Sprott-Shaw Blog

Mark Drysdale and Amanda from Tourism Nanaimo were guest speakers at Sprott Shaw Community College’s Nanaimo campus. Great information and resources were shared. Nanaimo Tourism have 400 plus members which is a great way to begin your networking because you never know when that next job will be from.

February 18 Ron Holmes from Canada department of National Defense (work renewal officer) Civilian and on March 10 from 12:00pm to 1:00pm the Nanaimo guest speaker will be Marg Fraser from VIHA Mental Health.

The guest speakers coming up sound exciting and I am sure will be have tons on information!!

♥ Doll

On October 29th from 8:00am to 12:00pm, Sprott Shaw Community College will be doing our part to support vulnerable students in the Nanaimo – Ladysmith  area by hosting an event called “2 Bits, 2 Bucks, 2 Bills.”

Money raised will be contributed to the Nanaimo-Ladysmith Schools Foundation, an independent charitable foundation that raises money and awareness for vulnerable students in Nanaimo’s Ladysmith school district.

Local teachers see the consequences of the Nanaimo Ladysmith area which is being consistently among the lowest socio-economic area in the province. Schools are the one safe place that children and youth can go but the school district has extremely limited means to respond to poverty. This is why members of the community have formed an independent charitable foundation to try and make a difference.

From 8:00am to 12:00pm, Sprott Shaw students and staff will be hosting a “drop and go” attraction at the Nanaimo campus(6 – 140 Terminal Avenue) to collect money, gently used coats, winter boots, hats, mitts, scarves, non-perishable food and diapers.

Coastal Community Credit Union is also partnering by offering their 4 Nanaimo branches (as well as their Gabriola Island branch) as drop zones for those who wish to donate.

Every person who makes a donation will be entered to win some great prizes including:

- One night stay at the Castle Cove Inn in Chemainus http://www.castlecovein.com /

- Catered dinner for two in the winners home by Master touch Catering http://www.mastertouchcatering.com/

- Lovely gift basket of Arbonne skin care products donated by Independent consultant Carolyn Janke http://www.arbonne.ca/products/

What a great event!! Go down and drop off your donations and make a different in a someones life!

♥ Doll

Loaves and Fishes representative Mike Councel (second from left) accepts a donation and non-perishable from Sprott Shaw Community College staff and students (left to right Yolanda, Candace Carpenter, Jay Kotsek and Director Bruce Wilbee). Bruce gave students and staff an opportunity to cover his head in temporary tattoos on September 11 to encourage donations! What a good sport and a great marketing idea as well!

Director Bruce is a great sport!

♥ Doll

The Vancouver Island Exhibition (VIEX) was held this past weekend and a drew a record crowd of close to 25,000 fair goers!! Sprott Shaw’s Nanaimo campus hosted a few draws one for a laptop and the other was a “Candy Count” which was a huge draw for all ages!!

The winner of the Candy Count

Our booth people

A few weeks ago there was a presentation from a member of Aviawest. Aviawest is an interesting company. Aviawest is a family owned business with 7 locations, the location in Parksville and Victoria are two of the biggest. Aviawest have call centers in Nanaimo and they hire for the call center as well massages. house keeping, guest services, marketing and administrative. There are many opportunities with this locally owned company.

♥ Doll

The Nanaimo campus offers an Industry Training Authority (ITA) recognized Electrical Level 1 and 2 program. Both courses are 300 hours, 8 weeks in duration.

Students that qualify for Employment Insurance automatically receive their EI benefits while in training as well as travel allowance. At the end of year one and year two students are eligible to apply for the Apprenticeship Incentive grant, a $1,000.00 cash grant available through Service Canada. http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/goc/apprenticeship.shtml

There is still room in Nanaimo’s Electrical Level 1 intake on August 4/2009, the next intake will be February 1/2010.

Nanaimo’s electrical Level 2 course that starts on September 28/2009 has just a few seats left. There is also some seats available for the Electrical level 2 intake on March 29/2010.

For more information call Karen at the Nanaimo campus (250) 754 9600.

Nanaimo's Electrical Class Level 2

♥ Doll

Last night the Nanaimo campus celebrated their Practical Nurses success by recognizing their accomplishments at our Semi Annual PN Pinning Ceremony. The special traditional ceremony had the graduates donning nursing caps, a candlelight processional, pinning of the grads, reading of the Florence Nightingale Pledge and refreshments. It was a special event enjoyed by staff, PN students, family & friends! Congratulations to all PN grads!!

PN students reading the Florence Nightingale Pledge

LPN students walking towards the Front

♥ Doll

Two weeks ago our Marketing rep Yolanda went to a meeting at lunch called Career Practitioners, the discussion being a huge recognition that employers are not posting information as much as word of mouth. So if you are looking for work hit the pavement and knock on doors and/or treat EVERYONE as if they could be your future boss!! This is a tip from our local Career Professionals!!

What a great point, typically it’s not what you know but who you know! It’s all about networking and making contacts!

♥ Doll

Recently one of our Marketing reps Yolanda, received an e-mail regarding Early Childhood Education (ECE) graduates.

Currently Quarterway Child Care is looking for ECE graduates. They need to hire at least 3 new early child care educators this year! Quarterway Child Care is not the only employer looking to hire ECE students, many other employers are looking to hire ECE graduates as well.

Sprott Shaw is an approved College with the Early Childhood Education registry. Sprott Shaw’s Early Childhood Education program is less than 1 year long! The average starting wage for an Early Chidhood Educator is approximately $15.00 a hour with benefits! Which is great in my opinion, especially for a program which does not take you a full year to complete and there is always room to move up in positions.

We currently have the Early Childhood Education program at our Duncan campus!!

If you are a ECE graduate currently looking for employment in the Nanaimo area (or are willing to relocate) and are interested in the ECE position at Quarterway Child Care (250) 740 – 2599 or by e-mail quarterwaychildcare@shaw.ca

If you are interested in taking our ECE or any other of our great programs call 310 HIRE or http://sprottshaw.com/

♥ Doll

One of our advisors just sent me this article found in the Nanaimo Daily News, which is Nanaimo’s main paper.

“Health-care Is still the Best Bet for Future Job Security”
Here are some highlights from the article:

“Some workers are not deferring retirement, and it’s good news for employers trying to stay ahead of the labour shortage. But in some sectors demand is expected to rise so much, even that won’t help. That is already the case with Vancouver Island Health Authority, and demand will only grow in the health care sector. Last year Vancouver Island Health Authority created 2,400 new positions. At the same time 1,500 people left VIHA jobs…”

“… The reason for the growth? ‘Aging people and aging workforce,’ O’Connel said. The median age on Vancouver Island is now 44 years, compared to 40 provincially. That gap is expected to grow, as more retirees move to the Island…”

This is great news for our students and grads! At the Nanaimo campus we offer a host of health-care programs such as Practical Nursing, Resident Care Attendants/Home Support Worker, Community Support Worker-Assisted Living and Medical Office Assistant.

http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=60994acc-ce83-4bd9-b396-d83ae1d504ed&p=2

♥ Doll