Monday, January 24, 2011

Yukon College has invited TV celebrity, Chef Lynn Crawford to work with the Culinary Arts students on Thursday, January 27. The Food Network star will be instructing and assisting the students with making over 800 appetizers for the Gourmet Food Festival that takes place later that evening.

“We are pleased to partner with Skills Canada to bring this Canadian celebrity to our students” says Yukon College President, Terry Weninger. “Yukon College is committed to creating the most rewarding and valuable learning experiences for our students”.

The students will spend the entire day with Chef Crawford creating food for the Gourmet Food Festival Fundraiser for the Yukon Hospital Foundation MRI campaign. Media are encouraged to join Chef Crawford and the culinary students between 11am and 12pm in the Yukon College Culinary kitchen.

“It’s exciting to spend a day working with someone so established in her career – and we can be with her in person instead of just watching her on T.V.”, says Culinary Arts student, Julie Tone.

Chef Crawford is a Canadian Chef that trained at the George Brown College in Toronto. She has appeared on the Food Network shows, Restaurant Makeover and Iron Chef America. She has been the executive chef of the Four Seasons in both Toronto and New York and currently owns her own restaurant in Toronto. In 2010 she was nominated for a Gemini award for her Food Network Canada episode, Pitchin’ In.
 

Monday, January 17, 2011

The Yukon College Student Union (YCSU) is beginning the Winter semester by hosting Justin Trudeau. On Thursday, January 20th, YCSU will be introducing the Official Opposition Critic for Youth, Citizenship and Immigration to Yukon College students and the community at large.

YCSU is committed to servicing the student population with speakers that are relevant to its membership. The topic of Trudeau’s talk is, “Social Responsibility: Young people are our leaders of today” which is a pertinent topic for the student union. “Part of our job as a student union is to provide support and information to the rest of the members by having inspiring guest speakers that will further enhance their experience at Yukon College”, says Student Union Co-President, Dawn Hansen.

Trudeau alters the old adage - Youth are the leaders of tomorrow to Youth are the leaders of today. This discussion comes at a time when youth apathy towards electoral responsibility is a growing concern in Canada. “This should be a very vibrant and exciting experience for our students, and one in which we are encouraging them all to attend”, says Terry Weninger, Yukon College President.

Justin Trudeau is the MP for Papineau, Quebec. He has an extensive political career, as well as appearing in the CBC two-part miniseries The Great War in 2007, portraying Talbot Mercer Papineau. In the fall of 2010 he was assigned to be the Official Opposition Critic for Youth, Citizenship and Immigration. Trudeau is keen to share his thoughts and ideas with youth from the Yukon.

This event is free to the public and will take place, Thursday, January 20th at the Yukon Arts Centre from 1:30 to 2:30pm. YCSU is available for interviews with the media by contacting the representatives below.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Whitehorse – Yukon College’s Learning Assistance Centre has seen a steady rise in its client numbers over the past year.  Since opening in 1987, the Centre has assisted over 2000 students.  The Centre works with the general student population to improve study skills.  It also provides important services to both students and staff with disabilities and chronic health concerns. If the demand for assistance continues for the rest of the year, the Centre will see a significant increase in its annual average of 150 clients.

The Centre partly attributes the increase in client numbers to a greater awareness about the services available to help people with disabilities access post secondary education.  One area of growing importance is in the use of Adaptive Technologies. These technologies range from the simple (a supportive chair) to the sophisticated (specialized computer software).  In particular, students have benefited greatly from the new speech-to-text programs like Dragon Naturally Speaking and text readers like Kurzweil 3000.  The Learning Assistance Centre now offers an individualized credit course to help students learn to effectively use the new technologies.

Students and instructors at the college are also becoming more aware of the importance of providing reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities or health issues.  These accommodations are coordinated through the Coordinator of the Learning Assistance Centre.  In post secondary institutions, students self-identify and are responsible for providing disability/health documentation.  Each student then works with the Coordinator and instructors to identify reasonable means to address the disability or health concern. With reasonable, effective accommodations, more students are remaining in college programs and increasing their level of success.

The Learning Assistance Centre at Yukon College is pleased with the increasing number of clients served.  The Centre encourages potential applicants as well as students and employees who have a disability or chronic health issue to contact the Centre. The Centre is located in the Commons Area room 1520 of the main campus or at the contact for the Learning Assistance Centre below.

Catalina Colaci
Coordinator,Learning Assist Centre
Yukon College
867 668 8785 / 8780
1 800 661 0504 (Outside Whitehorse)
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
ww.yukoncollege.yk.ca

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

Whitehorse – The students in the Working and Leading Program at Yukon College will be working together with Many Rivers Counseling Services to host a Youth Connex event which provides a venue for youth to connect with available services in the community. The event is structured to welcome and expose youth to healthy life styles and to choose positive change. Four bands will provide music, as well as karaoke and an open mic. There will be free haircuts and pizza as well as door prizes to give away.

Service Canada provides the funding for the Yukon College Working and Leading Program which is offered every semester.  It prepares youth with employability skills by focusing on computers, healthy living, leadership, and workplace essentials. Practicums in local businesses provide hands-on experience with guidance from instructors. The outcomes provide the students with action plans for their futures. The Working and Leading Program students helped in planning, scheduling, requesting donations, finding bands, advertising, and setting up the event.

The Youth Connex event will be held at the Old Firehall on Thursday, December 9, from 4pm – 9pm. All youth are invited to attend this event.

More information about the Yukon College Working and Leading Program at

http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/programs/info/working_leading_youth_preparing_for_the_future

Jennifer Moran/Shea Newnham
Instructor, Working & Leading
Yukon College
867 456.8605
cell. 333 9582
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
 

Friday, December 03, 2010

Whitehorse – Senior high school students from Robert Service School, Dawson City and J.V. Clark School, Mayo accepted an invitation from Yukon College to stay an extra day in Whitehorse after the Western Canada Education Fair to attend college classes. Yukon College is hosting twenty students who will be able to get a taste of post secondary education in an experiential way. The idea is to expose students to the concept of the college environment while breaking down any fears or misinformation that exists about adult learning.

“The ‘College-for-a-Day’ is an occasion for Yukon College to open its doors to community students and let them know about the accessible post-secondary education that exists within their own territory,” says Vice President of Education and Training, Dr. Karen Barnes. “We have grown and changed from the vocational school that first started as the College and now offer diverse programming that meets the changing needs of our adult learners.”

The high school students will attend two classes on Tuesday between 9:00-12:00. The first will be a kinesiology course with an interactive learning component about muscles. The second course will be a creative Science Fiction writing course that will have students thinking about their future environment.  Yukon College is funding this event.