the people of the Okanagan. Students study and stay in the region they call home -- building successful and fulfilling lives and careers and contributing to economic and community development and diversity. Beyond the classroom, Okanagan College connects education and service daily in a diversity of activities. As volunteers, fundraisers and educators – the human and intellectual capital contained within the College is wholeheartedly committed to responding to regional needs. Community engagement in Kelowna is evident year-round through initiatives large and small, both individual and collective. Highlights include the Annual Youth Exhibition Pow Wow that brings band members from throughout the Okanagan Nation onto campus for a day of dancing, |
BUILDINGS
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EMPLOYEES AND students of Okanagan College will be donating their time to a series of community initiatives during the College’s Golden Day of Service, Friday, Feb. 14, 2014.
drumming, music and culinary treats. During the school year, business students gain skills and sustainably distribute farm produce with their unique Farmbag program. The Penticton campus has seen national attention focused on its new building, the Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence. The net-zero energy building has won several international prizes for sustainable construction and design and was selected as the location for the 2013 Association CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE
of Canadian Community Colleges conference. For Okanagan College however, the most heartwarming benefit has been extensive community use of the new facility. The gym is rented out four nights a week to local athletics teams and the popular Monday night speaker series attracts local residents and employees who learn, mingle and donate to the student emergency fund. In Vernon, numerous volunteer initiatives are underway including the sixth annual Science in Society Speaker Series and the two-acre Kalamalka Demonstration Garden and Patchwork Farm. The demonstration garden was developed in conjunction with four non-profit local service agencies and has an educational and therapeutic focus. Support for regional growth strategies will occur through promoting urban farming, community gardening and sustainable agricultural practice. In Salmon Arm and Revelstoke, community engagement is a central focus. Currently, the Revelstoke Welcoming Communities program connects 12 community partners to provide settlement services for immigrants, going beyond their educational needs to ensure newcomers successfully integrate into their new homes and workplaces. In Salmon Arm, ongoing projects include literacy programs and a multicultural café. Past initiatives saw 1,800 elders visit campus in 2010 for the 34th annual B.C. Elders Gathering, and student construction projects that built low income housing and a women’s shelter.
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Congratulations to Okanagan College on your 50th anniversary.
SPECIAL PROJECTS
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Sharing your vision. Building success. We are more than builders. We are construction partners who are passionate about what we do and about our partners’ success. PCL is proud to have been part of Okanagan College’s success since 2004.
Shown: Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation, which PCL completed in 2011.
Watch us build at PCL.com
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September 27, 2013 BLACK PRESS OKANAGAN COLLEGE’S Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation in Penticton
50 people WHO HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE From a current student to former Board chairs, from advocates to trail builders, from instructors to administrators, the list of people who have been nominated and chosen as 50 People Who Have Made A Difference (see the list on pages 8-9) is an impressive amalgam of expertise, drive, and commitment. More than that, the list is a worthy addition to the names of those individuals who have been formally recognized by both Okanagan College and Okanagan University College for the designations of Honorary Doctorate, Honorary Fellow, the institutions’ Distinguished Service Awards, or the Okanagan College Alumni Association’s Distinguished or Young Alumni awards. (There are more than 75 of those people who the institution has already chosen to honour: you can view that list at www.okanagan. bc.ca/honorees). “The names and faces of the 50 People Who Have Made a Difference really encompass what distinguishes Okanagan College, especially when you think about all the other people we’ve honored in other ways,” says Okanagan College Board Chair Tom Styffe. “Those names speak to connections and contributions to the community by staff, students, alumni and speak of members of the community who have had a very real hand in supporting the development of the College over the years.” An ad hoc committee of volunteer current and former employees (including four of those who have been recognized before for their contributions to the institution) sorted through the nominations as part of the preparations for the 50th anniversary. While looking at the list of nominees, though, they quickly came to realize that while there was a rich collection to inform the list of 50 People Who Made a Difference, there were many more who could – and should – be recognized for their contributions to the institutions and service to the community. “Names sprung to mind, memories were jogged and it was clear that there are innumerable people whose contributions ought to be captured and acknowledged,” says Jayne Brooks, the chair of the committee. “We’ve decided to re-open the opportunity for people to recommend those who deserve recognition.” An online form – at www.okanagan.bc.ca/ makingadifference - will be available until May 30, 2014 and the profiles of those who are nominated will be shared on the website.
A focus on sustainability Okanagan College has an earned reputation for the emphasis it puts on sustainability; one that stretches back decades. Even before 2006 when the B.C. government mandated that all new government buildings should be constructed to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), Okanagan College had made the decision to construct its new $28-million Centre for Learning on the Kelowna campus to LEED Gold specifications: something no other institutional building in the region was being designed for at the time. It was a focus on sustainability that was championed by a student member of the Board of Governors and that the institution’s leadership and facilities department rallied to. But the notion of sustainability was nothing new or fresh at the College. In 1980 newspapers in the area were reporting that Okanagan College was finishing a three-year installation of one of the most sophisticated energy management systems in the province, capable of monitoring and controlling heating, cooling and lighting systems on all the campuses with an expected reduction of 15 per cent in energy costs to the institution. Fast forward from there to the first years of the millennium, when then Associate Vice President of Facilities at OUC, Aidan Kiernan, devised a plan to use the greywater discharge from the City of Kelowna’s Waste Water Treatment Plant to help heat and cool the Kelowna Campus. It’s an initiative that saves hundreds of thousands of dollars, reduces the College’s carbon footprint, and features prominently into the design features of the new $28-million Centre for Learning.
More than a decade later, the project continues to attract international attention for the College and inspires similar initiatives elsewhere. Recycling has also had a long history at the College, and while things were unfolding on the mega-scale, there were also lots of little initiatives that added to the sustainability push: the College brought the first fluorescent-light tube recycling machine to the valley, providing a place where other institutions could bring their tubes so that they could be crushed and the mercury in the ballasts recovered, rather than finding their way to the landfill. Composting, xeriscaping, indigenous flora, green roofs, charging stations for electric cars . . . the evidence of the commitment to sustainability is easy to find. When federal and provincial funding forces aligned in 2008, the College was ready with a proposal to build a $28-million
centre of excellence that would focus on sustainable technologies, and a new path to international prominence was charted. The Penticton campus building, now called the Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation, is among the greenest buildings of its type in the world and has garnered several national and international awards
since opening in 2011. The goal for the building is to be energy neutral and to meet the stringent targets of the Living Building Challenge. New ways of building, new combinations of material, new attitudes and approaches were required to create the structure, that is as much a learning tool as it is a beautiful home for the shops, classrooms and student spaces it encompasses. With a track record of taking things to a new level in terms of sustainability, it was unsurprising that the College decided to look at the renewal and expansion of its trades facility in Kelowna – the original home of the BC Vocational School – with an eye to the greenest possible solution. The goal of the $33-million project ($28 million of it from provincial coffers) is to add on to and renovate the structure to radically reduce its energy consumption and to achieve LEED Platinum status. Part of that effort is already in place. A canopy covering an outdoor work space, already completed as part of the project, features one of Canada’s largest installations of photovoltaic solar panels, generating approximately 200,000 kilowatt hours of energy a year –producing more power than can be used by the building they serve. The plan is that the excess power being generated will be fed back to College’s electrical grid, contributing to the goal of net-zero energy consumption for the project. The system is monitored to show real-time energy production. The project will also feature a reverse-flow heat exchanger, which means that as warm or cold air is exhausted from the building, about 90 per cent of the energy required to heat or cool that air is recovered and used to temper the incoming fresh air.
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Impact of college on Kelowna reaches back generations
BOB KOEHLE, one of the first teachers at the vocational school.
in class, had smoking rights and a common room until someone put a match up to the sprinkler system, causing thousands of dollars of damage. The OC students lost the common room and it became apparent that the College needed its own site to deliver education. In 1969, Rowland Grant, the second college principal, leased two portables and put them on the KLO site near the B.C. Vocational School. But in February 1970, one portable burned down, forcing the college to switch to night school in the vocational school for a semester. The portables were in the middle of a mud bog for much of the year. Finally, a wooden sidewalk was built from the portables to the library in vocational school so students didn’t have to fear losing their boots in the mud. Bill Bowering, who left his footprints and fingerprints all over the college as instructor, dean, vice-president and president, started teaching in those portables. Dr. Bill, as he was affectionately known, or sometimes doctor for his two doctorates, taught organic chemistry. A year after Bowering started teach-
ing in the portable, Erika Henfling started taking classes. The college’s longest serving current employee remembers those portables and the many times she walked there from the library where she worked parttime. She still works in the college library 44 years after being hired by the first librarian, James Cheng. “I had some wonderful instructors,” said Henfling. “It was a smaller, cozier, environment. There was a small number of students, and a lot of personal attention.” When she graduated two years later, she was offered a full-time job at the library and has almost as many stories about the college, the students and the people who work there, as there are books on the shelves. “It has been a progressive career, changing all the time.” Henfling is now in her 44th year at the college, but isn’t sure when she will finally close the book on the Okanagan College chapter of her life. “My husband— retired Okanagan College business professor Jim Burns—doesn’t want me to retire. Home is his turf,” she said with a laugh. Steve Koehle is convinced that the trades training has become stronger since the OUC split in 2005. “There was a certain amount of pride of being in the technologies, trades, the health areas, but the people who had been working there previously weren’t sure whether their programs and students were as well regarded and as important as students who were university-bound and now they
were validated by the new institution and the new structure.” After 30 years, Koehle retired in 2012, but still does contract work for the college. He didn’t envision life in a post-secondary institution when he spent his first three weeks in Kelowna in a campground until his parents found a house. The eight-year-old probably would have been surprised to hear that his climb to the vice-president’s office started not because he was a good teacher— although that didn’t hurt —but because he was presentable. Although he didn’t attend Okanagan College, it was in his blood, the college instructors were his parents’ friends, they played bridge together and they would all go to barbecues at principal Roy Brown’s house; his friends were the children of the other instructors. “I was always impressed and intimidated by some of the equipment; it was pretty cutting edge at the time. When I was a teenager, I managed to get my car in there for somebody to work on. We were around and about the place from time to time.” He intended to be a high-school teacher after
Congratulations
Okanagan College hasn’t moved from the spot where the B.C. Vocational School opened 50 years ago, but it has come a long, long way. It started with 96 students, nine instructors, eight courses and injected $6,000 a month into the Kelowna economy. Today, the organization that grew from the B.C. Vocational School serves 20,000 students per year, with 1,100 employees, 140 programs, four campuses, several centres and is worth more than $500 million a year to the regional economy. Three generations of Koehles have walked the halls of various campuses starting with the patriarch, Bob Koehle, one of the original teachers at the vocational school and the college’s first 25-year employee. Steve Koehle watched his father go off to work as a heavy-duty mechanic instructor for years before he started teaching there, and then watched his son Adam, and daughter, Emma, head off to classes. Bob Koehle wasn’t feeling particularly scholarly when he headed off to work on Sept. 30, 1963. He threw up. He was 34 and had never taught a day in his life. He and the vocational school, which merged with Okanagan College in 1971, learned and grew together. The college started instantly in 1968 when, with the stroke of a pen, Grade 13 was eliminated. Instead of going into Grade 13 at Kelowna Secondary School, Grade 12 students were taught first-year university courses by Okanagan College instructors. The 165 college students spent fewer hours
STEVE KOEHLE, Vice President of Students, celebrated the launch of the new Okanagan College by serving up pancakes to students in September 2005.
graduating from Simon Fraser University, but got a job teaching at the college in Vernon before moving to the Kelowna campus in adult basic education. “When the college was starting their international program, I was asked by the dean and president to take on a quasi leadership role. When I asked ‘why me?’ they said ‘You work hard, and seem like a decent instructor
and we need someone who is presentable when the delegations come around.’” He became a department chair, dean of the Faculty of Adult and Continuing Education (FACE) and eventually vice president after helping lead the transition team as Okanagan University College was split into Okanagan College and the University of British Columbia Okanagan.
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Trades students to welcome a new home in Kelowna For Kip Frasz, news of the $33-million expansion and renewal of the Okanagan College Trades Complex in Kelowna comes a little late. The automotive service technician will be finished his apprenticeship before the ambitious project of renovation and growth is wrapped up in 2016. Still, Frasz understands and appreciates the need for the reboot on the facility, much of which dates back to 1963 when the BC Vocational School opened its doors in Kelowna. “The classrooms are old, crowded, even the fluorescent lighting is dated,” says the mid-40s apprentice who has nearly completed the path to Red Seal certification. “The building itself doesn’t match the quality of the education that is being delivered. There’s no room to really sit down and study.” (And when Frasz is not at school, he has a job with one of the valley’s bestknown and respected auto dealers). “The equipment and the instruction is great,” says Frasz, who admits that having the opportunity to re-skill without having to leave his home was a terrific advantage. “It wouldn’t have been easy to go for six weeks to Vancouver or Calgary, in terms of separation from my wife or the expense involved.”
KIP FRASZ, a student at Okanagan College, appreciates the need for the upgrade and renovation of the Okanagan College Trades Complex.
Proximity and access aside, Frasz is among the many apprentices and graduates who will say that the learning environment - the physical learning environment - in the existing Trades building leaves a lot to be desired. When it is complete, the trades complex on the Kelowna campus will be home to more than 2,400 students and apprentices annually, and will feature a 10,649 square-metre combination of shops and classrooms as well as a 566-squaremetre building for heavy duty and commercial transport programs, plus a canopy covering a 1,858 square-metre outdoor shop space. One of the driving reasons for the renovation and expansion (which was
September 27, 2013 BLACK PRESS
THE NEW Okanagan College Trades Complex is expected to be completed in 2016.
announced by the Province in 2012) is to consolidate some of the trades programming that is now offered at leased sites off campus in Kelowna (in buildings on Ackland and Penno Road). Approximately 750 students who are taking programs in those spaces will find homes at the Kelowna campus. (The College’s Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Structures program will continue to be offered at the airport in conjunction with Flightcraft). Sarah Brayshaw is another of those students who thinks that work on the trades complex is overdue. The 26-year-old was among the first all-female trades class in metal fabrication in Kelowna. Brayshaw is grateful for the experience at the institution, but acknowledges that the 50-year-old buildings are beyond due for a makeover and improvements. The facilities might cause some women to hesitate when making the decision to set foot in an aging building that looks more like their parents’ old high school. “It’s hard when the environment doesn’t support what you’re teaching,” she said. “I think having a truly designated building for the trades will help.” Clean and fresh counts, says Brayshaw, and a new $33-million building such as the one under construction will do a lot to attract the current generation into the trades. “If the College can present a cleaner more modern appearance, that will make the trades a lot more attractive – especially for women.” While the project is about improved spaces for students and instruction, it’s also about reducing carbon footprint and leading by example. The goal for the project is LEED Platinum certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and it is striving to operate with net zero energy. Part of that solution is already in place, with one of Western Canada’s largest arrays of photovoltaic solar panels adorning the roof of the canopy over the outdoor shop area. (That was completed this summer as part of the Phase One of the project). “We see this as a chance to integrate new construction thinking, responsible design and to help advance the agenda of energy-conscious renovation of aging public infrastructure,” says Heather Schneider, the College’s regional dean for the Central Okanagan. “We can boast of having the first building in the region that was completed to LEED Gold standards (the $28-million Centre for Learning) and now we’re going to take that to the next level. “When we’re done, we hope that what is now one of the worst buildings in the post-secondary sector in terms of energy consumption will be a shining example of energy management and conservation.” IN 1961 Premier W.A.C. Bennett announced a vocational school would open in Kelowna. Construction on the KLO Road campus began shortly after and was complete by 1963.
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Hair yesterday, gone tomorrow SEARCH ON FOR OKANAGAN COLLEGE ALUMNI Okanagan College Alumni Association is on the lookout for 25 alumni to help celebrate its 25th anniversary. It’s all part of a big year for Okanagan College, which is also recognizing its 50th year since the College was established in Kelowna in 1963. OCAA president Kara Kazimer said the anniversary is a perfect time to showcase the success of Okanagan College alumni right here in the Okanagan, and an opportunity to seek out others who have ended up across the country and around the world. “It’s a bit like playing a real-life version of Where’s Waldo, because you never really know where in the world you’ll find an Okanagan College alumnus,” she said. “While we’ve only been around for 25 years, our alumni span twice that timeframe and we’re curious about where they are today.” Kazimer said the education students receive at the College often sets students up for tremendous success. Notable Okanagan College alumni include Spoken World poet, writer and performer Shane Koyczan, Westbank First Nation Chief Robert Louie and software developer Ryan Holmes, the CEO of the popular social relations platform HootSuite that recently succeeded in raising $165-million US in venture financing. Kazimer said you just never know how the experience at Okanagan College determines a person’s future until you ask. “As I hear more from our alumni, what I notice is how often their future direction is influenced by their experience at the College,” Kazimer said. Case in point Jacki Zehner, who attended Okanagan College for two years and went on to become the youngest woman and first female trader to become partner
IF YOU know any of these groovy guys who were hanging out in the chem lab in the 1970s, the Okanagan College Alumni Association would love to track them down.
of Goldman Sachs in 1996. She’s now an international women’s advocate working as CEO of the non-profit organization Women Moving Millions. “I remember being at Okanagan College and writing a paper on sex differences between men and women for a psychology class,” Zehner said. “Now 30 years later after a career in finance, advancing gender equity has become my passion. Pretty cool!” Kazimer hopes other alumni will come forward who have stretched their minds, and their creativity in a variety of fields. “Profiling our alumni provides us not only with a sense of pride, but it also creates an avenue for alumni to connect with those they might otherwise not be aware of. Being active with the alumni really is the ultimate networking tool.” Anyone interested in being profiled can contact OCAA toll-free at 1-888-6506968, or email alumni@okanagan.bc.ca. Deadline for entries is Dec. 31, 2013.
Here for us yesterday
and today
Tools and technology change. What doesn’t change at Okanagan College is the educational experience. You taught us skills, how to think critically, and how to apply that training. These lessons allowed us to succeed – no matter what the decade. Congratulations on your 50th, Okanagan College. We wouldn’t be where we are today without you.
www.okanagan.bc.ca/alumni • Toll-free 1-888-650-6968
1963 – 2013
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50 Congratulations on
years UBC applauds Okanagan College’s long and distinguished history serving our region. As a proud partner of Okanagan College, we salute all who have done so much for post-secondary education throughout the Okanagan over the past five decades.