Adopt-a-falcon seeks revival................................8 Athletes that previously found financial support through the Adopt-a-Falcon program may face challenges this year if the program doesn’t go through.
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PRODUCED BY LANGARA JOURNALISM STUDENTS
oice NOVEMBER 13, 2014 • VOL. 47 NO. 7 • VANCOUVER, B.C.
25 years of innovation awarded MEL EDGAR photo
Jane Mighton, pictured here in Langara College’s Nursing Education Resource Center, is travelling to Ottawa to accept her Teaching Excellence award from the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing later this month.
On the brink of retirement, Jane Mighton’s unique teaching in nursing is recognized By MEL EDGAR
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ursing educator Jane Mighton is leaving big shoes to fill as she retires following 25 years of teaching, on the heels of winning a major award for excellence in nursing education. “I’m not surprised to see Jane win this award,” said Mimi Le, one of Mighton’s former students. “There is a saying that nurses eat their young… Jane [was] different because she was caring and professional at the same time.” Mighton began teaching at Langara
in 1990, abandoning lectures for “more active teaching strategies,” said Janine Lennox, chair of Langara’s nursing department. These strategies have led Mighton to being honoured for teaching excellence, first by the College of Registered Nurses of B.C. and now by the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing. Mighton said she remembers trying to make class mannequins more real to life for her students who couldn’t always practise nursing with real wounds. Mighton’s artistic niece showed her a
technique with paper mache, which she used to paint wounds, the surrounding skin areas, shellacked them all and then attached them to the mannequins her students used. Mighton said they now have mannequins that talk, have pulses and make breathing sounds, nothing like what they had in the ‘90s. She said she’s always looked beyond the boundaries of what nursing education is, the “status quo,” and “to find ways of making it more meaningful and a better learning [experience.]” Starting with low-tech paper mache,
Mighton never stopped searching for ways to make learning more interactive, soon finding high tech options such as online learning platforms, like D2l and blogs, to make classes more student centred and interactive. “They would all get online and learn from each other,” said Lennox, recalling that Mighton had her students selfidentify knowledge gaps, formulate learning outcomes, then teach what they learned to the class. Mighton, busy teaching clinical practice, will be travelling to Ottawa to receive the award later this month.
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I’m not surprised to see Jane win this award MIMI LE FORMER STUDENT
Get to growing your own food Indoor gardening at home is a suggested solution for how to continue growing food through the winter By CHARLOTTE DREWETT
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rban farming should be done in addition to community gardens, not in place of them. As the weather changes, most people have probably put their gardens to bed, according to Tasi Gottschlag, founder of FoodGrows, an urban farming company that launched Oct. 22 with a retail space in South Vancouver. Gottschlag said the idea is to allow people to grow their own food yearround. “There’s different things that you can grow in a community garden and different things that really thrive when they Printed on recycled paper
get that attention from you everyday [at home],” she said. Gottschlag really dug into growing her own food a few years ago, but said it’s hard to get a community garden plot. Tyler Abbey, a horticultural specialist with FoodGROWS said they offer soil solutions and new, soilless technologies. Abbey said when it comes to alternative farming options “everything has its place.” Growing food at home has little affect on conventional farmers, Abbey said. “We definitely can’t replace conventional farming, that’s impossible. But, I think the more people that adopt some growing of their own food, that’s only going to improve conventional farming.” Tara Moreau, associate director for sustainability and community programs at the UBC Botanical Garden, said depending on what someone wants to
grow, indoor farming can offer fun learning opportunities for people who don’t have outdoor access to garden space. “You have to be careful about growing indoors, I think you can definitely set up a system, and I’ve seen some really nice examples,” Moreau said. As for community gardens, Moreau said along with putting in time, there’s a social aspect to it. “You’re talking across the fence to a neighbour and you’re like ‘what did you do?’ and ‘how did that work for you?’” While growing indoors offers unique solutions, it leaves you more isolated, said Moreau. Gottschlag said the intimate reaction someone has when witnessing their food grow on a day-to-day basis is spiritual. “Once you get into it, it really is kind of a surreal experience to grow your food.”
CHARLOTTE DREWETT photo
Horticultural specialist Tyler Abbey said people should strive to grow 10 to 20 per cent of their own food. Check out our web exclusives at http://langaravoice.com/