November 2019

Published by the Centennial College Student Association Inc. November 2019, VOL 24 ISSUE 02

BRING IT

ON!

The school year is in full-swing! See how the CCSAI celebrated their 50th Anniversary, Homecoming and the Colts’ Home Opener! PG 7-9 Plus, get some great tips for rocking the rest of the year and an update from the AWC. PG 14-15

Photographer

Journalist

Graphic Designer

The Courier is looking for contributors to write, design or take pictures of anything Centennial College.

Get some experience, get a little money and get your work published.

Email gmosher@centennialcollege.ca

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Index 7

Check out photos from our celebrations Homecoming, CCSAI’s 50th Anniversary party and the Home Opener!

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With all the talk of vaping bans and smoke-free campuses, we wanted to take a look back to see what it was like 30 years ago.

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Do you like drones, planes and technology? Check out the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Centennial!

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MASTHEAD

Need a quick and healthy meal to keep you fueled?

Try out this great recipe for a healthy option!

Editor-In-Chief Geoffrey Mosher

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HomeShare Toronto provides a heartwarming (and affordable!) housing solution for seniors and students.

Graphic Designers Mary Assenza Jaime Muñoz

Contributors Jordan Tan

Our Homecoming Celebration and the 50th Anniversary party for the CCSAI were an incredible night to remember! Check out the galleries to see photos from this unforgettable event!

Get your quick fix: EVENTS RECAP PAGE 7-9

PROFILES PAGE 12-13

HISTORY PAGE 10-11

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QUESTIONS/ CONCERNS? Geoffrey Mosher Communications CCSAI 416-289-5000 Ext. 8713 gmosher@centennialcollege.ca

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Letter from the

PRESIDENT I hope your fall semester is going well and that you had a relaxing and restful Engagement Week after a busy first half.

We hosted Homecoming and our 50th anniversary with the Centennial College Alumni Association and the college community on Oct. 13. We were able to welcome back previous student leaders and alumni to the Student Centre. It was a great night of celebration and engagement. Board members were able to meet and learn from board members from previous years and we were able to share in the great memories through the years.

We also held our annual general meeting in October. It was exciting to see so many new clubs ratified at the meeting. If you are interested in getting involved you can visit ccsai.ca/clubs to see the whole list and to reach out if you want to join.

Karamjeet Singh, President CCSAI KARAMJEETSINGH@CENTENNIALCOLLEGE.CA 416-289-5000 EXT. 2324

I would like to thank those that chose to invest in us and help students access services by opting-in to their ancillary student fees.

It means a lot to us that you have chosen to support the CCSAI. Now that we have seen the initial results of the Student Choice Initiative we can move forward and continue working hard representing you. We hope you keep supporting the CCSAI and continue to opt-in to CCSAI services.

Finally, we will be conducting open houses to provide information on how you can run for the board of directors, what is available, and how to get involved so keep following us for those dates.

We are here to support you at each and every step of your journey to success. Reach out to the board of directors or myself if you have any questions or feedback.

CCSAI Event Survey

How Did We Do? Give us your feedback on any CCSAI event you attended this year Visit ccsai.ca/HowDidWeDo 4

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GRADUATION PORTRAITS

Book Now For more info visit

ccsai.ca/events/grad-photos-7

Inflatables, activities, pictures with Santa, gi s & breakfast

Primary registration $15 (1 child and up to 2 adults)

Additional child tickets: $15/child Additional adult guest: $10/guest Register online at ccsai.ca/santa

Saturday, December 7th

For more info visit ccsai.ca/event

9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Progress - Main Events Hall 5

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Paid Advertisement

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e m Ho ner! e p O On October 18, 2019, the Centennial College Colts celebrated Homecoming and faced off against George Brown, in the home opener!! It was a great event full of fun activities, fair games, and school spirit! Our trusty mascot, Bolt the Colt, even made an appearance! Even though neither Colts team won it was still a great night! Photos courtesy Mary Assenza

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g n i m o Homec 2019!

Oct. 19, 2019, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the CCSAI, and the Alumni Association celebrated Homecoming! It was an amazing night, with speakers reminiscing on the many memories they have of Centennial College. Many staff and alumni were awarded with special gifts and recognition for their service to the Centennial Community over the years. There were also amazing performances, including hypnotist Tony Lee! After the ceremonies, there was an incredible dance party, where prizes were given out! Finally, a raffle draw awarded guests some exciting prizes - including one lucky winner who won an all-inclusive vacation!

Photos courtesy Mary Assenza

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Smoke-filled cafeteria, lounges a minor irritant to students

By Charles Shamess Oct 14, 1986 A pall of smoke hangs over the room and music pulses from the speakers. If the lights were dimmed, this could be any dingy bar on any airport strip.

But it’s the cafeteria at Warden Woods campus at lunch time. When you walk in, the smoke from many cigarettes sticks to you like sweat.

Tucked at the far end of the room is a group of about 11 tables. Among the myriad of posters on the walls are little signs proclaiming this to be a non-smoking area. The signs aren’t working.

Often, especially at busy times, you’ll find someone puffing away at one of these tables. But most nonsmokers don’t seem to mind.

“The smoke comes over from the smoking section anyway,” says Kathy Kripp, a second year Hospitality student. And others say that as long as smoke isn’t blown in their faces they don’t mind. A few of the shyer students think the college should police the problem.

Faye Collins, an RNA student, says the college and the SA “should encourage non-smoking by having larger non-smoking areas.”

“If they ask politely I’ll do it,” says David White, a third year Hospitality student, when asked if he would stop smoking in the non-smoking area if requested to.

Another guilty offender, Heike Hangebruch, in second year Hospitality, asked, “What’s going to happen at 12:30 p.m. when the smoking section is full?”

SMOKERS UP IN ARMS OVER SMOKING AREA

Still, most of the students interviewed agreed the cafeteria should be expanded and the ventilation system improved to combat the smoking problem.

By Robin McNamara Sept 19, 1988 Students are circulating a petition at Warden Woods Campus, demanding that the upstairs lounge be turned into a smoking area.

“I don’t have time between passes to run down to the little room in the cafeteria, and I am not going to run outside to smoke in the winter,” says Hospitality student Seamus Laverty.

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Three hundred and eighty students have signed the petition, which was circulated in the upstairs lounge and other nonsmoking areas of the college. Supporters include 48 non-smokers.

Laverty says the mandatory smoking policy has not stopped him from smoking in the lounge. “We all do it,” he said. “We have nowhere else to go,” he said. “The room in the cafeteria is just disgusting.”

Students are circulating a petition at Warden Woods Campus, demanding that the upstairs lounge be turned into a smoking area. “I don’t have time between passes to run down to the little room in the cafeteria, and I am not going to run outside to smoke in the winter,” says Hospitality student Seamus Laverty.

Since Sept. 1, smoking has been restricted to a small section of the Warden Woods cafeteria, and Laverty says the space is not clean or properly ventilated. “Of all places to have a smoking area, why would they put it in the cafeteria?” he asked. “You are supposed to eat there, but it is disgusting. I wouldn’t eat there. I wouldn’t even let a dog eat in that room.”

And the safety of the area is another concern, Laverty said. “I’ve worked in a restaurant that was slightly larger than that room and it had a capacity of 80 people. When you get a hundred or more smokers in there it has to be a fire hazard,” he said.

Laverty said he hopes to get “action” from the Student Association after he presents Vice-President Carrie Soules with the petition. But he said if the smoking area is not expanded, he will take his complaint to Centennial’s administration. “If we have to go higher to get what we want, then we will,” he said.

Robin McNamara Oracle Editor, 1988

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Student cleaner fed up with cups, butts and candy wrappers

By Chris Shamess October 27, 1986

Are non-smokers’ rights being violated?

One of the part-time custodians at Warden Woods is tired. Tired of cleaning up after students every day, pushing his broom through mounds of cigarette butts, drink cups, and candy wrappers.

By Linda Collins April 7, 1986

Chris Barnes, second year arts and sciences student, works about two hours a day cleaning common areas of the school. This is his second year doing the job.

There is a quiet battle raging at Centennial – a battle between smokers and nonsmokers. And right now, the smokers appear to be winning.

“Most of the students just don’t seem to care,” he says. “It’s just as bad as last year.”

Neither side is vocal; smokers because they don’t have to be, nonsmokers because their power is limited.

“I find it very disgusting that students do that and I’m sure they wouldn’t do it home. I’ve even seen teachers do it,” Barnes said, referring to the butts on the floors.

“There are no real smoke-free areas at the college,” Norm Rosenitsch, chairman of Centennial’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee, told the Oracle.

Suzanne Meikle, a first year advertising student, says the garbage “at first bugged me but I’m used to it now.”

She thinks that more floor ashtrays instead of the wall mounted ones would help and a solution might be to “stop cleaning it up.”

And there is little nonsmoking students can do to force the college to provide no-smoking zones.

The “tricky” thing about current nonsmoking legislation, said Rosenitsch, is that it applies to industry, not schools.

First year hospitality Darryl Wheeler was asked about the mess in the first floor lounge. “It’s a dump but it doesn’t bother me because you become accustomed to it.” Sighing and looking at the ashes on the seat beside him, Wheeler says, “It just becomes a part of school.”

But Rosenitsch feels that the “rumored” impending provincial legislation to ban smoking in the workplace may impact on colleges. He said designated smoking areas will likely be set up at colleges in the future.

Pat Thomson, in first year social services, says “it’s disgusting because you have to clean up before you can sit down.” She feels that monitors might help but adds “you can’t make people pick up after themselves.”

Aside from trying to force administration to establish a no-smoking policy, students’ only other avenue is to take a complaint to the Occupational Health and Safety committee.

But it “would have to be a pretty serious complaint,” said Rosenitsch. “ It would have to be a case of a serious health hazard,” he added. The committee could call in the Department of Labor to test the air at Centennial and their recommendation as outside inspectors, would be binding, Rosenitsch said.

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What’s it like to be a nonsmoker at Centennial?

“Walk into any cafeteria and you’ll see people smoking in the non-smoking areas,” said SA president Chris Roach.

“Easily more than 50 per cent of Centennial students smoke,” said Martin Vandersteen, vice-president of student and staff services.

One of the part-time custodians at Warden Woods is tired. Tired of cleaning up after students every day, pushing his broom through mounds of cigarette butts, drink cups, and candy wrappers... “Most of the students just don’t seem to care,” he says.

Aside from the discomfort caused by secondhand smoke, concern also exists for the possible health hazards it may evoke.

Chris Shamess Oracle Contributor, 1986

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One of the best ways to meet and connect with new people is through the CCSAI Clubs Program!

Visit ccsai.ca/clubs to check out the clubs open this semester and sign up!

We are featuring ASME Centennial this issue, an exciting group of students interested in engineering.

What is your role in the club and how did you get involved?

My name is YunGi Kwon and I am currently the president of ASME Centennial.

There was a tech fair at the Hospitality Building; most of the board members who ran this club before me were there to show what kind of projects and activities they had done. I saw that thing with the drones, and 3d printers and some electromechanical designs and I decided to join because it was so interesting to me.

We have 30 people currently in this club and we are a chapter of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), the biggest professional association in the mechanical engineering field. If anybody joins this club, they can access what the ASME provides for us and we are an official chapter of ASME Ontario so we have a lot of communication between the other chapters at Ryerson, UOIT, and Windsor. So it’s good to join and know each other to get to know what the difference is between our curriculum and theirs.

What type of projects has the club been involved with?

Before we joined they made a fixed-wing airplane with their own design. So it was really impressive. They made a 3d printer as well and hardwire cutter for making drones and airplanes.

As I joined the club and started running this club, we have done several things; we made a 3d printed robot arm, and we have made a DIY oscilloscope, and also we are currently doing Arduino and Raspberry Pi tutorials as well for students that joined this semester.

What was the process like for you joining the club?

Joining this club has been really good and it’s good to know that people have the same interests. Not only depending on their fields like mechanical, electrical or automation students, even art or graphic design students.

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It doesn’t matter for us to get together people that have the same interests in engineering, especially mechanical and electrical. Our club’s advantage is we can meet a variety of people; not only mechanical, not only automation, not only biomechanical, but also we can gather all together and do certain parts together.

For example, we are doing an autonomous car project this semester. We want to make the car automatically run themselves, depending on how we simulate and code it. The mechanical students are involved in the calculations and how the robot reacts, and for electromechanical students like me and the vice president, we will know about how to integrate the hardware and software and Arduino and Raspberry Pi coding from what we learned in college, software engineering students can help us write the code. We are trying to do something together from the same level. That’s why we do the tutorials. People can learn from what has been done by our members and they can build up their own projects. We are sharing our ideas, our knowledge, our skills to make a project.

I’ve been in this club for three years now and I have met a lot of friends that come from different areas. The interesting thing is not we’re not only just college friends or club friends, we’re meeting all the time, at least twice a month, and hangout. It’s not only doing projects or social activities but we are coming here together and being a friend.

So would it be easy to join for students that don’t have a mechanical engineering background?

It doesn’t matter which background they have, as long as they have an interest in designing stuff or to make a better solution for the work. They’re always welcome to join… If you have an interest in engineering then you are welcome to join.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

For more information and to see some of the amazing projects visit https://www.facebook.com/ASME.Centennial/ Or email ASME@centennialcollege.ca ASME hosts Arduino and Raspberry Pi tutorials every Saturday from 10 am – 4 pm

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Healthy Recipe How-To:

QUICK PROTEIN FRIED RICE

By Jordan Tam jtam@centennialcollege.ca

Always on the go, or can’t think of something to eat after a run or workout, but don’t want to spend too much on take-out? Meal prep can be time-consuming, but this recipe is a quick, healthy meal that can be made without sacrificing time or effort!

It is perfect for any lifestyle - whether you’re in a rush, or not!

The main ingredient of this recipe is the rotisserie chicken, which has already been prepared and cooked. This will save a lot of time, as most of the work is just to assemble everything together in one pan! One serving of this fried rice contains approximately 20-25g of protein, which is optimal for rebuilding muscles after exercise.

What you need: · Wooden Spatula/Cooking utensil · Wok/Frying pan · Cutting board + knife Ingredients: · ½ Rotisserie Chicken (shredded) · 2 Cups of cooked rice · 2 cloves of garlic – minced · 2 eggs · 1 carrot peeled and diced · ¼ onion diced · 1 Green onion – chopped · ½ Red Bell Pepper – Diced · 1 tbsp – Sriracha/Soy sauce for taste · 1 tbsp olive oil

Note: It is best to use day-old rice (cook the rice the day before!) as it is drier and can absorb more moisture when preparing all the ingredients in one pan, which will result in more flavour.

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Instructions: 1. Add 1tbsp of olive oil to a large saucepan over medium to high heat. Add garlic and sauté until brown and fragrant. Add carrots and pepper and sauté until caramelized and tender. If the veggies are browning too much, be sure to reduce the heat a bit.

2. Push the veggies to one side of the saucepan, and add the eggs to gently fry while constantly stirring them for 1 min.

3. Add the rice and chicken to the saucepan and stir everything together – turn the heat off as the residual heat will continue cooking – add sriracha or soy sauce for taste.

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DID YOU HEAR? We are making food services at Centennial more green! This year alone, we’ve eliminated water coolers, and introduced compostable cups and cutlery!

SHOW YOU CARE DO YOUR SHARE!

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TORONTO HOMESHARE

A HEART-WARMING HOUSING SOLUTION Dr. Raza Mirza Network Manager for the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE) How does the process to enter a home share work?

Essentially the student learns about the program through their housing office, or a friend or family member, or through the media, they go online or to an information session and fill out an application form. The application is reviewed by a social worker and on the flip side of it a homeowner fills out a form. We have a pool of homeowners and students and our social work team actually does the matching based on the questions that they are answering and the interview that takes place. This model is a facilitated model and essential what that means is unlike Craigslist or Kijiji where the homeowner and student are meeting on their own and trying to figure out if they’re a match, it’s facilitated by a social worker – first based on your application and second based on an interview – whether it is a good match or not.

Are there any restrictions or issues with edibility for students applying?

There are no restrictions. Everyone who is considered a student is eligible to apply. There is no age limit to apply. There’s no discrimination, everyone is eligible to participate in the program.

Whether we can find a suitable match or not is a different story.

There is one thing that we do look at and that’s a vulnerable sector screening. People who may not pass a vulnerable sector screening, their application will be looked at with a little more scrutiny.

International students pose a bit of a challenge for us because we can’t get sector screening. So that’s the only issue, however, if the

homeowner is willing to accept a vulnerable sector screening from the student’s home country, which is valid for the last six months, then we would consider it.

A lot of the empowerment in terms of decisions goes into the hands of the student and the homeowner to try and figure out whether it is a suitable arrangement and then the social worker will basically facilitate that process. If the homeowner agrees then yes, but the process does involve a vulnerable sector screening.

Is a student then paired with a homeowner?

The pairing process is a little more rigorous than just an application form.

There is an exchange beyond just the financial transaction. Prior to moving in, these things are worked out. So if you are going to be living here for a semester or two semesters, this is what you are agreeing to do.

Then when the move-in happens, there’s a whole guide on how to move in and it’s just a regular move-in at that point. There is a social worker that is available to mediate any issues that might come up and to discuss the transactions in terms of the financial commitment that the student is making when the payments are going to be made. So all of these details that are sometimes hard to talk about with a roommate or someone you’re living with, is again mediated by a social worker.

How long does the process typically take to get housing?

One of the other pieces that is important to know is that… the rents in the city (of Toronto) are anywhere from $1800-$2100 for one bedroom, one bathroom. When we did a review last year, a furnished bedroom – a shared space – was going for anywhere between $1000-$1600, on average a shared living arrangement was costing about $1200.

The other novelty of the program is – not only is the program facilitated by a social worker – that the rents are quite inexpensive because they range between $400-$600 a month. In the city of Toronto that is unheard of. The way that the student subsidizes that rent – which would have cost them $1200 a month – is by contributing to the household in some way. They’re agreeing to take out the garbage, walk the dog, cook a meal, or watch a movie together once a week. Something like that, that the homeowner and the student are agreeing to. That five to seven hours a week that they are committing to do these things leads to the subsidy that they are receiving.

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When people are looking for housing, they’re not really planning too far ahead but often need it very quickly and so we really worked to get the process down; so the point where you fill out an application form, a social worker reviews it, finds a suitable match for you, you do a vulnerable sector screening and all these other steps that have to happen, we are able to do that in 10 to 12 days now.

Safety and security is a really important piece of this program, so we couldn’t cut it down any more than 10 to 12 days just to make sure the interview gets done, the home audit gets done, vulnerable sector screening gets done. So that takes a bit of time but we’re happy with how quickly we can do it.

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I guess it has been quite successful because it has been made a permanent program?

I would say that it was very successful in terms of the outputs that we were looking at and some of the things we were not expecting. The ability to address affordability in making housing affordable, not only for students but also for homeowners who might be living on a fixed income because they’re older adults. It puts a bit more income in their hands as well.

We get to leverage this opportunity as well, that there are two million empty bedrooms in the city of Toronto in the homes of older adults. So we are looking for novel ways to utilize and leverage that to give a little more than just money as well because people feel isolated, they feel like they don’t belong to the community in some ways.

So these factors we were able to address in the pilot. People reported feeling less isolated, that their general sense of well-being went up. We saw that it would delay a move out of the community, not only for the older adult but also for the student. There was a lot of reciprocity between the older adult and the student and the inter-generational piece was something that made us all quite happy.

I would say it was a success. Most of the people that started the program last year continue to live together, continue to remain friends. A network of people who have been participating in these programs has also formed. So that’s very good to hear, especially in a world where we hear more and more about loneliness and isolation.

How many students are currently housed in the program?

We have a mandate from the City of Toronto to house 200 students and 200 older adults, so 200 matches, which equals 400 people this year. I don’t know the exact number this morning, but I’d say it’s closer to 77 or 78 matches and our aim is by the end of the year to have 200 matches.

We are looking to expand the program across the country. We are going to start by expanding it across the province hopefully. I think the big piece about it is that we focused on how we could scale it and replicate it. To have community partners such as the universities and colleges has been really impactful for us because we get a gateway to meet students through the housing office, and homeowners feel a little bit more comfortable knowing we are working with universities and colleges because they also have their own code of conduct that students have to abide by as well.

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P eople reported feeling less isolated, that their general sense of well-being went up. We saw that it would delay a move out of the community, not only for the older adult but also for the student. There was a lot of reciprocity between the older adult and the student and the inter-generational piece was something that made us all quite happy.

Dr. Raza Mirza, Network Manager Of N.I.C.E.

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WE A R E LO O K I N G F O R C E N T E N N I A L ’ S ST R O N GE ST E M P LOYE E A N D ST U D E N T

T U E S DAY, N O V E M B E R 2 6 T H S TA RT I N G AT 1 P. M .

AW C GY M C - P R O G R E S S

$ 1 0 0 P R I Z E PA C K T O E A C H W I N N E R Spaces are limited. For more details visit myawc.ca To register contact Josh Delgado at jdelgado@centennialcollege.ca

Visit ccsai.ca/transit