Students display work in Craigdarroch Castle
Camosun Fine Furniture students, alumni, and faculty will display their work in several Victorian-style rooms in Craigdarroch Castle from Wednesday, May 8 until Sunday, May 26. Contrasting the castle’s historical features, the program’s contemporary original work is set to be the first exhibit of its kind as part of the Design Victoria Festival. For more information and admission details visit thecastle.ca.
Chargers student athletes get awarded
The annual Camosun Chargers Awards Ceremony was held on Thursday, April 4, recognizing the accomplishments of Camosun’s top student athletes. For a complete list of the awards that were given out, see camosun.ca/chargers.
Library creates Asian Canadian Heritage Month guide
May is Asian Canadian Heritage Month, and to celebrate, the Camosun Library has put together a guide of resources. The Asian Canadian Heritage Month guide is available at camosun.libguides.com/asian-canadian-heritage and features various works and resources by Asian-Canadian creators and authors.
Camosun launches free career-option programs
Two new programs will be introduced at Camosun intended to help women and Indigenous peoples explore career options in BC’s tech sector. With additional funding from the provincial government, Camosun will be adding 36 seats in two 12-week, tuition-free programs focusing on computer science and civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering. Both programs—the Women in Technology Pathway (WiTech) and the Indigenous Peoples in Technology Pathway (InTech)—include additional support systems to reduce barriers to career pathways. Intake starts September 2024 for the WiTech program and is available to all self-identifying women. Intake for InTech begins January 2025 and is available to eligible Indigenous people of all backgrounds, ages, and experience levels.
Camosun recognized for Indigenous education
Camosun College recently took home an award for its Indigenous education initiatives. On Tuesday, April 30, the college won the 2024 Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) bronze award of excellence in Indigenous education. The CICan awards acknowledge excellence in Canadian colleges and institutes.
Camosun faculty, staff aim to decolonize English placement assessments
Camosun College faculty and staff Maureen Niwa, Vivian Fayowski, Wendy McDonald, and a committee of 15 members, are working together in an effort to decolonize English placement assessments, a system that they say is American-based and fails to reflect Indigenous cultural practices and life experiences. The Indigenizing English Placement Assessment (IEPA) project idea, which was conceived five years ago by McDonald, aims to create a safe environment and alleviate anxiety for prospective Indigenous students by including multimodality and storytelling traditions. With input from the college community and support from eight Canadian institutions, the team plans to continue developing the assessments. Watch for our full story soon.
Camosun faculty recognized at event
Camosun College’s third annual Teacher Recognition Awards event honoured college faculty members on Thursday, April 25 in the Sherri Bell Hall in the Wilna Thomas Building. This year’s event—which was part of Camosun’s one-day Walls Optional conference for faculty and staff—recognized 40 faculty members from a wide range of programs. Students, faculty, and staff had the opportunity to nominate instructors that exemplified a supportive and innovative learning environment. See camosun.ca for a list of the faculty members who were honoured this year.
Camosun recognizes Inn at Laurel Point
The Inn at Laurel Point, located in downtown Victoria, was recognized and congratulated in early April with the Camosun 2023 Co-op Employer of the Year Award for continuing to provide and prioritize an experiential learning environment for students of Camosun’s Hospitality and Tourism Management Program. Camosun co-ops aim to mentor and foster professional development out of the classroom, something the Inn provides with networking and interviewing clinics, field trips, career fairs, and more.
Gordaneer family launches art adoption fundraiser
On what would have been Victoria artist and former Camosun instructor James Gordaneer’s 91st birthday, the Gordaneer family launched an online art adoption fundraiser. Running from Sunday, April 14 to Thursday, May 9, the Gordaneer Painting Adoption Project invites the community to select from hundreds of the late artist’s paintings, which were damaged in a series of floods. Proceeds from the event will go towards the Victoria Visual Arts Legacy Society, a non-profit organization that, among other initiatives, provides bursaries for visual arts post-secondary students, including a Camosun bursary award in Gordaneer’s name. Visit jamesgordaneer.com for more details.
Budget 2024 sees post-secondary investments
The federal government tabled its Budget 2024 on Tuesday, April 16. Among other post-secondary related items, it included $825 million over five years toward graduate student scholarships and fellowships and $1.8 billion over five years toward research funding. The budget eliminates the credit-screening requirement for mature students applying for Canada Student Loans and Grants. Budget 2024 also extended the Canada Student Grants amount of $4,200 for full-time students for an additional year; the Canada Student Loan interest-free increase from $210 to $300 a week for full-time students was extended as well. See budget.canada.ca for all the budget details.
Government brings back work restrictions
As of Wednesday, May 1, the temporary policy in place allowing international students to work more than 20 hours off-campus per week was restricted back to a 20-hour cap. Students who have a scheduled summer break are able to resume unlimited working hours until the fall semester. In a press release, the federal government said it intends to increase the cap to 24 hours a week in the fall semester.
Victoria welcomes community safety input
In effort to tackle a range of concerns, the City of Victoria is developing a Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan and is welcoming public input. The plan aims to address safety strategies and improvement for all community members. Conversations will be held with members of the Songhees and Esquimalt nations and local Indigenous organizations and the communities they serve, and the plan will be presented to Council in September. The online survey is available until Sunday, May 12, with print copies available at Victoria City Hall for pick up and drop off. To take the survey, visit engage.victoria.ca.