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October 7, 2015
Ride for kids brings out all the emotions
Inside
Okanagan College
KEVIN PARNELL
Students’ Union is making every effort to get young people to vote. ...............................
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Kids continue to set the example for adults. See their stories on pages .................
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Awesome in every way. That’s how Lake Country RCMP Const. Brandwyn Rigby describes the 10-day, 1,000-kilometre Cops For Kids bike ride that she took part in this year, an event that raised over $350,000 for the organization that helps kids and families in need. From her ascent of the 1,575 metre Paulson Summit near Castlegar, to sweltering through 38 C heat in Oliver, to hail and a 2 C chill in Cranbrook, to riding through her home detachment in Lake Country, there
wasn’t a part of the Cops for Kids ride that Rigby didn’t love. “Awesome is probably the best word and in all the ways that awesome means: Humbling, awe inspiring, amazing,” she said. “We had a lot of laughs and there were tears. There were a lot of high highs and low lows. We experienced the full spectrum, physically and emotionally.” The Cops for Kids annual fundraising ride takes place each year and raises funds for the RCMP’s charitable organization. As the riders made stops in different communities in the region, families who have been
CONTRIBUTED
LAKE COUNTRY RCMP Const. Brandwyn Rigby called this year’s Cops for Kids
helped by Cops for Kids came out to share their stories. “That was the humbling part,” she said. “We met families who were there to say, ‘Thank-you so much because in our time of need you had our back.’ We heard some pretty amazing stories from people who just needed some help.” Riding together as part of a team was a natural extension of their jobs, said Rigby. As peace officers riders are used to helping each other out and on the ride it was no different as they encouraged each other to keep on riding over the 10day trek. On the long ascent to the top of the Paulson Summit, the only stretch where the pack of riders separated and went on their own, Rigby said she had time to think and it was all about the people that the charity supports and help.
SEE RIDE A3
rides “awesome,” especially the support she received from Lake Country.
Students need to exercise their voting power KEVIN PARNELL
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The president of the Okanagan College Faculty Association says students appear to be more engaged in this year’s federal election than any other in recent memory. Tim Walters says if those students realize the voting power that they have, even more might get out and vote. “There is no question students have massive (voting) power, this is what I have been talking to my students about,” said Walter, who works
at the Salmon Arm campus of Okanagan College and represents the college’s faculty association. “They have the power but they are completely unaware. “If you flip the numbers between voting rates for seniors and students we would have a different Prime Minister and a different Premier.” With UBC Okanagan and Okanagan College operating in Kelowna and with satellite campuses around the Okanagan Valley, it’s estimated some 20,000 students are hitting the
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[Students] have the power but they are completely unaware. Tim Walters, Okanagan College Faculty Association
books in the Okanagan. Walter says those are
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No Nonsense Action & Results
big numbers of potential voters that can make a difference in this election. However past elections have shown that young people don’t get out and vote as much as the older generations. In the 2011 federal election, according to Elections Canada, just under 39 per cent of eligible voters aged 18 to 24 cast ballots, compared to more than 75 per cent of voters aged 65 to 74. To get young people engaged and feeling that their vote matters, many have taken to technology
and social media, including a former Okanagan College student and now Concordia journalism student Matthew Heuman. Heuman developed an app this year called Vote Note in an effort to pick up the slack he says Elections Canada has dropped, providing voter information in an easy to use app that people can access on their phones. Heuman says the Fair Elections Act, introduced by the Harper Government, will make it harder for youth to vote. So the former
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Penticton resident took it upon himself to develop the app for smart phones to provide the information, not only to the 18 to 24 demographic but to all Canadians. “We just see this as the next step forward,” said Heuman in an interview with Black Press. “Everyone has a smart phone and this should have been available 10 years ago. We didn’t reinvent the wheel here, we just made all the resour-
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