Aug/Sept 2013 - St. Clair SRC Student Representative Council

Transcription

College aims for less stress
The new Mentoring Program at St.
Clair is designed to assist first-year students in making a positive transition into
college life.
Mentors - experienced students - are
available for all first-year students in all
departments.
Having a mentor can help you every
step of the way with the tips you need to
succeed. Your mentor will provide support, let you know ways to connect with
other students, and help to you stay on
track to reach your academic goals. They
will act as your liaison, and assist in directing you to the appropriate staff in order to
make you feel comfortable.
All first-year students will be automatically matched with a mentor.
Log into your Student Self Service
account to find more information about
your mentor.
The goals of the program include:
• Promoting academic excellence;
• Encouraging the development of student relationships with other students
and staff;
• Sharing knowledge about campus
services;
• Assisting the setting of career and
educational goals;
• Providing consistent support and
motivation.
To get involved ...
To request a mentor:
• Simply log on to your Student Self
Service account;
• Click on the Mentorship Program
folder, and then click the link for requesting a peer mentor.
To become a mentor:
• If you are an outgoing, motivated student, interested in genuinely helping others, and looking to earn money working
on campus, apply now to become a mentor;
• Applications for potential mentors are
available through your Student Self
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
The
Saint
“Thames Times” on Page 9
New students ... Welcome to
St. Clair! Returning students
... Welcome back! Wishing you
much success in 2013-14!
News For The Students, Of The Students & By The Students of St. Clair College
Edition Released: August/September 2013
PLACE
IN LINE =
SPACE IN LOT
Students seeking
passes to the gated,
close-proximity-to-building
parking spaces swamped the
college in early-August. The line-up
of permit-seekers stretched from the
main lobby, down the first floor’s main corridor, into the Student Centre.
Oh, and what’s with the arrow-indicated student?
You’re this edition’s “Face In The Crowd” winner! In
every edition, The Saint publications pick a photo at random, and pinpoints someone. If it’s you, drop into the Student
Representative Council office (in the Student Centre, across
from Tim Hortons), and claim your prize: a $10 Griff’s Cavern
gift certificate!
Students get a hold of the gold
With Material Contributed by Susan McLelland
Once again, St. Clair students represented the college
at the provincial level very proudly and with wonderful
success.
They won 13 medals in total at the Skills Ontario
Competition in Kitchener-Waterloo in early-May.
Gold Medal Winners: Dylan Ashton, Graphic Design
(faculty coach Nick Kuipers); Franco Iacobacci,
Information Technology Network Support (faculty coach
John Ulakovich) - Iacobacci also won $1,000 as the “Top
Ranking Competitor” in the Technology sector; Simon
Van Raay and Mark Hecnar, Landscape Gardening (faculty coach Jay Terryberry);
Silver Medal Winners: Kori Burleigh, Graphic Design;
Steven Johnston, Mechanical CADD (faculty coach Joan
Hunter); Ryan Crow and Lisa Sullivan-Maynard,
Mechatronics (faculty coach Ryan Pepper); Shawn
Crusvar, Website Development (faculty coach Phil
Aylesworth);
Bronze Medal Winners: Noel Issa, Website
Development; Kristen Brushett, Hairstyling (faculty
coach Marcie McIntosh).
MORE GOLD FOR DESIGNS
For most competitors, winning a medal is a huge
achievement. For two St. Clair College Graphic Design
students, the chance to design the award is a much
greater victory.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
St. Clair’s provincial gold medal winners were, left
to right, Simon Van Raay, Mark Hecnar, Dylan
Ashton and Franco Iacobacci. Ashton is pictured
wearing the silver medal that he subsequently won
at the national competition.
Saint Page 2
August/September, 2013
Less stress with new mental health service
CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE
Service account. Log on and apply via the
Mentorship Program link.
For more info, contact Jen Donovan,
Supervisor, Student Success, Room 164F
(South Campus); 519-972-2727, ext. 4653;
email success@stclaircollege.ca.
MENTAL HEALTH HELP
The “drop-in-the-bucket” funding allocated
by the provincial government to the issue has
led St. Clair’s administration and student governments to implement a special fee on a trial
basis, to provide students with mental health
consultation services.
The issues of stress, depression, suicide and
substance-abuse among postsecondary students have been become a collective concern in
recent years.
A survey of college and university counsellors in Ontario last year revealed that the
majority of their workloads, nowadays, do not
involve academic matters at all. Instead, they
are spending most of their time dealing with
often complex psychological - even psychiatric
- issues.
Those counselling staffs are both unstaffed
and under-trained to cope with such quasimedical issues - as are departmental coordinators and school chairs, who are also dealing
with such non-academic matters.
The provincial Ministry of Training,
Colleges and Universities (MTCU) has recognized that problem, but is not fiscally capable
of addressing the system’s shortcomings.
It has announced special funding for mental
health counselling projects at the provinces’
two dozen colleges and 20 universities - but,
really, it is a relative pittance: $25 million over
the next three years.
Universities will probably get the lion’s
share of that funding ... meaning that individual colleges would be lucky to receive enough
cash to hire just one additional counsellor
apiece.
Like many schools, St. Clair is now stepping
in to address this crisis on its own.
In the spring of this year, during the annual
negotiations on the levels of student fees
(charges for special projects and programs,
above-and-beyond tuition), the administration,
Student Representative Council (SRC) and
Thames Students Incorporated agreed on the
implementation of a new “Student Support
Services” fee - translation: mental health counselling - to be put in place during the 2013-14
academic year.
The new fee, to be charged to all full-time
students, rings up at $35 per semester ($70 for
a full academic year).
The plan is to provide students with access
to phone hot-line and web-based mental health
counselling.
This new service, also, will be available yearround - in contrast to the summer-time sparsity of staffing which exists at the college.
In addition to the personal aspects of this
service, the new funding will be used for oncampus awareness campaigns, and the staging
of group sessions on stress management and
other common mental health issues.
This new service will be provided by a contracted company: the LifeWorks service of the
Ceridian human resources management firm.
That contract and the details of the new
service were still being finalized as this newspaper was going to press in mid-August ... So,
look for info about the process on posters and
via student email broadcasts early in the first
semester. (St. Clairians will probably be
assigned a user-name and passwords to access
LifeWorks assorted services.)
MORE INFO, CONTRIBUTED BY THE
MINISTRY OF TRAINING, COLLEGES AND
UNIVERSITIES (MTCU)
In the spring, the provincial government
announced that it is strengthening mental
health services for postsecondary students
across Ontario, as part of its Mental Health
and Addictions Strategy.
Ten projects from across Ontario are moving forward in the first round of the Mental
Health Innovation Fund - including a provincewide, 24-hour-a-day, 365-days-a-year “helpline”
to provide support for college and university
students with mental health concerns.
Kids Help Phone is working with postsecondary institutions on the service, which is
expected to be in place within the next year.
The MTCU will begin accepting proposals
from colleges and universities for the second
round of the fund later this year.
The government is investing $27 million
over three years to provide improved mental
health services for postsecondary students.
The support for postsecondary students is
part of the multi-year, $257 million Mental
Health and Addictions Strategy announced in
the 2011 Ontario Budget.
“We want to give college and university students the help they need to succeed in postsecondary education,” said MTCU Minister Brad
Duguid. “We want to help them have a healthy,
productive transition to postsecondary institutions, and deal with newfound independence,
both on and off campus.”
“Our Mental Health and Addictions
Strategy is about providing faster, easier access
to young people who need the support,” said
local MPP and Minister of Children and Youth
Services Teresa Piruzza. “These new services
will help Ontario’s youth overcome challenges
and reach their full potential, no matter which
part of the province they are in.”
COLLEGES ONTARIO COMMENTARY
(Colleges Ontario is the lobby group which
represents the managerial administrations of
the province’s two dozen colleges.)
Ontario’s colleges are pleased to see the
announcement of funding for a new centre for
innovation in campus mental health that will
improve the delivery of services for students
throughout the province.
“This issue is a priority for Ontario’s colleges,” said Colleges Ontario President Linda
Franklin. “This new centre will improve access
to support and expertise to better serve people
with mental health issues.”
The centre will be run in partnership by
Colleges Ontario, the Council of Ontario
Universities, the College Student Alliance, the
Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, and
the Canadian Mental Health Association
Ontario.
The centre will provide several new functions, including a site to share best practices,
improvements in the coordination of services,
and new measures to help front-line providers
at colleges and universities get access to specialized experts in the field.
“The research shows people ages 15 to 24
are the ones who are least likely to seek help,”
Franklin said. “We must do everything we can
to ensure students and staff members know
effective help is available. This new centre
marks an important step forward in the delivery of services and support.”
SRC tightens its charitable pursestrings
For the first time in a number of years, the Student
Representative Council (SRC) has updated its “charity
policy”, to update and clarify the “causes” that it will support.
During the past few years, that situation had become a
bit “willy-nilly”, as the council responded with a donation
here and a donation there to dozens of requests for support.
The revised policy re-emphasizes the fact that the
SRC’s charitable-cause budget is not bottomless, and that
the council “cannot be all things to all people”.
It further notes that its board members are, first and
foremost, full-time students. Additionally, many of them
hold part-time jobs, coupled with the hours involved in
their council duties. And all of that means that - aside
from the money - the council (collectively) may not have
a lot of time to devote to charitable endeavours in the
form of fundraisers that involve some sort of competitive
activity.
Thus, the revised policy, approved during the SRC’s
June meeting, states that the council will actively support
only these charities:
• Internally: the college’s Foundation Capital Fund (to
raise money for new equipment for the school), and the
Important info for student-parents ...
Editor’s Note: During the past
few years, as the provincial and
municipal funding and administration of public child-care centres
have undergone some changes, St.
Clair student-parents have experienced some glitches with those
facilities.
Specifically, both full- and parttime students had been told (on
occasion) that the child-care system
recognized only their in-class hours
as being eligible for child-care feesubsidization ... and, thus, that they
would have to pick up their kids as
soon as classes were done (or, alternatively, pay extra).
College officials have argued, in
contrast, that some non-class time
for educationally essential tasks
should also be taken into account
by the child-care centres: such as
the hours associated with computer
lab exercises, meetings for courserelated group projects, and even
homework and studying.
Spring-time
negotiations
between the college and the munic-
ipal child-care system have now
resolved that situation.
Early Childhood Education
Professor Linda Hill, who has been
advocating on behalf of students on
this matter for the past couple of
years, explained:
Here is the new policy:
Client (student) preference is
considered first because there are
some cases where parents don’t
want full days, as they prefer to be
home with their children. That is
why you see the reference to “client
preference”.
Postsecondary Students: Client
preference is considered first, with
the city being prepared to subsidize
one full day for each day that classes are scheduled. This will allow for
group work, lab work and study
time.
Online Courses: Client preference is considered first, with the
city being prepared to subsidize
one full day per online course.
Being registered in only one online
course would negate the eligibility
for subsidy, if there was no other
demonstrated need for care, as it
would not meet the two-day minimum subsidy approval.
Professional Exams: If a student
is receiving child-care subsidy, and
has completed his/her course but is
required to write a professional
exam, client preference is considered first, with the city being prepared to subsidize two full days per
week of study time for a period of
up to six weeks.
This is a significant improvement
over the previous situation. Our
students no longer have to rush
back to the child-care centres
immediately after class.
The only remaining challenge is
for the student with a day without
scheduled classes who needs to be
on campus for educationally related
activities.
In such instances, I suspect that
program coordinators could create
a new schedule or provide a letter
that documents the student’s need
to be on campus.
college Foundation’s Scholarships and Bursaries Fund (to
provide direct financial assistance to students); and
• Externally: the (multiple-charity) United Way of
Windsor-Essex County, the Canadian Cancer Society, the
Hospice of Windsor, the Heart and Stroke Foundation,
the Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation, and the
Canadian Mental Health Association.
The Mental Health Association is a relatively new beneficiary of SRC support, recognizing the increasingly
common incidence of stress, depression, substance abuse
and suicide occurring among students and college-aged
individuals.
All of that does not, necessarily, mean that the council
will turn a deaf ear to requests from other organizations.
The “Exceptions” section of the policy states:
“The SRC recognizes that, at any given time, a situation may arise where it would be prudent to make an
exception to this policy ... An example could be involve a
St. Clair student being diagnosed with a specific medical
condition, who requires financial assistance for his/her
treatment. Other possible exceptions may be those not
directly affecting the student body ... yet affecting the
state of the country and world we live in. These could be
cases of natural disasters, war and acts of terrorism.
“The SRC will not consider any personal requests
when the cause indicated is already among the list of supported organizations. For instance, the SRC will not
make an individual donation to a person suffering from
cancer in view of its existing support of the Canadian
Cancer Society.”
Individuals/agencies seeking support under the
“Exceptions” section must make both written and in-person presentations to the SRC regarding the rationale of
their fundraising endeavour.
While stringent, the policy also notes that “other
avenues” are available to non-SRC-endorsed charities for
conducting activities on campus. Such causes could, for
instance:
• hook up with a campus club as a fundraising partner;
• book table/booth space in the SRC-managed Student
Centre, to dole out information and/or seek donations
directly from students; and
• advertise their activities on campus, via SRC-controlled media.
LOOK FOR ANOTHER FINANCIAL FAIR ON THE 25TH
The
Student
Representative
Council added
a new event to
its slate of
activities in the
spring of last
year - something that, due
to its innate
importance
and popularity,
will be repeated early on
this year, on
September 25.
It
is
the
Financial (Reality) Fair.
While Accounting class members helped their fellow students to prepare
basic income tax returns, several info-tables were set up in the Student
Centre’s lounge to dole out details about banking, insurance, OSAP repayment, setting up RRSPs, and employment strategies.
Page 3 Saint
St. Clair hosting OCMC
In late-November, St. Clair - for the first time in 20 years - will play host to one of the
province’s major academic events: the Ontario Colleges Marketing Competition (OCMC).
The event will take place on November 21st and 22nd (Thursday and Friday) at the Centre
for the Arts campus.
The theme for this year’s event is “The Heat Is On!” - representing the fact that St. Clair is
Canada’s southernmost college, and indicative of the competitive pressures of the contest.
The OCMC attracts 250 to 300 senior-year students and 100 Business faculty coaches from
over a dozen colleges, and 50 judges from the business community.
For two days, the teams compete in individual and pair events: Sales Presentation, Job
Interview, and Marketing Case. The last item is broken down into the following topic categories:
Strategic Marketing, Sales Management, Retailing, Entrepreneurship, Direct Marketing,
International Marketing, Marketing Research and Integrated Marketing Research.
The OCMC, also, includes a four-person team event: the “Reach For The Top”-like “Quiz
Bowl”.
St. Clair will provide approximately 100 volunteers - staffers and students - to stage the competition.
In addition to the academic experience, this is a significant professional opportunity for participants, as it allows them to network with dozens of the local, provincial and national businesspeople - and prospective employers - who attend the event as judges, sponsors and
observers.
Marketing Professor Nicole Rourke said that, during the past several years, “at least St. Clair
team member has obtained a job as a direct result of either their performance in the event or
the networking connections they made there.”
St. Clair’s Business-Marketing Department estimates that it will cost approximately $90,000
to stage the two-day event. Student and faculty-coach registrations will cover $30,000 of that
expense, so the department launched fundraising in the late-spring to offset the remaining
$60,000 cost.
In addition to local and provincial corporations, a couple of college agencies “stepped up to
the plate” right away to support the event as sponsors. St. Clair’s Alumni Association will be
bankrolling the Quiz Bowl event, while the Student Representative Council will host a luncheon for all of the participants during the competition.
The last time that St. Clair hosted the event was in 1992 - during which it also achieved its
highest-ever team result: silver for second place.
Probably by the time this Saint is published, the St. Clair OCMC organizers will have their
own web-page operational (developed by the college’s Web Applications program students), as
well as a Facebook page.
We've got you covered
Your Student Representative Council (SRC) and Thames Students
Incorporated (TSI) administer a health/prescription-drug plan for all
full-time students. The premiums are automatically paid out of your student fees. If, however, you are already covered by a private-sector health
plan (for instance, by your employer, or your spouse's or parents' employer), you can "opt-out" of the plan and receive a refund of the premium.
To opt-out, log on to the SRC’s website at www.stclair-src.org, and follow the links, or use the insurance company’s website,
It’s
www.wespeakstudent.com. The deadline for "optingnot
out" during the first semester (and "opting-in"
lupus.
for family coverage) is SEPTEMBER 30.
REMEMBER: The health-plan-premium portion of your student fees CANNOT be refunded if you miss the form-filing deadlines.
For more info about your health plan,
see the front section of your Student Day
Planner.
Saint Page 4
MAYBE WE SHOULD ALL BE
WEARING HARD-HATS ...
... Because major construction projects were underway on campus
throughout the summer, and a few will be continuing throughout this
semester.
Aside from the new entrance to the grounds from the still-under-construction new Herb Gray Parkway, the college’s development includes ...
... The new SportsPlex – gym and fitness facility – at the Cabana Road end
of campus. It is slated to open in early-2014. Also new in that area is a traffic circle/round-about. The picture is from the live webcam, installed on the
Residence’s roof. You can watch
the progress of the SportsPlex’s
construction by surfing to
www.stclaircollege.ca/sportsplex/
– and take a “virtual tour” of the
new facility too. Also during the
summer, the floor of the existing
gym was resurfaced ...
... At the Ford Centre for Excellence in Manufacturing (FCEM), the former
lounge and locker areas on the first floor were being converted into a
sewing-machine-laden lab for one of the college’s new programs: Fashion
Design. That new academic offering attracted substantial enrolment
demand this year. In addition to their own “haute couture” creations, students in the program may also be working in conjunction with the Music
Theatre Performance program, to produce costumes for plays ...
... Finally, construction is pushing ahead on the first phase of the Schlegel
Villages long-term, senior citizens facility. It is located at the far south end
of campus, on a parcel of land that the college sold to the private developer. When open, it is expected that Schlegel Villages will welcome many St.
Clair students from healthcare disciplines for work-experience placements.
Hold of gold
Pictured are Carlo Macasaet’s winning medal design, and Anna
Kwaiatkowski’s winning pin design.
CONTINUED FROM
FRONT PAGE
Each year, Skills CanadaOntario holds a competition to determine the
design of the awards given
at the Ontario Technical
Skills Competition (OTSC).
Both of this year’s winning designs come from St.
Clair College scholars: second-year Graphic Design
students Carlo Macasaet
and Anna Kwaiatkowski
created the winning medal
and pin designs, respectively.
The official medal based
on Macasaet’s design was awarded to the top
three competitors in each contest at the OTSC,
while Kwaiatkowski’s pin design graced the
lapels of all competitors, volunteers and partners involved in this year’s competition. With
1,900 competitors and over 30,000 spectators,
this was a phenomenal opportunity for the two
designers to display their work in front of a
broad new audience.
Second-year students in St. Clair’s Graphic
Design program submit their ideas to the competition each year as part of their course-work.
The competition is open to high school and
postsecondary students across Ontario, and
winning means earning a certain level of distinction among their peers.
“It was a big surprise,” said Kwaiatkowski of
her design being selected. “I wasn’t expecting
it at all, so it was a bit surreal to hear them
announce my name as one of the winners.”
Macasaet was equally surprised by his win.
“It’s great exposure for us as designers, and a
really excellent portfolio piece that we can use
later on in our professional careers.”
He was invited to the closing ceremony of
this year’s competition, where he was presented with the gold medal version of his design.
In addition to the honour of having their
designs selected, each student received a
cheque for $250 from Skills Canada-Ontario.
This is not the first time a St. Clair student
has won the medal design competition: last
year’s official medal was designed by Lydia
Palmer, also a student of St. Clair’s Graphic
Design program.
“There’s a lot of potential in the program,
and a lot of talented people,” Macasaet said of
St. Clair’s winning streak, adding that he
believes winning the competition could
become a tradition for the program’s Graphic
Design students.
... AND ...
Other competitors who worked very hard at
their competitions were:
Kevin VanderVloet, Mechanical CADD;
Randy McLeod and Nina Tencic, Motive Power
(faculty coach Brady Baillargeon); Joshua
Stiegler, IT Network Support; Erica Tremblay,
Culinary (faculty coach Marc Johnston);
Katrina Wagner, Baking (faculty coach Eva
Cross); Elizabeth Atkins and Sara Polo,
Restaurant Services (faculty coach Ken
Reynolds); and Zachary Meloche, Carpentry
(faculty coach Walter Smith).
RECRUITMENT EFFORTS
The gigantic competition in KitchenerWaterloo is also used as a marketing opportunity by the provincial college system.
Elementary and high school students from
far and wide are bused to the event to get a
sneak-peek at some of their postsecondary
educational options.
St. Clair had a very popular info-booth at
the event, set up by the school’s Marketing and
Recruitment Department. Among the attractions for visitors this year was a “carve a logo or an engraving of your face” on a block of
wood using a portable CNC machine.
The college also recruits at the event using
the “cold hard cash” method: it offers scholarships to each Grade 11 and 12 student competing in the high school category of the competition.
“As a gold sponsor of Skills Canada Ontario, we encourage our students to participate in this important competition. We are
committed to furthering the wide variety of
pathways available for students who are looking for challenging and rewarding careers in
the trades,” said St. Clair President Dr. John
Strasser.
Each high school competitor is entitled to
$500 in their first semester of study
at St. Clair, and an additional $500
in their second semester of study.
The scholarship will be honoured for
two years from the date it is issued.
SKILLS CANADA
All of the provincial gold medal
winners moved on to the subsequent Skills Canada competition in
Vancouver.
There, Graphic Design student
Dylan Ashton captured a silver
medal.
Since 2000, St. Clair students
have earned 31 provincial gold
medals and four national gold
medals in Skills Canada competitions.
Page 5 Saint
The ultra-informative SRC website:
www.stclair-src.org
Scan the symbol on the right with your
smart phone to access the website instantly!
DIVE RIGHT IN!
Your Student Representative Council
(SRC) plans to appoint a couple more
members to its 2013-14 Board of
Directors during the early stages of this
semester.
Info and application/nomination packages
are available now from the SRC offices at
South Campus (in the Student Centre,
across from the Tim Hortons) and the
Downtown Campus (in the TD Student
Success Centre).
The DEADLINE for submitting those applications is SEPTEMBER 26.
It’s a great way to develop your leadership
and management skills, to enhance your
resume, to work with great people, and to
help your fellow students.
You’ll be joining President Kate Isley,
Student Life VP Mark Merkestyn, Student
Affairs VP Dan Pavlovski, Downtown
Affairs VP Sarah Ryrie, and Directors Luis
Hurtado, Bikramjit Randhawa and Jessie
Wilson.
... OR ...
There’s another way to get involved too ...
By putting your name forward to be your
Class Rep, as part of the essential communication network which exists between the
SRC and the entire college. You’ll hear info
about that in your classes early during this
semester.
Imaginus
Art & Poster
Show and
Sale ... in
the Student
Centre,
September
12 & 13.
Get to the Point! ...
Once again this year, your SRC is staging a bus-trip to the HalloWeekends attraction at the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. The bus leaves on the
morning of Saturday, October 5, and returns late that night. Tickets (covering bus,
food, park admission) are $60 for students and $80 for non-students; and will be
available soon from the SRC offices. Remember to bring a passport!
MANAGE YOUR HEALTH (PLAN)
www.wespeakstudent.com
SEE IMPORTANT INFO IN THE AD ON PAGE 3
ALSO IN SEPTEMBER, look
for these SRC events ...
• Multicultural Fair & Drum
Cafe on the 18th;
• Financial Fair on the 25th;
• Weekly “nooners” in the caf.
Your Student Representative Council is a proud member
of the College Student Alliance (CSA), representing the
interests of college students in Ontario. For info about
the CSA, surf to www.collegestudentalliance.ca.
The service-and-info-laden SRC offices are
located: on main campus, in the first floor’s
Student Centre, across from the Tim Hortons
kiosk; and downtown, serving the Centre for
the Arts and the MediaPlex, in the TD
Student Centre at the corner of University
and Victoria. Phone 519-972-2716.
Saint Page 6
Ed tor als & Op n ons
The Saint is published by the Student Representative Council
Inc. of St. Clair College of Applied Arts and Technology. The
newspaper’s office is located in St. Clair's Student Centre. For
editorial matters or advertising information, you can contact
the office by phoning 519-972-2727, Extension 4523; or fax
519-966-1450; or by mail to: The Saint, Box 5, St. Clair
College, 2000 Talbot Road West, Windsor, Ontario, N9A 6S4;
or by e-mail to echant@stclaircollege.ca.
Party like a Pagan, unless you
have Paraskavedekatriaphobia*
*Fear of Friday the 13th (a.k.a.: Triskaidekaphobia or Friggatriskaidekaphobia)
Maybe we should have included a horseshoe, a rabbit’s foot or an elephant (with its
trunk raised) with every copy of this edition
of The Saint.
A dreaded Friday the 13th is looming
before us in mid-September.
Oddly, if we were alive 2,000-plus years
ago, we’d be celebrating this event, rather
than warning you about your impending
doom. Prior to the advent of Christianity,
you see, Friday the 13th was considered
something of a fortuitous occasion.
In the pre-Christian, Pagan good ol’ days,
Friday was the best day of the week. It’s the
only day of the week, for instance, named
after a woman: the Norse goddess Freya
(a.k.a. Frigga), who represented fertility and
sexuality. Hey, Thank God It’s Friggin’
Freyaday.
Many Scandinavians, Germans, Scots of
Norlandic origin, and other Teutons and distant descendants of sub-Arctic Pagans still
think that Friday is the best day of the week
for romantic endeavours. It’s a popular day
for wedding ceremonies in northern Europe
- again, because of the promise it holds for a
fertile union.
Christianity, of course, doesn’t take such
a kindly view of Friday - first and foremost
because it was the day of Christ’s crucifixion.
Death also hovered over the day’s reputation in old England and even North America
because most criminals convicted of capital
offences were put to death on Fridays.
Hence, it was sometimes referred to as
“Hangman’s Day”.
For one reason or another, post-Pagan
days saw Fridays frowned upon for a variety
of activities. To this day, in some cultures,
superstitious people won’t set sail on a ship
on a Friday, or move their household, or
start a new job, or write a letter, or knit (?!),
or cut their fingernails (??!!).
Remembering Andy
“My favourite professor.”
“My favourite counsellor.”
“My favourite maintenance guy.” ???
Huh? What was that last one?
Well, yeah, at least in the case of St. Clair’s “family atmosphere”, that sort of personal relationship and
admiration between students and staffers of all sorts
is possible.
Very sadly, it’s somewhat less possible now, following the death of long-time Facilities Management
employee Andy Kovosi in early-August, after a threeyear-long battle with brain cancer.
Always smiling, always cheerful, he was best person to encounter in a campus hallway, and to “shoot
the breeze with” for a few minutes - because he was knowledgeable about just
about everything under the sun, and deeply passionate about many matters ...
... First and foremost among the latter being his concern for the young people at
the college that he loved so dearly. Any student who spent even a few moments with
Andy came away encouraged, reassured, enlightened and/or smarter.
He may not have had the title of “Professor”, but he was one. He may not have
been sitting at a counsellor’s desk, but he served that function too.
In that regard, the college community sort of lost three employees when he
passed away.
But, most of all, it lost a wonderful man who was treasured by everyone who
ever knew him.
Rest In Peace, Dear Andy.
"Words ought to be a little wild
for they are the assault of
thoughts on the unthinking.”
– John Maynard Keynes
There’s quite a contrast, too, when it
comes to the Pagan-versus-Christian views
on the number 13.
For the Pagans, again, 13 had favourably
frisky connotations, pertaining to the lunar
calendar, the female menstrual cycle and yup - fertility.
For Christianity, conversely, 13 represents the number of individuals at The Last
Supper - one of whom, of course, was the
traitorous Judas.
Thus, two millennia ago, Friday the 13th
was a doubly great day for our Pagan ancestors - absolutely dripping with fertility and
sexuality.
Subsequently, however, this particular
day became a double-downer. That is especially true of its reputation in the Christian
culture, in which Friday the 13th represents,
in two ways, the downfall and crucifixion of
Jesus.
So, we suppose, we shall wish all of our
heathen, Druid readers a happy and fertile
Friday the 13th. Party on, Pagans!
And, as for all of the rest of you Christian, superstitious, or both - rub those
rabbit’s feet and clench those four-leaf
clovers. Let’s try to survive unscathed until
the calendar flips over to Saturday the 14th.
Oh, and stay on your toes ... We’ve got
another Friday the 13th during this academic year, in December.
Summertime suggestions
Here are some summertime submissions to the Suggestion Boxes on various
campuses:
I suggest you attempt to get the band Green Day to play here. Great way to
bring the school community together.
Editor’s Response: Yikes, and probably a great way to bust the student government’s budget to smithereens. That’s a pricey band.
If fact, for some unbeknownst reason, “live music” events have very
rarely succeeded here in recent years, in terms of either audience turn-out
or profitability (or event break-even-ability).
The Student Representative Council (SRC) does stage a “Battle of the Bands” every year.
It has featured some really good local groups that have subsequently inked recording deals.
(Entries in that event must have at least one band-member who is a St. Clair student.)
As far as large-scale live acts, however, the SRC has, for the most part, preferred to teamup - with co-sponsorships and/or discount-priced ticket-sales - with such venues as the
Chrysler Theatre and the WFCU Centre.
•••••
I have noticed that many of the classrooms in the main building no longer have clocks.
Most of us do not wear watches because we have clocks on our cell-phones. During classes and, especially, during tests, we are not allowed to have our cell-phones out. It is disruptive to have the time announced by the teacher during tests. Please replace the clocks in the
classrooms. They are more critically necessary in the classrooms than in the corridors.
Editor’s Response: My, that is a great example of a generational age-difference - a perfect “Beloit List” entry (see that feature, on the next page of this edition). Wristwatches previously both an essential personal item and a status-symbol - are really close to extinction now, aren’t they?
I forwarded this submission to officials at the college who oversee both academic matters and facilities management - so that the former would be made aware of it as a learningenvironment concern, while the latter could tackle the matter from a technical angle.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
MANAGING EDITOR: E.P. Chant
THIS WEEK’S CONTRIBUTORS/SOURCES: Susan McLelland;
Marnie Kursiss-Morrow; Linda Hill; Mark Benoit; Sandy
MacDonald; Wanda Killops; The Student Representative
Council; Thames Students Incorporated; Suggestion Boxers;
The College’s Administration; The Student Athletic
Association and Athletics Department; The Ontario and
Canadian Colleges Athletic Associations; The Alumni
Association; The Ministry of Training, Colleges and
Universities; Colleges Ontario; Beloit College (Mindset List);
CNW News-service/Canadian Civil Liberties Association;
Assorted Websites and Facebook Pages; Our Generous
Advertisers; and YOUR NAME HERE – BE A VOLUNTEER!
The Saint provides an open forum for viewpoints
held by students and staff, but any submissions
(including Letters to the Editor) judged by the
Managing Editor to be racist, sexist or libellous
will be refused. If possible, writers should present
their submissions in Microsoft Word and/or in
Rich Text Format (RTF) or text-only format, or
typed and double-spaced. If you are submitting
hand-written material, please ensure that it is double-spaced and very legible to help us to avoid the
dreaded typo. All material in The Saint is protected by copyright, and may not be reproduced or
reprinted without the permission of the Managing
Editor. Copyright for the purpose of advertising
reproduction may be purchased from The Saint.
Page 7 Saint
Profs ... How to avoid “hardening of the references”
Published Courtesy of Beloit College
Most of this year’s frosh-year, postsecondary students across North America were
born in 1994 (give or take a year).
Each August since 1998, as faculty prepare
for the academic year, Beloit College in
Wisconsin has released the “Beloit College
Mindset List”.
This creation by Beloit’s Keefer Professor of
the Humanities Tom McBride and Public
Affairs Director Ron Nief looks at the cultural
touchstones that have shaped the lives of
Kurt Cobain and Richard Nixon:
having died in 1994, they haven’t
been alive during the lifetimes of
most of this year’s frosh.
Suggestions
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6
Apparently, a few of the contacted individuals had already recognized the problem ...
... Rick Duguay, the college’s Building
Services Manager, responded: “I ordered 50
new clocks that we are installing in classrooms
where the clocks have failed. We will re-assess
if more are needed.”
So, if you continue to encounter clock-less
classrooms, please shoot another note into one
of the Suggestion Boxes - specifying the precise room number(s) - and we’ll pass that info
along to the Facilities Management
Department.
•••••
I am hurt in computer lab with CPU placers?? Please don’t keep them if you don’t keep
CPU on their places. Why??? I need answer!!!
Editor’s Response: Sorry, but I have
absolutely no idea what this means. ??? !!!
•••••
Here is the basic info about the Suggestion
Box column:
The Suggestion Boxes (provided by the
Student Representative Council and Student
Athletic Association) are sprinkled throughout
the campus, many of them in close proximity to
Saint newspaper boxes. There’s also one located at the Centre for the Arts, and another at the
MediaPlex. Here’s how they work:
If you have a suggestion for an improvement to a facility or policy on campus, or a
question or complaint, just put pen to paper and
shoot that comment into a Suggestion Box.
They are emptied by Saint staffers.
Subsequently, the newspaper will send your
comment to the appropriate department at the
college, which will: (a) explain the rationale for
the policy as it exists; or (b) implement your
idea if it is found to have merit. Whether (a) or
(b), The Saint will also (eventually) print your
suggestion and the response provided by the
pertinent department.
Or, alternatively, the all-seeing, all-knowing
Saint Editor will research and respond to submissions, especially if they deal with topics
which have been covered by the column in the
past.
If you prefer to submit stuff electronically,
just email your complaints, concerns and ideas
to the Editor at echant@stclaircollege.ca.
•••••
The Suggestion Boxes can also be used to
get “Personal” Classifieds to The Saint - Happy
Birthday/Anniversary greetings, frisky invitations to strangers you see in class or elsewhere
on campus, stuff like that. These Personals are
free!
•••••
The Suggestion Boxes can also be used to
get a message - complaint, concern, idea directly to college President Dr. John Strasser.
This year’s college enrollees grew
up with robotic, computer-brained
toys - like Furby who was introduced in 1998.
today’s first-year students.
The Beloit College Mindset List is used by
educators - and clergy and the military and
business - in their efforts to connect with the
new generation. Beloit creates the list to share
with its faculty in anticipation of the first-year
seminars and orientation. “It is an important
reminder to faculty - some of whom are only a
Ph.D.-duration older than their students - that
what we call ‘hardening of the references’ can
set in quickly,” according to Nief. “It is meant
to be thought-provoking and fun, yet accurate.
It often provides the base for good opening
seminar discussions, as faculty and students
address the challenges of examining important
issues from differing perspectives.”
[After all, there’s not much point - in terms
of effective educational communication - in
sprinkling one’s lectures with references to
typewriter ribbons, Watergate or “Mary Tyler
Moore Show” episodes when none of those
things have existed (or, at least, were in vogue)
during the lifetimes of these new students.]
Mindset List websites at Beloit College and
at mindsetmoment.com, the Mediasite webcast and a related Facebook page receive more
than a million hits annually. Nief and McBride
recently applied their popular format to ten
generations of Americans over 150 years in
their new book, “The Mindset Lists of
American History: From Typewriters to Text
Messages, What Ten Generations of
Americans Think Is Normal” (Wiley and
Sons).
For those who cannot comprehend that it
has been about 18 years since this year’s class
was born, they will quickly confirm that the
next several years of their educational careers
will go even faster. And, like the rest of us, they
will continue to grow older at increasing
speed.
Here’s this year’s Beloit College Mindset
List. (Note: With a lot of American references,
as usual.)
This year’s entering-college class was born
into cyberspace and they have, therefore,
measured their output in the fundamental particles of life: bits, bytes, and bauds. They are
entering college bombarded by questions
about jobs and the value of a college degree.
They have never needed an actual airline “tick-
The Green Bay Packers have been
celebrating touchdowns scored in
home games since the first
“Lambeau Leap” was performed in
1993.
et”, a set of bound encyclopedias, or “Romper
Room”. Members of this year’s freshman class
are probably the most tribal generation in history, and they despise being separated from
contact with friends. They prefer to watch television everywhere except on a television, have
seen a woman lead the U.S. State Department
for most of their lives, and can carry school
books - those that are not on their e-Readers in backpacks that roll.
The class was born the year of the professional baseball strike, and during the last year
for NFL football in Los Angeles. They have
spent much of their lives helping their parents
understand that you don’t take pictures on
“film” and that CDs and DVDs are not “tapes”.
In these students’ lifetimes, with MP3 players
and iPods, they seldom listen to the car radio.
A quarter of the entering students already have
suffered some hearing loss.
• For this generation of entering college students, Kurt Cobain, Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis, Richard Nixon and John Wayne Gacy
have always been dead.
• They should keep their eyes open for
Justin Bieber or Dakota Fanning at freshman
orientation.
• They have always lived in cyberspace,
addicted to a new generation of “electronic
narcotics”.
• The Biblical sources of terms such as
“Forbidden Fruit”, “The writing on the wall”,
“Good Samaritan”, and “The Promised Land”
are unknown to most of them.
• Michael Jackson’s family, not the
Kennedys, constitutes “American Royalty”.
• If they miss The Daily Show, they can
always get their news on YouTube.
• Robert De Niro is thought of as Greg
Focker’s long-suffering father-in-law, not as
Vito Corleone or Jimmy Conway.
• Bill Clinton is a senior statesman, of whose
Presidency they have little knowledge.
• On TV and in films, the ditzy dumb
Major family blockbuster films
debuting when many of this year’s
frosh were born in 1994 included
The Lion King and The Santa
Clause.
blonde female generally has been replaced by a
couple of Dumb and Dumber males.
• Benjamin Braddock, having given up both
a career in plastics and a relationship with
Mrs. Robinson, could be their grandfather.
(That’s a reference to the movie “The
Graduate”, starring a never-before-heard-of
actor named Dustin Hoffman.)
• The Green Bay Packers have always celebrated with The Lambeau Leap.
• Exposed bra straps have always been a
fashion statement, not a wardrobe malfunction
to be corrected quietly by well-meaning
friends.
• The Real World has always stopped being
polite and started getting real on MTV.
• Women have always piloted war-planes
and space shuttles.
• They have lived in an era of instant stardom and self-proclaimed celebrities, famous
for being famous.
• Having made the acquaintance of Furby at
an early age, they have expected their toy
friends to do ever more unpredictable things.
• Outdated icons with images of floppy
discs for “save”, a telephone for “phone”, and a
snail mail envelope for “mail” have oddly decorated their tablets and smart phone screens.
• “Star Wars” has always been just a film,
not a defense strategy.
• There have always been blue M&Ms, but
no tan ones.
• Gene therapy has always been an available
Once a fashion faux pas is now a
clothing fad: exposed bra straps.
treatment.
• The folks have always been able to grab an
Aleve when the kids started giving them a
migraine.
• Simba has always had trouble waiting to be
King.
• Before they purchase an assigned textbook, they will investigate whether it is available for rent or purchase as an e-book.
• There has always been a World Trade
Organization.
• Ice skating competitions have always been
jumping matches.
• There has always been a Santa Clause.
• Mr. Burns has replaced J.R. Ewing as the
most shot-at man on American television.
• Herr Schindler has always had a List. Mr.
Spielberg has always had an Oscar.
• Selena’s fans have always been in mourning.
• They know many established film stars by
their voices on computer-animated blockbusters.
• History has always had its own channel.
• The Twilight Zone involves vampires, not
Rod Serling.
• Little Caesar has always been proclaiming
“Pizza Pizza.”
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has always
been officially recognized with clinical guidelines.
• Point-and-shoot cameras are “soooooo last
millennium”.
• Despite being preferred urban gathering
places, two-thirds of the independent bookstores in the United States have closed for good
during their lifetimes.
• Astronauts have always spent well over a
year in a single space flight.
• Lou Gehrig’s record for most consecutive
baseball games played has never stood in their
lifetimes.
• Genomes of living things have always been
sequenced.
• The Sistine Chapel ceiling has always been
brighter and cleaner.
Their parents/grandparents wondered “Who shot J.R.?” But, for
this year’s frosh, the most shot-at
television character is Mr. Burns of
The Simpsons.
Saint Page 8
2013’ll FROSH YOU UP!
Kick off the year
on TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 3
with a rousing –
and arousing –
night of DIRTY
BINGO. In The
Hangar (caf),
starting at 8 p.m..
TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER
THE 10TH,
at 8 p.m.
in Griff’s
COMEDY
NIGHT
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
at 8 p.m. in The Hangar (caf) ...
XXX-rated mass-hypnotist
TONY LEE
On THURSDAY,
SEPTEMBER 5,
doors open at 9
p.m. – again, in
The Hangar (caf) –
it’s THE REDNECK
DYNASTY BASH!
THURS.,
SEPT. 12,
9 p.m. in
Griff’s:
DJ WARS
(help to
choose the pub’s house
DJ for the year) and
TITE & BRITE PUB.
Get your
sheet
together for
the TOGA
PARTY
in Griff’s at
9 p.m. on
THURSDAY,
SEPTEMBER
the 19th.
Found your true
love (red)? Just
browsing (yellow)?
Playing the field
(green)? THURSDAY,
SEPTEMBER 26, 9
p.m. in Griff’s, come
out for THE
STOPLIGHT PUB.
Hey, folks, it’s oh so ... about “charging
Ask your server
Advance tickets available now
(from the SRC offices) for GRUB
CRAWL on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER
13. Must be 19+ for this tour of
local nightclubs. $10 for students;
$15 for non-students.
araoke
avern
The mic is yours in Griff’s at 7
p.m. on MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23.
It would only be a
shame if you
missed it ...
On THURSDAY,
OCTOBER 3, at 9
p.m. in Griff’s, it’s
THE WALK OF
SHAME PUB.
Griff’s offers great sit-down dinAside from these SRC-staged
ing
at student-friendly prices. No
events, throughout the year,
time to sit down? No problem!
up” your student many of the Thursday Pub
Griff’s Grab ‘n’ Go kiosk in the
Nights are staged by campus
ID card with
main hall features sandwiches,
Introducing cash, to use it as
clubs. Students from all
wraps, pizza slices, salads, bevGriff’s Grub a debit card in
programs are welcome to
erages, desserts, and Bozii pockattend those events.
Club Card! Griff’s!
ets – including Breakfast Boziis!
CARD-venient!
Page 9 Saint
T
hames
Aug/Sept
imes 2013
TSI: “Let’s get this party started!”
PRESIDENT
ALEXANDRA
FRASER: Welcome to all of you
new Saints, and Welcome Back to
all those returning! My name is
Alexandra Fraser, and I am your
2013-14 Thames Students Inc.
(TSI) President. I am also an
Accelerated DSW student. TSI is
dedicated to providing a safe environment for students to explore
their future through successful
learning and memorable experiences at St. Clair College’s Thames
Campus. We’re looking forward to
being a part of each and every one
of your lives, and hopeful that we
can make your college experience
fun along the way! Join us for all of
our Frosh Week events during the
week of September 3rd to 9th. We
have a variety of events for each
and every one - also a couple surprises! I strongly believe in an
open-door policy, and look forward to hearing your input and
ideas to make this year about
YOU! Also, if you think that student government is for you, come
on down to the Student Centre
and pick up an application to be a
part of our team!! Remember,
together we stand, together we
fall, together we win and winners
take all!
VICE-PRESIDENT HEATHER
McCANN: Welcome, Students!
My name is Heather McCann, and
I
am
your
S t u d e n t
Executive VicePresident. I am
a second-year
student in the
DSW program
at the best campus: Thames! I am
so looking forward to meeting
every one of you at our events in
September. So many fresh faces
for FROSH! Don’t forget to get
involved - it really makes a world
of difference. I remember starting
college, and I was so shy and
intimidated ... The best thing I did
was get involved. Become a part of
your student government by getting an application from one of us!
Come out to pubs! Get started
with Frosh Week! Come by to the
Student Centre to hang out and
say “Hi!” Thames Students Inc. is
here to support, guide, and party
with you! You made the right
choice.
STUDENT AFFAIRS DIREC TOR CATHERINE CARON: Hey
everyone,
I
am
Catherine
Caron,
your Student Affairs
Director. This is my
second year in the
ECE program, as well
as my second year on your student
government’s board of directors. I
am so excited for this year because
it is my duty to get the word out to
the students about what awesome
new events we have planned for
you, like our pubs, family parties
and, especially, our Frosh Week,
coming up during the first week
back at school. For me to do my
best at spreading the word
throughout the campus, I can’t do
it alone ... I need some awesome
students like yourself to stand up
and be the voice of your program
by helping me run the Class
Representative program. This program is an opportunity not worth
passing up, so come find me on
campus, and I’ll tell you all about
it.
FAMILY EVENTS DIRECTOR
Much of the material
for this page has
been furnished by ...
CHANTELLE
BERNICKY:
Welcome back, students. I am Chantelle
Bernicky and, this
year, I am your
Family
Events
Director, and a second year ECE student. I hope
everyone had a great and safe
summer, and got to enjoy a little
bit of sunshine! To start off your
school year, we have many great
things planned for Frosh Week. As
well, all you student-parents looking for fun activities to do with
your children during the long
school months: check out our
FREE family parties. Our first one
is the Safari Family Party with lots
of activities, animals, and lunch on
us! I hope you all enjoy your first
month of school. I know TSI is
excited to be bringing lots of
events to you!
STUDENT DEVELOPMENT
DIRECTOR DONIA-JEAN HARP ER: Hey, Saints! My name is
Donia-Jean Harper, and I am a second-year DSW student. I joined TSI in
January of 2013, and
have had so much fun
getting involved within the school and community. We
have planned so much for this
year’s students! I am so excited to
kick off the new semester with
such an amazing Frosh Week! And
keep an eye out for me on Fridays
for special events.
At the end of the 2012-13 academic year, Thames Students
Incorporated was honoured for its services to its students –
and for involvement in province-wide postsecondary issues –
with a merit award, bestowed by the College Student Alliance.
That lobby group represents the interests of Ontario college
students, advocating on behalf of them with both the provincial and federal governments.
A WET AND WILD SUMMERTIME AT THAMES
Chatham’s Thames Campus has
a number of programs with relatively large enrolments which
operate throughout the summer
...
so
Thames
Students
Incorporated continue to stage
activities for those students
(and student-parents), including
the Family Fun Day pictured
here.
There’s more
“Thames Times”
stuff on Page 20
Saint Page 10
Here’s a numerical puzzle
from your friends at the
You can go up to 9 in the puzzle, but
you’re always “Number 1” with us!
Do You Sudoku?
Solution (no peeking)
Sudoku are easy to learn, yet
highly addictive, language-independent logic puzzles which
have taken the whole world by
storm. Using pure logic and
requiring no math to solve,
these fascinating puzzles offer
endless fun and intellectual
entertainment to puzzle fans of
all skills and ages. Sudoku is a
number-placing puzzle based
on a 9-by-9 grid with several
given numbers. The object is to
place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each
column and each 3-by-3 box contains the same number only once.
Sudoku puzzles come in endless variations and range from very easy to
extremely difficult, taking anything from five minutes to several hours
to solve. The one published here is considered a “mid-difficulty” format. Make one mistake and you’ll find yourself stuck later on as you
get closer to the solution. • Fill all empty squares so that the numbers 1
to 9 appear once in each row, column and 3-by-3 box. • Use a soft,
erasable pencil. • Always double-check before placing a number. •
Never guess! Only make moves based on logical deductions.
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/st.clairalumni
Page 11 Saint
Whackload of new programs planned
Program-related matters dealt with during
spring and summer meetings of the college’s
Board of Governors (BofG) included these:
• All of the college’s English As A Second
Language (EASL) training has now been shifted to administrative oversight by the
Continuing Education Department, and all
graduates will eventually receive provincialgovernment-approved certificates at the Basic,
Intermediate and Advanced levels.
All of this was necessitated by a change in
the provincial funding formula which affected
EASL. The program was previously funded as
a “tuition-short” offering - a classification that
is being scrapped by the Ministry of Training,
Colleges and Universities (MTCU).
The new set-up will see it become something just short of a full-scale, diploma-granting program.
Once accredited by the MTCU (which
should occur by this fall), the revamped certification program should obtain standard perstudent funding from the province.
Despite shifting to the oversight of the
Continuing Education Department, which (for
the most part) administers part-time, nightschool classes, EASL will remain a day-time
program.
•
Also
in
the
EASL/Continuing
Education/Contract Training realm, St. Clair
has a new, off-shoot deal with the Panamanian
government.
For years, the school has provided English
language instruction to Panamanian government officials and teachers. It has staged classes in that Central American country, and welcomed hundreds of Panamanian natives to
Canada for immersion at the Windsor campus.
Recently, that relationship was expanded to
provide training to Panamanians working in
the hospitality sector, as that country attempts
to bolster its tourism market by catering to
English-speaking visitors.
This instruction included several months of
training in both English and hospitality enterprises in Windsor during the past summer,
with the Panamanian students living in the college’s Residence.
This offering to Panama’s hospitality industry may become an annual fixture for St. Clair,
and it may expand to cover other business sectors too.
A similar deal is in the works with the government of the African nation of Nigeria (or
was when this matter was discussed at a
spring-time BofG meeting).
• St. Clair is back in Wallaceburg.
Several years ago, the college was offering a
number of manufacturing and trades-related
programs at the James A. Burgess Kent Skills
Centre, housed within Wallaceburg District
Secondary School.
Those offerings, due to lack of enrolment,
eventually evaporated ... but an economic upturn in that community (and other parts of
Chatham-Kent) has led to a renewed interest in
industrial training there.
A shortage of a skilled labour-force has led
several Chatham-Kent factories to urge a
stepped-up educational effort, so St. Clair
launched a new Pre-Apprenticeship program
in the field of “Computer Numerical Control
(CNC) Industrial Mechanic Millwright
Technician”.
The new program offering was approved by
the BofG during its March session, and was
launched a month afterward.
Ten students will be welcomed to the program in Wallaceburg (and 25 openings may be
offered in Windsor in the same discipline in
the future).
Like apprenticeship programs, this “preliminary” trade program is fully funded by the
provincial government. Enrollees pay nothing
in the form of tuition or supply costs.
Trade industries throughout the nation
anticipate that they will have an enormous
quantity of job opportunities within the next
half-decade, as perhaps as much of half of its
current workforce is of close-to-retirement age.
But, still, many individual companies are hesitant to hire non-skilled, “raw” apprentices to
begin to fill that looming void. These pre-
During the late-spring, the first contingent of Panamanian hospitality industry
workers was welcomed to Windsor for EASL training at St. Clair. This may
become an annual program.
apprenticeship programs provide enrollees
with very basic skills, which make them far
more attractive for the (paid) on-the-job phase
of a full-scale apprenticeship.
The facts that Chatham-Kent factories
requested this program’s development on the
college’s part, and that St. Clair also operates
an provincial Employment Centre in
Wallaceburg, should mean that grads of the
pre-apprenticeship should rapidly find apprenticeships in the workforce.
The college anticipates bringing in $128,657
in revenue from this program ... while bearing
expenses of $93,832 ... meaning that it will
turn a profit of $34,825.
There is also some ongoing classroom
schooling associated with the subsequent, fullscale apprenticeships, so that is a continuing
revenue source for the college.
• A launch-date is still “up in the air”, but,
soon, St. Clair will add another articulation
(credit-transfer) agreement to its relationship
with Detroit’s Lawrence Technological
University (LTU).
The two schools have struck a deal which
will allow St. Clair graduates to automatically
enter the senior years of LTU’s Master of
Business Administration (MBA) program.
To facilitate that transfer, during its April
30th meeting, the BofG approved the creation
of a new, one-year-long “Bridging to University
Graduate Studies - Business” program.
A report on that program was prepared by
Senior Vice-President of College Operations
Patti France and Vice-President of Strategic
Planning Peter Tumidajski, and presented to
the BofG by Associate Vice-President of
Academic Operations Waseem Habash and
Business and Information Technology Chair
Rose Mousaly.
To transition from their previous college
studies to the university programs, the new
Bridging program’s “curricula ... will further
develop (students’) understanding of applications in organizational behaviour, business
relations, project management, entrepreneurial operations and management of business
decisions. Students will also expand their skills
in oral and written communication, and
research. Leadership curricula will focus on
personal development, teamwork and organizational effectiveness. Instructional methodology, delivery and assessments have been
designed to enhance overall critical thinking
and problem-solving abilities.”
Even if students don’t proceed into the LTU
degree program, this additional Business education will allow them to immediately enter the
workforce with “acquired skills and knowledge
adaptable to any organization in an entry-level
management position”.
Habash and Mousaly added that the
Bridging program may be of interest to St.
Clair students in disciplines other than
Business - such as Engineering and
Information Technology students who wish to
add some managerial and marketplace expertise to their technical skills.
In answer to Governors’ questions, they
said, too, that the new program is not expected to “cannibalize” (sap enrolment from) an
existing articulation agreement between St.
Clair and Ontario’s Nipissing University.
The latter provides advanced-standing to
college graduates in the university’s Bachelor
of Commerce (BComm) program. It has proven
to be attractive (and will continue to be),
chiefly, to graduates of St. Clair’s BusinessAccounting program - those who, eventually,
will seek Certified Public/General Accountant
certification.
Lawrence Tech’s MBA, in contrast, is more
managerial in nature, and (as such) will be
attractive to students in the college’s other
Business disciplines (Human Resources,
Marketing, Finance) ...
... And very attractive to students throughout Ontario, Canada and probably international students too, Habash and Mousaly predicted
...
... Because it provides an opportunity to
obtain an MBA at a comparatively low cost.
The preliminary, lead-up years can be spent in
a college setting, with its lower tuition (versus
a much-higher-priced university undergraduate degree), before the final semesters at LTU.
The latter, admittedly, will be expensive.
Lawrence Tech’s website currently lists a $900plus per senior-level course tuition price, plus
assorted annual student fees (including a $175
international student fee).
St. Clair hopes that, eventually, even those
costs may be reduced, if LTU can be convinced
to deliver the MBA program on a “satellite”
basis right here at the college.
As it stands, now, the new Bridging program is expected to attract an annual enrolment of 25 students - a conservative number,
Habash and Mousaly believe.
That enrolment level would generate revenues (tuition and provincial grants), during
its first five years of operation, of approximately $695,000.
On the expenditure side (chiefly faculty
wages), that half-decade of operating the program is expected to cost approximately
$482,000 ...
... Meaning a five-year-long “profit” for the
college from the Bridging program of approximately $213,000.
• Every year, the college examines its slate of
offered programs and courses - full-time and
part-time (Continuing Education) - and
decides whether to retain, temporarily mothball, or eradicate certain ones. (This is an exercise demanded by the Ministry of Training,
Colleges and Universities.)
During its April meeting, on the basis of the
administration’s recommendations, the BofG
dealt with the following programs/courses in
the following manner:
- Retained and “remaining active” (because
some students are still enrolled in the courses)
are: Quality Assurance and Management,
Instrumentation Engineering TechniquesProgrammable Logic Controllers, and Visual
and Creative Arts;
- Retained, “remaining active”, and sched-
uled for curriculum renewal is: Mechanical
Technician-Toolmaking. There hasn’t been any
enrolment in this program for a year or two,
but the rejuvenation of this region’s toolmaking industry and associated job-opportunities
may warrant its re-introduction;
- Suspended (meaning that it is being “kept
on the books”, and may be re-marketed for
enrolment in the future) are: Pre-Business and
Mechanical Techniques-Precision Metal
Cutting; and
- Cancelled outright due to chronically low
enrolment: American Sign Language and Deaf
Studies (last offered in 2006).
• In May, St. Clair added an apprenticeship
component to its very popular Powerline
Technician program at Thames Campus in
Chatham.
The announcement was made at a memorandum-of-understanding signing between the
college and the Infrastructure Health and
Safety Association (IHSA), the training delivery agent of this apprenticeship.
Having formed a Local Apprenticeship
Committee (LAC), graduates of the existing,
two-year Powerline Technician program (who
meet the eligibility criteria) will be able to complete Level I of Powerline Technician
Apprenticeship Training, on-site, in partnership with the Infrastructure Health & Safety
Association (IHSA) as the Training Delivery
Agent (TDA). The IHSA was approved through
the Ministry of Training, Colleges and
Universities (MTCU) in April to deliver this
apprenticeship training at the Chatham campus.
“This is the result of a very focused team
effort, bringing three key partners together to
provide local training in southwestern Ontario.
It provides value-added for graduates, industry
and the community,” said Mark Benoit, Chair
of the School of Academic Studies at Thames
Campus. “This milestone is a testament to the
growing recognition that college prepares students for meaningful employment.”
In order for graduates to be accepted into
the Powerline Technician Apprenticeship
Training, the following criteria must be met:
candidates must formally register as apprentices with MTCU, have a postsecondary Grade
Point Average of 3.0, and have an employer for
a minimum of 16 weeks.
“IHSA firmly believes that instilling a health
and safety ethic into a worker at the apprentice
level is a stepping stone toward creating a safe
work environment across Ontario,” said IHSA
President and CEO Al Beattie. “These apprentices will go on to become safe and productive
workers, supervisors, managers and company
owners who understand the importance of
health and safety and build that into their
everyday decisions.”
IHSA’s training is based on the stringent
curriculum standards for the Powerline
Technician trade as it is defined by the MTCU.
• “There’s an app for that ... and I created it.”
St. Clair grads may be boasting that by 2017,
after completing a new, three-year-long
advanced diploma program in Mobile
Applications Development.
During its May 28 meeting at Chatham’s
Thames Campus, the BofG approved the
launch of that program, tentatively in
September of 2014.
Outlining the new offering to the Board
were Associate Vice-President of Academic
Operations Waseem Habash and Business and
Information Technology Chair Rose Mousaly.
The report tabled before the BofG stated
that the program “is designed for those interested in developing mobile applications for
smartphones, tablets and the web. Students
will learn and apply techniques in writing
applications for major platforms common in
today’s mobile application marketplace. In
addition, students will develop a deep understanding of object-oriented programming principles, cross-platform development (both web
and native), user interface design, database
fundamentals, systems development, and project management; as well as being introduced
to game development techniques. Graduates
CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
Saint Page 12
New programs
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 11
may find entry-level positions in industries
that write, modify and integrate software for
mobile application devices, internet-based
applications, and in other information technology and systems roles. Employment may be
found in computer software and mobile application development firms, information technology consulting firms, business environments, corporate training development organizations, and information technology units
throughout the private and public sectors.”
Currently, St. Clair’s only competitor in this
discipline is Ottawa’s Algonquin College,
which launched a two-year-long diploma program in the field in 2012. Other colleges “dabble” in mobile apps as part of their computer
technology programs ... But St. Clair’s curriculum, in contrast, will be developed “from the
ground up”, as an extensive and intensive program which concentrates on both the technology associated with mobile apps and the business expertise required to bring them to market.
The school’s existing Computer SystemsNetworking and Web Development programs
will be retained. There is sufficient differentiation between the curricula of the various programs that they won’t be duplicative, so the
new offering is not expected to severely “cannibalize” the enrolment of the other two.
Having said that, however, Mousaly noted
that a number of current Networking and Web
Development students are “chomping at the
bit” to explore the new Mobile Apps program.
“You may see some students moving back and
forth between the programs as they explore
what they really want to do (for a career),” she
said. “But I think, in the end, that enrolment
will be maintained in all of the programs.”
Students in/grads of the current programs,
also, will probably be able to transfer some of
their existing computer-language course credits to obtain advanced standing in the new program.
The new program is expected to welcome,
conservatively, 35 first-year students per year.
At the urging of industry experts who have
been consulted on the program’s curriculum,
students in the program will have the option of
taking it in a co-operative education format that is, including a one-year-long, full-time
work-week, paid internship with an information technology (IT) company during their final
year. That will extend their enrolment time
beyond three years, but Habash said it should
be possible for them to take their final semester in on-line fashion. Mousaly noted that 15
local IT companies had already expressed a
willingness to provide internships to such students.
A hands-on, “real world” component will be
built into the program, even for non-co-op students. Mousaly said the final year of study will
include a workplace experience at a business
or public agency which wants to have an app
developed.
Over its first five years of existence (2014-15
to 2018-19), revenue (tuition plus provincial
grants) is projected to total $2.64 million ...
... Over the same period, expenses (faculty,
support staff, curriculum development, and
start-up, Apple-based hardware and software
costs) are forecast at $2.36 million ...
... Meaning a “profit” for the college over
that initial half-decade of approximately
$280,000.
• Also approved at the May BofG meeting
was the (tentative) September, 2014 launch of a
three-year-long advanced diploma in Sports
(SEE SCHEDULE IN TUTOR LABS)
Tu t o r i n g S e r v i c e s L o c a t i o n s :
Main/South Campus: Room 209
Centre for the Arts & MediaPlex: Room B136
Thames Campus: Room 133
tutoringservices@stclaircollege.ca
Need answers? We can help
The SunparlourPregnancy and Resource Centre offers free and confidential pregnancy tests and info,prenatal education,STI info,and parenting support – including practical help (baby care items). Our friendly registered nurses and trained
volunteers are ready to help! On campus appointments can also be arranged.
24-HOUR CRISIS LINE:
519-946-9966
SPRC Main Office: 1214 Ottawa Street in Windsor
519-946-9967 • Mon., Wed. & Fri., 12:30-4:30 p.m.
Website: www.pregnancycentre.net
Email: clientservices@pregnancycentre.net
Recent Powerline Technician graduate Kendra Serecin handling media interviews during the announcement of a new apprenticeship component of that
Thames-based program. Photo contributed by Mark Benoit.
and Recreation Management.
Habash and Mousaly also presented this
new offering to the Board.
Under the umbrella of the School of
Business, this program (according to the
description provide to the BofG) will “prepare
students to work in the business of sport management, sport marketing and recreation-related industries. Courses of study cover sport and
recreation management and marketing, sport
economics, customer service, legal aspects of
sport, sport governance, project management,
community sport and recreation supervision.
Students will graduate with relevant skills and
knowledge suitable for entry-level positions
within a wide range of sport management and
supervisory activities. Graduates may find
employment in sport event planning; sales and
marketing; facility management; and business
administrative positions within professional
sport, sport governing bodies, public agencies,
community recreation departments, sporting
good companies, sport marketing agencies,
sport agent operations, and athletic service
organizations.”
The program will make use of the college’s
new SportsPlex - the gym/fitness facility currently under construction at the north end of
campus, which is slated to be open in early2014. Because some of the students may eventually find employment in the field of seniors’
fitness, there may also be work-placement tieins to the Schlegel Villages long-term care facility, which is also under construction at the
south end of campus.
Four Ontario colleges currently offer Sports
Management programs: Durham, Humber,
Lambton and Niagara. There is still a substantial application demand for such education by
prospective students.
This program will include 180 hours of
“field work”, Mousaly said. Beginning in the
first semester, students will be expected to find
work or volunteer placement with some sort of
recreational or sports enterprise in a private- or
public-sector setting.
The new program is expected to welcome 30
first-year students per year. Governor/college
Vice-President of Global Education and
Training Services Ron Seguin predicted that
number would probably be significantly higher. The new program, he said, will be very
attractive to the scores of varsity athletes who
consider enrolling at St. Clair every year.
Over its first five years of existence (2014-15
to 2018-19), revenue (tuition plus provincial
grants) is projected to total $1.52 million ...
... Over the same period, expenses (faculty
and supplies) are forecast at $1.4 million ...
... Meaning a “profit” for the college over
that initial half-decade of approximately
$120,000.
Contributed by Marnie Kursiss-Morrow
The Library has all you need for your latest
research or assignment.
Visit us in Room 262, or log on to our website
at
www.stclaircollege.ca/studentservices/library/.
Look for the AskON logo to chat with us.
TEXT US! Got a question? Need help locating
us? Forgot our hours? Requesting a hold? Text
us! Save 226-909-1522 into your phone!
The ultimate database - Summon 2.0 - is here!
Returning researchers: The Library Resource
Centre is pleased to inform you that, coming this fall, Library-users will be able to search across
all e-resources on one portal interface. The Summon service provides a “digital front door” to
Library resources. The only discovery service built to purpose, the
Summon service provides a complete and compelling discovery
experience, expressly designed to
meet the needs and expectations of
today’s users.
FEATURED NEW BOOKS
Stop by the Library to check out
the latest selection of books, ranging from health sciences to the
fashion industry. Here are a few
new arrivals:
“Adobe Photoshop CS6” by
Chris Botello;
“Raw Essence: 180 Delicious
Recipes for Raw Living” by David “LIBRARY HELP ON THE GO” now available with text-messagCote;
ing to askON. Text “START” TO 226-909-1522 (standard text“The CNC Cookbook” by E. messaging rates apply). Monday to Thursday, 12:30 to 8:30
p.m.; Friday to Sunday, 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Hess;
“Protect Yourself at College” by Thomas Kane;
“The Everything Guide to Mobile Apps” by Peggy Anne Salz;
“The Industrial Diet: the Degradation of Food and the Struggle for Healthy Eating” by Anthony
Winson;
“Photography: Capture to Presentation” by Jack Klasey;
“Help! There’s a Stove in my Kitchen” by Annabel Frere;
“AutoCAD 2013 and AutoCAD LT 2013” by Scott Onstott.
Book
Look
And other info from
the St. Clair Library
Resource Centre
Page 13 Saint
College is rolling in dough ... for now
Last year (2012-13), great. This year (201314), okay. Next year (2014-15), potentially very
sucky.
Okay, he didn’t use the description “potentially very sucky”, but that was, basically, the
fiscal picture outlined to the college’s Board of
Governors (BofG) by college Chief Financial
Officer Dolph Barsanti during his budget presentation in late-March. (That occurred just
after the final Saint publication of 2012-13 had
been published.)
The previous academic/fiscal year (2012-13)
was great because the college ended up with a
significant surplus - a minimum of $1.785 million.
That was the number projected during last
year’s mid-year budget update. But another
financial forecast - utilizing an accounting template furnished by the Ministry of Training,
Colleges and Universities (MTCU) - suggested
that the surplus could end up as high as $4.571
million. (The exact number won’t be pinned
down until an independent audit is concluded.)
Whatever the final number, the point is that
the college wrapped up 2012-13 with a whackload of extra cash. Much of that was thanks to
the sale of a chunk of campus land to accommodate the new Schlegel Villages seniors longterm-care facility, and land sold to/expropriated by the Ministry of Transportation for the
new Herb Gray Parkway.
And that whackload of cash is coming in
handy for injection into the 2013-14 budget, to
maintain revenues during a year when provincial grant-funding is expected to continue to
decline.
Both Barsanti and college President Dr.
John Strasser warned the BofG that this (201314) might be the last year that red ink doesn’t
start to seep into the ledgers.
With no substantial surplus projected at this
year-end, which could be used to “cushion the
blow” in 2014-15, that may be a extremely difficult year.
Regardless of which political party is in
power at Queen’s Park, provincial grant-funding of the college system - already considered
to be insufficient - will probably continue to
stagnant. If the cost-cutting Conservatives take
office during an election that may occur this
year, that funding may decline even more
severely than feared.
“Political uncertainty is the worst part of
this situation,” Strasser said. Even with the
Liberals having been in power for a number of
years, it has been difficult for the college system to obtain stable, sufficient long-range
funding commitments from the government.
A few years ago, several colleges were in
deficit-budget positions, and the ministry
“bailed them out” with special grant funding to
cover their shortfalls. Regardless of the partyin-power, “I don’t think you’re going to be seeing that any longer,” Strasser said - adding that
probably eight of the province’s two dozen colleges will have red-inked budgetary bottomlines this year.
The large-enrolment colleges in the Greater
Toronto Area are “controlling the (funding)
agenda”, the President told the BofG. Simply
on the basis of their high-population markets,
they grab the lion’s share of the annual-enrolment-growth grant-funding. That leaves smalland medium-sized colleges (St. Clair is one of
the latter) to fight over the remaining scraps.
Eventually - and sooner than later - the continual cost-constraints faced by the smaller colleges will have to trickle down into their own
budgetary cost-cutting. And that will take
place, chiefly, in the form of employee lay-offs,
Strasser predicted.
BofG Vice-Chair Vince Marcotte wondered
if it might be possible to spread last year’s surplus (of whatever amount) over a couple of
years, rather than inject it all into this year’s
budget.
Barsanti said that would certainly be done,
if possible. If provincial funding is somewhat
more favourable than projected and/or if other
revenue sources are stronger than anticipated,
last year’s surplus bucks will be held in reserve
for the grim-looking 2014-15, he said.
As it stands at the moment, however, 201314’s budget is not an overly optimistic one.
On the revenue side, provincial grant funding is expected to decline (compared to 201213’s mid-year review) by just shy of $5 million,
to about $57.5 million (compared to $62.6 million during the past year).
An animated evening
In early-May, students of St. Clair’s Tradigital Animation program
rolled out the red carpet for a very special and entertaining evening.
Students in their third and final year of the program shared the results
of their hard work throughout their last two semesters in an exciting filmscreening event, during which their final projects were shown before an
audience of their peers, faculty and industry professionals.
The screening, which also included many of the students’ demo reels,
was the annual grand finale for St. Clair’s Animation scholars.
“For the students involved, the screening is a sort of closure to the program, where we get to see our hard work on a big screen,” said third-year
student and event-organizer Andrew Blondin. “It is also an opportunity to invite professionals from the industry to sit in and view our work with us.”
The final film projects were produced over the course of the program’s third year. During
the first semester, students focused
on the story, designs and pacing of
their films. The second semester was
dedicated to animating the scenes
from the storyboards.
Most of the films shown at the
screening were computer-generated
2D animation, but there were other
elements incorporated as well, as students in all years of the program are
given the opportunity to explore
other mediums such as modelling,
texturing and rendering.
“The graduating class showed off
their final animated films, as well as a
selection of their 3D work. It’s a chance for them to show the result of their hard work
throughout the program,” said Tradigital Animation program Coordinator Richard Moy. “It
also gives them a chance to get together with the friends they’ve made and the people they’ve
been involved with over the past three years, and just enjoy some cartoons.”
St. Clair’s faculty have fostered connections within the industry that students find valuable
upon graduating from the program. Many student demo reels find their way into the hands
of industry professionals, and the feedback is customarily very positive.
“I can’t say enough how integral the teachers have been in making this possible,” said
Blondin. “Our program is unique and lucky to have a faculty comprised of truly qualified animators who possess such valuable industry experience.”
Tuition revenue estimates had been based
on an enrolment of 8,300 full-time students,
and a provincially-authorized 4.5 percent
tuition-fee increase, generating a total of $26
million from domestic students (compared to
$24.5 million last year).
A wrench was thrown into those numbers a
week after the budget was presented, when the
MTCU scrapped its long-standing tuition-hike
policy - replacing the 4.5 percent standard with
a new three percent hike.
Unless the ministry implements some sort
of special, one-time, compensatory funding to
the colleges to fill that gap, the discrepancy
will force Barsanti and the BofG to revamp that
aspect of the revenue projections.
In total this year, the college projects
$110,242,000 in revenue from all sources.
That’s down from $112,015,000 last year (midyear review number) - a revenue decline of 1.6
percent.
Total expenditures are forecast at
$109,201,000, compared to $110,230,000 last
year. That is cost-cutting of just under one percent.
The bulk of expenditures takes the form of
salaries and benefits for faculty, administration
and staff: $68,720,000 - or 63 percent of all
spending.
New and/or significantly higher expenditure items include security for the college’s several new buildings, the interest payments on
the loans/mortgages associated with the construction of those buildings, and hiked utility
rates.
The difference between projected revenues
and expenditures is $1,041,000. With one million held in reserve, that leaves a meager, 201314 year-end surplus of $41,000.
One, traditional expenditure risk of a sizeable nature remains: Deferred maintenance.
Province-wide, many of the 40-plus-year-old
buildings at Ontario’s two dozen colleges feature deteriorating roofs, ventilation systems,
and plumbing and hydro networks. That situation carries a total estimated “deferred mainte-
nance” bill in excess of $750 million for making all of the necessary repairs.
St. Clair, alone, has a deferred maintenance
list with an estimated $40 million of needed
building repairs. Every few years, the provincial government throws a comparatively tiny
amount of “infrastructure upgrade and repair”
grant-money at the colleges, but barely enough
to tackle one or two jobs at each school. An
out-of-the-blue roof collapse or a furnace failure could severely skew the accuracy of the college’s budget at any time.
A HAPPY UPDATE
Several aspects of that March-presented
budget were amended when the college’s 201213 audited figures were reviewed during the
BofG’s June meeting.
That review, by the chartered accountancy
firm of Price Waterhouse Coopers, concluded
that the college had actually wrapped up the
last fiscal year with a surplus of $11.57 million
- not the $4.57 million that had been projected
in March.
The windfall came from the prior-mentioned sale of lands, and from a number of
unforeseen grants and donations which flowed
in towards the end of the year, Barsanti said.
Barsanti and Strasser said it is now the
administration’s intention to inject approximately $5 million of that surplus into this
year’s budget (2013-14), and retain the remainder for 2014-15.
The latter had been projected (in March) as
a potentially very sucky year. But Strasser, in
June, told the BofG that - thanks to this “piggy
bank” of surplus-in-reserves - “I think we are
now healthy until the end of March, 2015.”
The larger-than-anticipated surplus will also
allow the college to tackle more of its deferredmaintenance repair-work than it previously
thought possible.
During her annual Risk Management report
to the BofG in June, Senior Vice-President of
College Operations Patti France said that $1.5
million alone would be devoted to the major
deferred-maintenance task: roof replacement.
Those who fail to
plan, plan to fail.
Don’t let that
describe you.
One of the keys to success at college is to stay organized. The
annual Student Day Planner –
published and distributed freeof-charge by the Student
Publications Division of the
Student Representative Council
– can be an invaluable tool in
that regard, in terms of keeping
track of due-dates for your tests,
assignments and projects, not to
mention the time-management
of your life in general.
The front cover of this year’s Planner was created
by Kori Burleigh – the winner of a contest
among second-year Graphic Design students
during the spring of 2013. Thanks, Kori!
First-year students received their Planners as one of the items in their
Orientation give-away bags. Second- and third-year students can grab
their copies when they are having student ID cards made in the Student
Copy Centre office. Planners are also available at the downtown
campuses. Please: “One per customer” only. Supplies are limited.
Saint Page 14
College is growing grass (not that kind)
Contributed by Horticulture
Professor Sandy MacDonald
In the spring, the college’s
Horticulture Technician-Landscape
program was granted a special permit by the provincial Ministry of
Natural Resources (MNR), to collect,
propagate and repopulate the campus with a rather threatened, tall,
prairie grass species called the
Dense Blazing Star (Liatris spicata).
This species is only found, natu-
rally, on a few sites in Ontario,
although it is still abundant in some
American states.
It is very important that we maintain the unique bio-type found here
in southwestern Ontario - and St.
Clair is doing its part.
(The plants were first discovered
when the college was preparing to
create a new parking lot near the
Residence.)
Under the permit, with the direc-
tion of the MNR and BioLogics from
London, we have been culturing
these plants since October.
Under the direction of BioLogics,
we collected the seed. Then, the students dried and prepared them, and
provided them with proper cold
treatment.
Ultimately, we ended up with
approximately 300 plants for reintroduction to their original habitat.
There are no fancy flowers to see
Aside from the rare-grass-planting task on campus, the Horticulture program was occupied
with its traditional spring/summertime job: staffing and plant-stocking the Garden Centre
at the Sears outlet at Devonshire Mall. The program has been partnered with the store in
this fashion for a couple of years.
AND ... In the late-spring (after the final 2012-13 Saint had been published), HorticultureLandscaping students staged an exhibit in the main lobby.
Topics included: Edible Gardens, Rain Gardens, Native Plant Gardens (Nicole Hall is pictured with that display), New Building Materials, Water Reclamation Gardens, Proper Plant
Selection (for specific growing zones), and Teaching Children Where Food Comes From.
Photos by the college’s administration.
Gifted grads in Cannes contest
Contributed by the College’s Administration
Two graduates of St. Clair’s Advertising program competed in the prestigious Cannes Lions
International Festival of Creativity in June, as the Canadian representatives in the Young Lions
Competition.
Jeremie Marcoux and Stephanie Dalziel, both of whom graduated in 2010, won the Canadian
National Advertising Competition in the
category of Media Strategy and Execution.
(They are pictured, from that event’s
Facebook page.)
The seven-day (June 16-22) international
festival, incorporating the Lions awards, was
held at the Palais des Festivals et des
Congrès in Cannes, France.
Marcoux and Dalziel both work for
Starcom Mediavest in Toronto, and have
been with the company since 2010. Marcoux
is a Strategist, and Dalziel was recently promoted to Investment Buyer.
“This is one of the highest honours to be
able to attend this event and take in all of
the world’s greatest advice and insight about
the industry we work in,” said Dalziel. “We
have entered for the past three years because we enjoy the opportunity to exercise some creative
freedom, and the experience is especially influential in this early stage of our career.”
Advertising faculty member Stephen McEachern was thrilled to hear the news - especially since
a total of five alumni from the program have achieved this honour to attend the world competition
in the past three years alone. “When folks have a passion for something, they tend to excel, and
this is no exception,” he said. “I’m not surprised that these two people won the Nationals. They
work extremely hard, and have the ability to work with both sides of their brain - think strategically and execute creatively.”
All of the faculty in the Advertising program have worked for decades in the industry, and
know what it takes to succeed. Thanks to the continued mentorship of the company that the graduates work for, Marcoux and Dalziel have continued their exceptional work. “We just plant the
seeds,” said McEachern.
The Cannes Festival is considered the largest gathering of worldwide advertising professionals,
designers, digital innovators and marketers. Every year in June, about 11,000 registered delegates
from 90 countries visit the Festival to celebrate the best of creativity in brand communication, discuss industry issues and network with one another.
The Young Lions Competition, which started in 1995, is open to advertising professionals up to
28 years old, working in teams of two. The competition takes place during the Festival week in
Cannes, in four divisions: print, cyber, film and media. The media competition challenges teams
to develop an innovative media strategy and execution within a budget of one million dollars.
This brings the number of St. Clair graduates who have been to Cannes to five.
“Historically, making it to Cannes is considered a huge accomplishment,” said McEachern. “To
have five alumni qualify for this event is a testament to the quality of the program and the faculty
who teach in the program.”
Previous National Winners are Nykolai Hrytsyk (2010), Celia Gibb (2011) and Chris Walton
2008).
yet; but, next year, we expect some
blooms. They are quite showy when
flowering.
During this process, we also came
across a very unusual insect larvae.
The concern was that this insect was
actually eating the seeds we were trying to grow!
Despite consultation with my
extensive, worldwide network of
entomology (bug) experts, no one
could tell us exactly what we had.
In the end, the Canadian National
Collection in Ottawa, gave us at least
a partial identification: This is an
undescribed species of Tortix Moth
... No one (that we are aware of) has
actually named it yet. This story is
still ongoing. We are hoping to collect an adult for identification purposes. To-date, we have been working with the larvae only.
(Editor’s Note: “Mothius Tortix
Stclairius”?)
In May, a group of students reintroduced the grasses by planting
the seedlings behind the Rez (pictured).
We have the threatened WillowLeaf Aster on campus too, which is
expected to self-seed itself into this
area.
THE GIFT OF SHADE
Hey, making a footstool or a nice bench might have been adequate, but
Carpentry Technique students when “above and beyond” that with an endof-year project in the spring.
They created and erected a gorgeous gazebo on the grounds of the Centre
for Construction Innovation and Production in early-May, as they wrapped
up their 2012-13 studies.
Photos contributed by the college’s administration.
Page 15 Saint
CHANCES ARE YOUR LIFE-SAVING PARAMEDIC WILL BE A ST. CLAIRIAN
In addition to furnishing Ontario with
the
largest
number
of
hospital/clinic/in-home
healthcare
workers of any college during the past
several years, St. Clair is also supplying the lion’s share of this region’s
next generation of medical “first
responders”.
Of the nine new primary care paramedics who were sworn in to the
Essex Windsor Emergency Medical
Service (EMS) during a ceremony on
April 25, eight of them were recent
graduates of St. Clair’s Paramedic program, based at the college’s Windsor
and Thames/Chatham Campuses.
Over 160 individuals applied for the
positions when the job-openings were
advertised in December of 2012. That list was
gradually whittled down by various evaluations
and testing procedures until the “best of the best”
nine were chosen.
Pictured with managerial officials of the region’s
EMS are new paramedics Arthur Bobek (Thames
Campus, graduated in 2011), Lauren Clark
(Windsor Campus, 2012), Ryan Cloutier (Windsor,
2011), Justin Hills (Windsor, 2012), Eric Lawrie
(Windsor, 2010), Shawn May (Windsor, 2012),
Jacob Vincent (Windsor, 2011) and Joel
Wierczorek (Windsor, 2012).
CANADIAN
CAFETERIA
Among the most festive celebrators of Canada Day oncampus were the many international visitors who make up
the college’s English As A
Second Language class.
They’re pictured preparing
decorations for a party in the
cafteria marking the national
holiday. Photos contributed
by Wanda Killops.
STUDENTS RE-DESIGN WINDSOR’S DOWNTOWN
In April (after the final 2012-13 edition of
The Saint had been printed), Graphic
Design and Interior Design students,
who worked in pairs during the year,
gathered at the Centre for the Arts campus to exhibit their “new and improved
storefront and merchandising” projects.
In addition to being a duo-discipline
academic endeavour, this annual exercise involves a contest staged by the
Business Improvement Association to
generate commercial development
interest in Windsor’s downtown.
The Graphic Design students worked on
marketing and promotional items for the
imaginary businesses, while the Interior
Design students laid out their store/office-spaces.
COLLEGE THINKS PINK FOR BREAST CANCER
Throughout the spring and early-summer, the college
team participating in the annual Dragon Boat races for
breast cancer research and treatment conducted a number of fundraisers on campus, including ribbon sales,
food deals and pledge-sheet solicitation.
Its most symbolic event was a “Pink Day” in late-May with participants at both Windsor and Thames Campuses
pictured.
Saint Page 16
Material Contributed
by the Athletics
Department, the Student
Athletic Association,
and the Ontario and
Canadian Colleges
Athletic Associations
Indoor soccer added to varsity sports list
St. Clair’s Department of Athletics
and Recreation is excited to announce
that it will be adding two new varsity
teams to its extensive list of programs
this year.
The Saints will be joining Ontario
Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA)
men’s and women’s indoor soccer.
Indoor soccer is a tournament sport
in the OCAA, consisting of a regional
qualifying tournament, followed by the
OCAA championships. Teams also take
part in invitational tournaments leading
up to the regionals.
Both the men’s and women’s teams
will be coached by the current outdoor
coaching staffs. The women will be led
by ten-year veteran Dan Docherty, and
the men by 21-year veteran Mike
Baraslievski.
The outdoor league season runs in
the fall, while the indoor runs during
the winter semester.
Both coaches are very excited to add
indoor soccer, as it will enhance and
improve the outdoor program significantly.
“Being able to keep our soccer athletes together and active throughout the
entire school year will have a huge
impact, both on and off the field,” stated Baraslievski.
Docherty is also looking forward to
the addition: “Having indoor soccer
now will bring our soccer programs at
St. Clair on par with the top OCAA soccer colleges. Along with our scholarship
program, no other college can offer
more to a potential soccer student athlete than St. Clair.”
With the addition of these two new
teams, St. Clair now has 18 varsity programs competing in the OCAA. Along
with indoor and outdoor soccer for both
men and women, St. Clair offers men’s
and women’s golf, men’s and women’s
cross-country running, men’s and
women’s badminton, men’s & women’s
curling, men’s baseball, women’s fastball, men’s and women’s volleyball, and
men’s and women’s basketball.
Now you can get a hole lot of education
Contributed by the College’s
Administration
During the late-spring, St. Clair entered
into an operational and purchase agreement
for the Woodland Hills Golf Course, located
at the corner of Belle River Road and
Highway 401 in Lakeshore.
The course will be operated by the college’s Athletic Department, in collaboration
with the Student Athletic Association and
Thames Student Incorporated, the student
government of the Chatham campus.
Woodland Hills will serve as a training
centre - creating summer jobs for St. Clair
students in the academic fields of
Hospitality,
Event
Management,
Horticulture-Landscaping and Culinary
Arts.
College President Dr. John Strasser stated, “St. Clair College will continue to look
for opportunities in Essex and Kent
Counties that provide new benefits to our
students. The Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs) survey results reveal that our learning
The now-college-operated Woodland Hills Golf Course was put to good use
by St. Clair in mid-June, when the Student Representative Council, Student
Athletic Association and Thames Students Incorporated staged a prize-filled,
low-cost special event for Father’s Day.
experiences in the classroom are above the
provincial average for colleges in Ontario.
Our student satisfaction numbers are at
their highest level in history, and also above
the provincial average for the fourth year in
a row. This speaks volumes about the fact
that the entire staff at St. Clair College clearly are focused on our students. This new
acquisition will provide new experiential
learning for our students, and a unique
recreational opportunity for every student at
all of our campuses.”
“This is an opportunity for our students
to be part of the day-to-day business of running a golf course. This is the real-life, practical, hands-on training which St. Clair
College is known for,” said Ron Seguin,
Vice-President of Global Education and
Training Services.
Woodland Hills features a nine-hole,
“executive”, par-three lay-out, with a total
length of 1,300 yards on 46 acres of land.
It includes a 25-station driving range with
both mats and grass.
Its clubhouse has 2,000 square feet of
space, and includes a pro shop, kitchen and
eating area. An outdoor deck overlooks the
golf course and provides seating for 75-80
people.
c t i v i t i e s Athletics adds recruiter
Your Student Athletic Association
(SAA) has a full slate of intramural
sports and day-trip events planned for
the 2012-13 academic year.
To register or for more info about
these, pop into the SAA office in Room
283 (far east end of the second floor),
check posters, and/or surf to the website at www.saintathletics.ca.
IN SEPTEMBER ...
(Some dates tentative ... confirm
with the SAA.)
Every Tuesday and Thursday until
late November, the SAA will be staging
yoga sessions. Check with SAA office
for room and time.
September 20: Bus-trip to see the
Detroit Tigers play the Chicago White
Sox. Advance tickets for sale in the
SAA office.
September 27: The SAA stages its
fall golf tournament for students, at
Woodland Hills. Visit the SAA office to
pre-register.
During the summer, Ken Ambrose
(pictured) was named
the college’s new
Varsity
Recruiting
Coordinator.
Ambrose will be
working closely with
all 14 varsity programs, assisting each
coaching
staff’s
efforts to attract the
best student-athletes
locally, provincially
and nationally.
St. Clair Director of Advancement, Athletics
and Foundation Christina Gatto commented,
“This is a tremendous move for the varsity program, and we feel Ken will be able to help our
teams compete at the highest level. He has the
experience to work with our coaches, and the
energy to meet the needs of the incoming students. We feel having a dedicated person in
this area will make a big impact on our success.”
In order to take on the new role, Ambrose
stepped down from his Head Coach position
with the women’s basketball program after two
seasons.
After struggling through a rebuilding year
in his first season, the Lady Saints were able to
go 10-8 (OCAA West Region fourth Place) in
2012-13, qualifying for and hosting a playoff
game.
Ambrose had amassed quite a recruiting
class for the 2013-14 basketball season, when
the Lady Saints will look to move beyond the
first round of the playoffs.
He said, “I am sad to leave the women’s basketball program after having built it up over
the last two seasons. However, I am excited
about this opportunity to help St. Clair with all
of the varsity programs, and I am looking forward to the challenge of this new role.”
Ambrose is a retired teacher with more than
40 years of basketball coaching experience at
the elementary, high school, club, regional and
provincial levels, with ties to both the Windsor
area and the other end of Essex County in
Leamington. He was both the founder and
President of the Riverside Falcon Basketball
CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
Varsity at home
SEPT. 14: Men’s and women’s
soccer vs. Sheridan, 2 and 4 p.m.;
and men’s baseball vs. Seneca, 1
and 3 p.m.
SEPT. 15: Men’s baseball vs.
Humber, 1 and 3 p.m.
SEPT. 21: Men’s baseball vs.
George Brown, 1 and 3 p.m.
SEPT. 22: Women’s fastball vs.
Humber, 12 and 2 p.m.
soccer vs. Conestoga, 2 and 4
p.m.; and women’s fastball vs.
Durham, 12 p.m.
soccer vs. Humber, 2 and 4 p.m.;
and women’s fastball vs. Seneca,
12 and 2 p.m.
Page 17 Saint
Two Saints added to provincial Hall of Fame
Hockey stars honoured too
The Ontario Colleges Athletic Association
(OCAA) inducted a pair of athletes from St.
Clair, and honoured five men’s ice hockey AllMillennium Team selections from the Saints
program, at a ceremony during the organization’s annual meeting in May in London.
Duane Matthews (men’s basketball, 197982) and Noelle Browning (women’s volleyball,
1992-96) were two of the 16 inductees to the
Hall of Fame’s Athlete Category.
In addition, the St. Clair men’s hockey program was featured proudly, having secured five
out of the 23 spots on the All-Millennium
team. John Moore (1973-77) and Dan Stasso
(1967-70), who were previously inducted into
the Hall of Fame, joined Paul McKibbin (197173), Bill Rodney (1973-75) and Ed Kenny (196769) as being recongized as the finest hockey
players in the OCAA from 1967 to 2000.
Duane Matthews played three seasons with
the men’s basketball team. He was third on the
team in scoring in his rookie season of 197980, scoring 190 points in a dozen games. St.
Clair captured the OCAA bronze medal at season’s end. There was no sophomore jinx in
1980-81, as he led his team in scoring with 308
New diamond boss
In early-May, long-time
women’s fastball Head
Coach Bill Smith (pictured,
left) tendered his resignation for personal reasons,
effective immediately, after
11 years of service to the
St. Clair athletic program.
Smith, who led the
Lady Saints to eight consecutive provincial medals,
has chosen to step back and spend time with
his grandchildren after jump starting the
brand-new program back in 2002. Since that
time, he was able to turn a new sport on the
campus into one of the premier women’s fastball programs in the province, earning three
provincial titles, including back-to-back OCAA
gold medals in 2008 and 2009. The team also
captured two silver medals and three bronze
medals, never missing the post-season under
his leadership. In addition, St. Clair hosted the
OCAA provincial championship tournament
on three occasions, as well as the national
championships in 2011.
After finishing fourth in the program’s first
season, Smith’s teams never finished outside of
the top three in the regular season’s league
standings, winning nearly 70 percent of those
games with a record of 85-38.
For his outstanding accomplishments,
Smith was recognized as the OCAA Coach of
the Year on three occasions, and twice was
named St. Clair’s Inter-Collegiate Coach of the
Year.
“We will be forever grateful for the time and
energy that Bill gave to St. Clair College and his
student-athletes,” stated Athletic Coordinator
Ted Beale. “In short order, he was able to create
a tremendous environment that athletes were
Recruiter/new coach
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16
Association and the Leamington Cougars
Basketball Association. Ambrose has served
with the Ontario Basketball Association on
the Ranking and Seeding Committee, and
coached at the MDP level with the St. Clair
Region team, also working with that team at
the 2010 Ontario Summer Games in
Sudbury.
NEW LADY SAINTS COACH
Replacing Ambrose as the Head Coach of
the women’s basketball
team is Andy Kiss (pictured).
Athletic Coordinator
Ted Beale commented,
“Andy is a very passionate coach who will push
our athletes to achieve
at the highest level. Based on his proven
track record of success with St. Anne High
School (24 years with a variety of its teams),
I expect nothing less for our program with
one of the area’s finest coaches at the helm.”
During his high school career, Kiss won
21 combined championships at the AAA and
AAAA levels, locally, regionally and provincially.
He won the provincial Coach of the Year
Award in 2006-07.
attracted to, and then
turned that into a tradition
of success. He treated his
players with respect, and
they were able to reach
great heights under his
leadership. He will truly be
regarded as one the best St.
Clair coaches of all time.”
ASSISTANT STEPS UP
In early-June, former Assistant Coach
Dough Wiseman (pictured, right) was named
as Smith’s replacement.
Beale commented, “Doug is highly regarded
for his knowledge within the game and his
coaching ability. We are fortunate to be able to
add him after the foundation of success that
Bill Smith was able to start with our program.
Doug has been successful with a great
approach, and this will translate well at the
OCAA level. I look forward to seeing his product, and have no doubt the program is in good
hands.”
Wiseman has been with the team since
2012. He is also (since 2010) the Head Coach of
the Windsor Wildcats fastpitch team
(Intermediate Division), and has coached
throughout that league in the past. He has also
been associated with St. Thomas of Villanova
High School, Windsor Minor Football, and the
Windsor Lady Expos. His teams have won a
number of provincial, national and international championships and finalist positions
under his leadership. He has also acted in executive and directorial roles with Windsor and
District Sports and the Windsor Athletic
Association.
Wiseman’s coaching staff for the Lady
Saints will include Assistant Coachs Mike
Sikora, Jim Stonehouse and Kelli Paquette.
points in 16 games.
Matthews was named
an
OCAA
West
Division First-Team
All-Star and OCAA
Championship All-Star
as St. Clair earned the
OCAA silver medal.
He continued his
strong play in his final
campaign, scoring 334
points, an average of
20.9 per game to lead all OCAA players in scoring. He was once again named an OCAA West
Division First-Team All-Star. Matthews was
named St. Clair’s Athlete of the Year in 198182, to go along with a pair of team MVP
awards. He is seventh all-time in St. Clair scoring with 1,590 points, and his 18.7 points per
game average ranks him second all-time in
school history.
Noelle Browning played four seasons for the
women’s volleyball team. The 1994-95 season
was arguably Browning’s finest in the OCAA.
She was named a CCAA
All-Canadian and OCAA
League All-Star as she averaged 3.4 points per set,
including 81 kills, 26 blocks
and 27 aces for 134 points.
She was also named an
OCAA Championship AllStar as St. Clair finished the
season as OCAA silver
medalists. She averaged 3.6 points per set her
final season, with 136 kills, 39 blocks, and 35
aces for 210 points in 1995-96. She was once
again named an OCAA League All-Star.
Browning was a captain for three seasons, a
team MVP two times, the 1994-95 recipient of
the Al Hoffman Award for Academics and
Athletics, and the 1995-96 St. Clair Female
Athlete of the Year. She was also an OCAA
bronze medallist in 1993-94. She left the
OCAA as the all-time career aces leader (80).
She was second all-time in kills (268), blocks
(69) and points (417).
Paul McKibbin played two seasons as a
defenceman with the hockey team in the early
1970s. He earned 28 points as a rookie in 197172, contributing 12 goals and 16 assists to lead
all St. Clair players. He was named to the
OCAA Championship All-Star team as St.
Clair earned the OCAA silver medal at season’s end. He scored 21 goals while helping
out on 51 others during the 1972-73 regular
season. He went on to be named the OCAA
Championship MVP, along with his second
straight OCAA Championship All-Star honour, as St. Clair won the OCAA championship
7-1 over Seneca in the final. McKibbin hit the
century mark in OCAA career points with 33
goals and 67 assists in two seasons.
Bill Rodney played three seasons of OCAA
men’s hockey. He debuted in 1972-73 for St.
Lawrence College-Cornwall, winning OCAA
East regional championship. He then made the
trip to the other end of the province and played
his final two seasons with St. Clair. St. Clair
won two regional championships, advancing to
the OCAA final both times. It won the OCAA
championship in 1974-75, as Rodney was
named an OCAA Championship All-Star. In
his three seasons, he recorded 174 points on 71
goals and 103 assists.
Ed Kenny was one of the original stars of
the OCAA. He was a goaltender for the St.
Clair team beginning in the OCAA’s inaugural
season of 1967-68. He was named the league’s
top goaltender with a 1.58 goals against average as St. Clair won the OCAA championship.
He returned in 1968-69 and led St. Clair to a
West regional title, before winning a second
straight OCAA championship with a 5-4 overtime win over Algonquin. Kenny never suffered defeat in his two OCAA seasons, with an
overall record of 19-0-3 in 22 games.
Through the mid-1970s, John Moore was a
member of St. Clair teams that won three
provincial titles in four years. He led the league
in scoring in 1975-76, registering 43 goals and
33 assists for 76 points in 20 games. That same
season, Moore was team MVP and the school’s
Male Athlete of the Year, as the Saints won the
OCAA championship and then became the
first Ontario team to win a national title.
Moore’s 186 career points (99 goals, 87 assists)
put him in sixth place on the OCAA’s all-time
scoring list. He has been inducted into the St.
Clair Athletics Hall of Fame.
Dan Stasso was a phenomenal talent during
his tenure in OCAA men’s hockey. He dominated the competition in the first three years of
the league’s existence, and was remembered as
a remarkably skilled hockey player, who possessed one of the best shots in the league. The
Leamington native was a member of the St.
Clair men’s hockey dynasty that went on to
win three consecutive OCAA championships.
During the three-year stretch, St. Clair posted
a record of 32-0-4. He was an integral member
of the team as he led the league in scoring in
two seasons (1968-69 and 1969-70). During his
final season on the team, Stasso averaged 3.9
points per game, going on to score 18 goals in
ten games. In one of his more memorable performances, he notched three goals in 27 seconds against Fanshawe College. Stasso is an
inducted member of the St. Clair College
Sports Hall of Fame.
Prof leads team to high world result
Just after we had published the final edition of The Saint/Saint Scene
in April of the 2012-13 academic year, this accomplishment occurred ...
... In stories during the past year or so, The Saint has made note of
the fact that there was a St. Clair tie-in to a Canadian team that made a
big splash at an international competition in China in 2007.
English/Communications instructor Jason (Jay) McCoy, operating out
of Tecumseh’s Wu Shen Temple, is Canada’s only certified coach of the
Shuai Chiao (sometimes written Shuai Jiao) style of Kung Fu. The grappling-style martial art is, in western lingo, often called “Chinese
wrestling”.
A youth-laden team from the local school, with McCoy as its coach,
placed an astounding sixth out of 16 international teams at the World
Shuai Chiao Championships in China in late-2007.
In recent years, too, McCoy and his colleagues in the sport have
brought exhibitions of the various martial arts to the college itself, staging bouts and demonstrations in St. Clair’s gym.
A number of the local temple’s wrestlers, also, have St. Clair connections, having been students at the college.
On March 22-24 of this year, McCoy and many of those local athletes
returned to China - the city of Yi Xing - as part of the Team Canada competing against two dozen other nations in the World Shuai Chiao Kung
Fu Championships.
This Canadian contingent was a relatively small one, with its membership capable of filling only 11 of the assorted competitive divisions.
And this event attracted many more nations and fighters than the
2007 meet, “making a repeat of our previous success (the sixth place finish) very difficult,” McCoy told The Saint prior to his departure ...
... He was right ... His team wasn’t capable of finishing in sixth place
...
... It finished in FOURTH place, behind two powerhouse teams from
China, and the United States (in third).
As a tiny yet spirited squad, the Canadian team was one of the fan
favourites at the event, and its high-placing finish was wildly cheered by
audience members and the athletes of other nations when the results
were announced.
Saint Page 18
Open athletics to international students: CCLA
Contributed by CNW News-service/
Canadian Civil Liberties Association
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has
urged the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) to
drop an allegedly discriminatory practice that limits the participation of international student athletes in varsity sports.
“The CCLA opposes unfair discrimination against non-citizens in all areas of law,” said Nathalie Des Rosiers, General
Counsel for the Association. “We are particularly concerned
because (this summer) the CCAA (was slated to) be considering a motion to extend this discriminatory measure, and
further limit the participation of international students in
collegiate varsity sports.”
The CCAA is the governing body for collegiate varsity
sports in Canada.
For the last 20 years, it has enforced a policy limiting the
number of international students per team: two for basketball and volleyball, and three in soccer. The policy was scheduled to be reviewed at its annual conference in Montreal in
June. Members were to consider a motion to extend the
restrictions to a number of other varsity sports, including
badminton, golf and curling.
The CCLA was alerted to this situation by Holland College
of Prince Edward Island, a CCAA member. The college has
been pushing to have this policy reversed for several years,
arguing that it is contrary to the values of inclusion and participation that are a core element of its brand, and that it
hurts its ability to recruit internationally.
“At Holland College, we recruit international students
from several markets, including the Caribbean and the
northeastern United States,” said Michael O’Grady,
Holland’s Vice-President of Innovation, Enterprise and
Strategic Development.
“But, time and again, we hear from prospective students and often their friends and family - that restrictions on varsity sports are a negative factor in their consideration of joining our school. At a time when Canadian educational institutions are intent on increasing international student numbers,
this discriminatory policy adversely affects our country’s reputation as a welcoming postsecondary destination.”
Last year, the college had written to the Minister of
Amateur Sport, urging him to use his good offices to have the
policy withdrawn.
The CCLA has written to all college presidents and their
athletic directors, urging them to vote to eliminate discriminatory policy in favour of an even playing field for all student
athletes.
During its summertime convention, the CCAA enforced
its policy for several sports, and eased it for others.
Beginning in 2014, only one male and female international student will be allowed to play on a school’s golf, badminton and curling teams.
A pair of non-Canadians can join a varsity cross-country
running team.
International representation on basketball, volleyball and
soccer teams will expand: three such players on basketball
and volleyball teams, and four on soccer squads.
Top athletes of 2012-13 recognized
In mid-April (after the last 2012-13 edition
of The Saint had been published), the college’s
top sports-men and -women were honoured at
the 46th annual St. Clair Athletic Awards
Banquet at the Centre for the Arts.
Among the winners were:
• Mason MacDonald Male and Female
Athlete of the Year: The athlete of the year is
awarded to the graduating male and female
student-athletes who have displayed outstanding athletic abilities while maintaining exemplary academic performance and school
involvement during their years at St. Clair. The
trophy was donated by and named for Mason
MacDonald, former Athletic Director of the
Western Ontario Institute of Technology, the
predecessor of St. Clair College. Male Winner:
Luc Su, varsity badminton; Female Winner:
Heather MacKenzie, varsity golf.
• Al Hoffman Athlete of the Year for
Outstanding Achievement Award: This award
recognizes intercollegiate athletes who perform at a high level of athletic excellence combined with sound scholastic achievement; who
have excelled in athletic competition at the college, regional, provincial and/or national levels; and whose efforts have contributed to the
success, competitiveness, enhancement and
overall quality of their respective sport. This
award is named after former Athletic Director
Al Hoffman: Male Winner: Andrew deGroot,
varsity cross-country running; Female Winner:
Kendyl Rizea, varsity basketball.
• Inter-Collegiate Coach of the Year Award:
Presented to the varsity head coach whose
teams exemplify a high level of performance,
sportsmanship, dedication and leadership.
This coach will stress the values of athletic participation in an educational setting, and will
assist in the improvement of athletic skills as
well as life skills. This coach will provide leadership as a role model to their team members
and St. Clair. This award is named after former
hockey coach Gerald Serviss, who led his
teams to three provincial championships and
one national championship in seven seasons.
He was inducted into the OCAA Hall of Fame
in 2005: Winner: Dave Cooper, men’s baseball.
• Exceptional Service Award (in honour of
Jack Costello): Presented to an individual for
his/her outstanding dedication and commitment to the Department of Athletics and
Recreation. This award recognizes those who
have gone above and beyond his/her regular
duties over the past season. This award is
named in honour of former hockey coach,
Athletic Director and OCAA Hall of Fame
Member Jack Costello: Winner: Mark
Ouellette, women’s fastball assistant coach.
• Fair Play and Sportsmanship Award (in
Men’s baseball now an OCAA sport
Women’s fastball will not be the only Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) league
sport to “play ball” this fall.
During their annual meeting in April, OCAA athletic directors unanimously approved the
launch of men’s baseball as the association’s tenth league sport, beginning in September.
A minimum of five OCAA member schools must participate in a sport for it to reach official
varsity status. The five schools that will compete in the OCAA’s first baseball regular season
include Durham College, George Brown College, Humber College, St. Clair College and Seneca
College.
Durham, Humber and St. Clair previously competed with university teams in the Canadian
Intercollegiate Baseball Association, with St. Clair winning the championship last autumn.
“This has been in the works for quite some time, and it is exciting to see it come into
fruition,” said OCAA Men’s Baseball Senior Convenor Ted Beale (one of St. Clair’s Athletic
Coordinators). “The addition of men’s baseball to the OCAA provides an opportunity for more
students to grow from the varsity experience.”
honour of Bob Weepers): Recognizes studentathletes who reflect the true spirit of sport
through their exemplary commitment to
sportsmanship, fair play and teamwork. This
award is named in honour of Bob Weepers,
long-time Athletic Coordinator: Winners:
Angel Russell, women’s basketball; Mitch
Girard, men’s basketball; Sara Kox, women’s
soccer; Matthew Bassingthwaighte, men’s
baseball; Bart Musialowicz, cross-country;
Travis Wigle, men’s volleyball.
• Board of Governors Bowl: Awarded to a
male and female student-athlete selected as the
intramural athletes of the year. The recipients
must exhibit the qualities of leadership, versatility and sportsmanship while participating in
the intramural program, in addition to maintaining a satisfactory academic standing:
Winners: Dayna Hansen and Brendon Seguin.
• President’s Trophy: Awarded to the
class/team whose members consistently participate in various aspects of the intramural program. This includes team and individual activities, special events and officiating. Qualities of
sportsmanship and fair play are essential:
Winner: Team 11, basketball, Police
Foundations.
• Golden Whistle Award: This special student gives a lot of extra time to the intramural
program to referee and keep score for the various league games and tournaments: Winner:
Kayla Lindquist.
St. Clair Team Academic Awards (in honour
of Don Hogan): For teams that compete in a
league sport, with the highest Grade Point
Average among all team members: Winner:
women’s volleyball. And for teams that compete in a tournament sport, with the highest
Grade Point Average among all team members:
Winner: badminton.
Vballers Maritimes-bound
St. Clair’s men’s and women’s volleyball teams will be starting off their 2013-14 seasons with
a trip to the east coast of Canada, to take part in pre-season tournament action.
The teams will depart from Windsor on October 18 and return on Monday, October 21. The
women will be travelling to Truro, Nova Scotia, to take part in the Tip-Off Tournament hosted by
Dalhousie University; while the men will be going to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, to
take part in tournament hosted by Holland College.
“Having the chance to take our team out east for a pre-season tournament will be an outstanding opportunity for all of our players and coaches to learn and grow as a team,” said women’s
Head Coach Chris Brecka.
“Our returning players and recruits for next season can’t wait for this trip. It will give us a
chance to bond as a team, play some of the top teams from eastern Canada, and prepare for our
upcoming regular season” said men’s Head Coach Rob Lynch.
The Saints and Lady Saints will play 18 regular season games as part of the OCAA West
Division. The make-up of the division has changed slightly, with Nipissing University moving to
the OUA. Instead of playing Nipissing and Canadore College in North Bay, St. Clair will now have
two colleges from Sudbury in the division: Boreal
and Cambrian.
St. Clair’s regular season begins on Saturday,
November 2 when they travel to Mohawk College
to take on the Mountaineers. Their home opener
will be on Saturday, November 9, when they host
their new division member from Boreal.
•••••
Also during the summer, men’s team star Josh
Lynch attended the try-out camp of the Canadian
national “B” team.
The purpose of the National B Team is to identify, select and train a group of athletes who have
potential or demonstrated skill and experience to
represent Canada at the elite, international level.
Page 19 Saint
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ACROSS
1. Perceive
8. Wavering
16. Dies down
20. One of the Great Lakes
21. CD from Eminem or JayZ, say
22. Marshland
23. Start of a riddle
25. Teal, e.g.
26. Mineo of films
27. First-century emperor
28. Sufficient, in dialect
29. After-bath sprinkle
30. Zest
32. Riddle, part 2
38. Majestic
40. Inane
41. High-pH compound
42. Sticky, viscous stuff
45. Previously called
46. “__ have to wait”
49. ESPN’s Hershiser
50. Riddle, part 3
55. They often elicit groans
56. “Suffice it __ ...”
57. Chinese zoo mammals
58. “Thou __ lady”: King Lear
59. Hotel’s kin
60. Young dog
61. Sews an edge around
65. Riddle, part 4
73. Tara of “American Pie”
74. Granola bit
75. “__ Man Answers” (1962
film)
76. Jazzy Anita
77. Irritated reply to “Are you
awake?”
81. Devours, with “down”
83. Accept
84. Riddle, part 5
90. Gulf nation
91. Good diving score
92. Genetic letters
93. Flanders river
94. Ovum, e.g.
96. “There it is!”
98. Souses
102. End of the riddle
108. Al who drew Li’l Abner
109. Old Italian coins
110. Tie down, as a ship
111. Sheik, e.g.
113. Actress Carrere
114. Mark Twain’s Huck
115. Riddle’s answer
120. Poker cost
121. Ethereal quality
122. Relate (to)
123. Prayer opener
124. Northern parts of New
York and New Jersey
125. Numbers used in sums
DOWN
1. Divining rod
2. Get some air
3. German military camp
4. Jaguar, e.g.
5. “__ Brockovich”
6. Gone up
7. __ Dame
8. Suffix with script
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9. Round bread of India
10. Hot tub
11. In a docile way
12. 1985 Kate Nelligan film
13. In re
14. “Dallas” actor Patrick
15. Singer Sumac
16. Begin, as a journey
17. __ ball (pool hall item)
18. “Fists of Fury” star
19. Get sight of
24. “__ the weather?”
29. Phone no.
31. Port of Japan
33. Actress Lisa
34. Poem of lamentation
35. “Hick” actor Baldwin
36. Hayek of Hollywood
37. Window ledge
39. Parking __
43. __ left field
44. Tine
46. Repeated statement in
Windows ads
47. Plating metal
48. Kind of PC monitor
50. Rage
51. __ nous
52. “There __ ‘I’ in team”
53. Musical piece
54. Racket-raising Arthur
55. Rover’s foot
60. Fruit discard
62. Arcane
63. Annoyed with
64. Boa, for one
66. “Right, bro”
67. 0% of the people
68. Biker’s bike, colloquially
69. Largest city on Hawaii
70. “Get __ back!”
71. Abrades
72. Coloring substance
78. Dance great de Mille
79. Ovid’s 1,051
80. Diarist Anaïs
81. Took the prize
82. Florida city
84. Breathe loudly
85. Bringing up the rear
86. Collides with
87. Not deserved
88. Tramped (on)
89. “Holiday” actor Ayres
95. Mao __-tung
96. Romeo and Juliet’s town
97. “It’s __ state of affairs”
99. Lane of Broadway
100. Narcotic
101. Generates
103. Beatnik’s “Got it!”
104. People on the move
105. Like a well-pitched inning
106. “Sing, Sing, Sing” drummer Gene
107. Totally filled
112. Longtime West Virginia
senator Robert
114. __ Schwarz
115. Sorority letter
116. Humid
117. Suffix with colour
118. Ar-tee link
119. Honored Fr. Woman
Puzzle solutions
Saint Page 20
T
hames
Aug/Sept
imes 2013
Much of the material
for this page has
been furnished by ...
STUDENTS HAVE A CAN-DO ATTITUDE
Thames Campus’ Police Foundations, Border Services and Protection,
Security and Investigation students CAN - and did - make a difference during the summer.
Instructor Janis Huscroft organized her classes to collect a lot of food
(pictured) for a local foodbank initiative. The students brought in non-perishable items, raised money, and purchased food for the Chatham-Kent
Police Department’s “Outreach for Hunger” program.
Photo contributed by Mark Benoit.
Bread for bread-making
Theatre-goers in Chatham will soon be able to enjoy a nice piece of pie during the
intermission of a play or concert.
In June, the Chatham-Kent city council voted to turn over the ownership of an “annex
building” to St. Clair College, near the college-owned Capitol Theatre.
The transferred structure will eventually house a new Baking Techniques program,
and classrooms there may also play host to some of the college’s Community
Justice/Policing programs and Continuing Education courses.
City council committed to a maximum grant of $1.3 million to renovate the annex
into a useable academic site, with the college (with some existing provincial grants)
chipping in with about $750,000.
In 2010, when it was eyeing another location in downtown Chatham, the college’s
Thames Campus had received $309,500 in provincial government funding to launch a
Baking Techniques program.
Through the Rural Economic Development Program, this funding had been designated for the purchase and installation of kitchen equipment. It would also create three
instructor positions.
At that time, the college anticipated that the program would graduate 20 or more students annually, with strong qualifications to work in the food service sector.
Renovations will be carried out during the next several months, and the new site will
be ready to welcome students in early-2014.
POWERFUL CONTEST
FIRST THAMES POW WOW WOWS
Contributed by Mark Benoit
Professor Joy Kemble’s Child and Youth Worker students Shawna Smith and Crystal Crone organized
St. Clair College’s first
Pow Wow at the
Thames
Campus’
HealthPlex in April.
There
were
three
drums, ten dancers,
native veterans and
many spectators at the
event.
St.
Clair
Police
Foundations student
Andria Dyer was one of
the dancers showcasing her skill.
A Pow Wow is an aboriginal cultural gettogether, allowing participants to dance, sing,
drum, visit, renew old friendships and make
new ones. It is a time to share customs, cultures and traditions with one other and the
public.
Thank you to Joy Kemble, Wayne Pheasant
and Maxine Nahdee for their contributions.
FURRY FRIENDS FUNDED
At the end of last year, a class project in the Business program at
Chatham’s Thames Campus proved to be of immense benefit to that
region’s chapter of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (OSPCA).
Students
in
the
Management Fundamentals
class were challenged to
organize a fundraiser for a
charity of their choice.
Students Lisa Wheeler, Barb
Holmes and Deb Sterling
took up instructor Heather
Greene on that challenge and managed to raise
$289.12 for the Chatham OSPCA in just over half an hour! (Needless to say,
Greene noted, they earned a great mark on the project!)
The trio of students divided their classmates into teams, gave out jars and
instructions, and had the teams sweep the campus canvassing for donations. Teams stopped into classrooms and spoke with classes, as well as
approaching college employees and anyone around in the halls and public areas. One team member even brought her dog, Emmy, along to act as
mascot!
Pictured at the OSPCA building are, left to right, Wheeler, Sterling, an
OSPCA rep and Holmes.
Powerline Technician students at Thames Campus capped their 2012-13
academic year by showing off their prowess with a competitive rodeo.
After a barbeque for students, staff, prospective employers and the program’s advisory committee members, the students competed in seven
events involving pole installation, climbing and power-cable installation.
Photos contributed by Mark Benoit.

Aug/Sept 2013 - St. Clair SRC Student Representative Council

Transcription

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