WHITEHORSE – Over 540 new and returning students starting classes next week can look forward to 10 days of music, food, games, and competitions during orientation activities at Yukon College.

This will be capped off with a live concert, “Fallin’ Back” at the College Gym on September 14th. The concert will feature one of Canada’s best live independent bands, Wassabi Collective, local acts, Old Cabin and Wrong Track Freight Train, and hosted by Claire Ness.

“College is more than just class schedules, lectures and exams,” said Lauren Tuck, Orientation Activities Coordinator. “Engaging students in everything college life has to offer is what orientation is all about.”

“It’s also an important way to provide students with opportunities to have fun, make friends, and ease the transition from high school, or wherever they’re coming from in life.”

Dawson City – Nicole Rayburn has a busy week ahead of her. The New-Brunswick-based visual artist opens her latest project re|signed in a Fredericton gallery and then immediately travels to Dawson City. She begins teaching classes next week at the Yukon School of Visual Art (SOVA).

Rayburn taught at SOVA last year also and is happy to make the return trip. Rayburn will teach 4D studio which covers video, performance, photography, and sound, and Visual Culture Studies.

“It was a really great experience and I was very excited to be asked to come back for the upcoming year. I actually think it was SOVA that made my experience in Dawson so great - my co-workers were fantastic and the students were a very engaged and unique group,” said Rayburn.

“There are not many first-year programs that cover topics such as performance and video art. This really allows for a great overlap between my own artistic interests and the topics that I get to cover in the classroom.”

WHITEHORSE – Stocking shelves at the Food Bank, fixing nets at the Canada Games Centre, painting fences at the Wildlife Preserve, and repairing the pump house fence at McIntyre Creek.

These are some of the community projects over 150 Yukon College staff and faculty members will be volunteering for as part of their annual Fall Huddle this week.

“Our theme this year is Your College in the Community,” said Jennifer Moorlag, chair, School of Management, Tourism & Hospitality and one of the event organizers.

“The idea came from the staff and faculty. Many of our staff are involved in a range of community groups and felt this would be a positive way to focus our energy.  We wanted to give back.”

The college volunteers will spend two and a half hours tackling one of 12 activities on Wednesday morning. The volunteer placements came from a mix of staff suggestions and advice from the Volunteer Bureau.

WHITEHORSE � Students and the general public are being invited to meet some of Yukon College�s �Amazing Faculty� in a new advertising campaign launched this week.

The campaign showcases seven instructors from across the wide range of programs and courses available at the college from carpentry, culinary arts and nursing to science, heritage and culture, academic development and community campus access.

�The key to every student�s success will always be the supportive, challenging relationship they each build with a knowledgeable, caring and passionate teacher,� said Bill Dushenko, vice president Academic at Yukon College.

�Through these seven examples we wanted to share the incredible passion for teaching, and for continued learning and research in their subject areas, that our entire faculty brings to their work.�

Victoria Castillo is one of the faculty featured in the campaign.

WHITEHORSE – Conie Rogan and Joel Amos, two Culinary Arts students from the 2012 graduating class, will each receive an award this week for showing quality, leadership and vision in food service, specifically in the area of food safety.

Rogan will receive $750 from the Rendezvous Rotary Scholarship. Amos will receive $500 from the Sysco Edmonton Scholarship. Both were selected from the ten 2012 students by culinary arts faculty.

“This a great surprise,” said Amos, who currently works in the kitchen of the Klondike Inn. “I worked hard, and I am excited to have that hard work rewarded.”

Amos said he will be putting the money towards his wife’s tuition. Martina Amos will be undertaking the one-year certificate program herself this September. The couple plans to eventually open a restaurant of their own either here in Whitehorse, or in their hometown of Inuvik, NWT.

Whitehorse – Yukon emergency medical responders will no longer have to leave their homes for five months at a time to advance their training.

Yukon College has negotiated a program delivery agreement with the Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) to offer a Primary Care Paramedic (PCP) certificate program. Significant financial support for the program is being provided by the Community Development Fund (CDF) and the Education Program Committee of the Volunteer Ambulance Society.

“There is a keen interest from Yukon volunteer emergency medical responders to take this training,” said Doug MacKay, chair of the Education Program Committee of the Volunteer Ambulance Society.

“I have nine people on a waiting list for this course - and two more names have just been added.”

WHITEHORSE – Dr. Joel Cubley can’t think of a better place to teach Yukon College’s new Mineral Resources program than right here in Whitehorse.

“There is such an incredibly varied natural geology to expose students to – right outside the classroom door,” said Cubley, instructor and coordinator for the one-year certificate and two-year diploma program.

“The long history of mining in the Yukon provides an excellent framework for exploring the industry with a focus on local mineral deposits. In addition, there is also a heightened level of awareness and involvement from the mining community that will serve to support the students’ learning.”

“It’s a fantastic place to offer these courses.”

Fresh from completing his Ph.D. at the University of Calgary, Cubley arrived in the territory in April to take charge of the new program.

WHITEHORSE – Move over Trader Time. Get out of the way Kijiji. There’s a new kid in town. Borealist.com is a brand new website launched this month by Whitehorse programmer Marko Marjanovic with help from Technology Innovation at Yukon College’s Yukon Research Centre.

Marjanovic has dubbed his site “Yukon’s online marketplace” and hopes to attract Yukoners looking to buy, sell and trade away from more established sites like Kijiji, Craigslist and Facebook.

“Kijiji is clunky, ugly, and cluttered with ads. The Whitehorse buy/sell groups on Facebook have no search function and your ad gets lost pretty quickly – but the informality can be entertaining,” said the 28-year-old software engineer.

“Borealist provides a cleaner, more intuitive user experience. It combines the advantages of a traditional online classifieds site with a social media twist that more people are demanding today.”

Five local governments, agencies and corporations are working together to look into the possibility of a biomass project for Haines Junction.

The Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, the Dakwakada Development Corporation, Yukon Energy, Cold Climate Innovation of the Yukon Research Centre, and the Village of Haines Junction are investigating the potential for a two to three megawatt biomass plant in the community.

If approved, the plant would provide some much-needed renewable electricity for the territory. It also has the potential to produce district heat and create economic opportunities for local businesses and corporations.

WHITEHORSE – Yukon College and University of Saskatchewan have been jointly awarded $660,600 in project funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). This award comes only one year after the Yukon Research Centre at Yukon College became the first territorial institution eligible for such funding.

“For us to receive this grant speaks to the strength of the partnerships Yukon College is forging with older, more established research universities in a very short time,” said Karen Barnes, Yukon College president.

Barnes is confident that receiving such high caliber funding recognition will serve to attract high caliber researchers to the Yukon.

Beyond the economic activity of spending increased research dollars, the Yukon benefits through researchers working directly with communities and businesses, and sharing knowledge through presentations and courses.