Courier Staff

The provincial government’s Second Career program has attracted criticism, with critics alleging the program is taking space away from high school students who are pursuing a post-secondary education.

The program provides assistance for recently laid-off workers to attend schools like Centennial College and train for new careers.  Costs such as tuition, transportation and living accommodation are some of the expenses Second Career covers. Started in fall 2008, the program was designed to help out 20,000 people in three years. However, applications for Second Career filled up quickly, with 21,000 enrolled in 18 months.

“It’s been a bit of a failure right from the start,” Conservative MPP for Sarnia-Lambton Bob Bailey says.

He says the program puts potential high school students at risk.

“Those young people are going to be competing for spots as well,” he says. “I think the government should have planned for this.”

Bailey thinks the unstable economy should have warned the government of high application numbers for Second Career.

“It seems like they’re making up the rules as they go along,” he says. “They’ve known for at least two years about what’s going on with the recession.”

He wants to change the specifics of the program. He says the solution is not to add more seats, but add more space for prospective students.

“What we’ve called for is in the number of spots to take empty factories or office buildings,” he says. “Open those up and make them available for training.”

Centennial’s academic chair, Gail Beagan, sees Second Career in a different light. Although 500-600 students from Second Career have enrolled at Centennial since 2008, she says the space is not being taken away.

“You must meet the entrance requirements for the program and there must be seats available,” she says. “I think the statement that spots for high school students are being taken away by Second Career is totally false.”

Students who are coming fresh out of high school and laid-off workers are treated equally in the admissions process, Beagan says.

“As long as they applied by the February 1^st cutoff date, everybody meets the same criteria,” she said. “There is no special treatment for students who are Second Career vs. secondary school students.”

The provincial government created the program to help employees affected by the recession. Beagan says the Ministry had set out their plan to educate and to admit students to college. The high number of Second Career applicants at Centennial shows the popularity.

“It’s an extremely successful program,” she said.

High school student Mathew Shin will graduate this year and has applied for post-secondary education in the fall. He thinks Second Career students should not take spots away.

“I think that high school students just starting college should have the first choice, and then people who’ve been laid off get second choice.”

However, Shin believes Second Career is a step in the right direction.

“It’s pretty good, but they need to make sure that the right people get these opportunities and chances,” he said.

Courier Staff

An inverted triangle with rainbow colours may not mean much to most people but for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community, that symbol offers more than just an open door. It represents an added avenue to their network of support.

The rainbow triangle, seen on stickers in some college offices, is a universal logo for the Positive Space campaign.

Positive Space is intended to create an environment free of discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, according to Laurie Sancie, manager of policy development and education at Progress campus.

“It’s essentially an educational initiative and sticker campaign. Employees of the college attend a Positive Space training (program) where they learn more about issues surrounding the LGBTQ community,” Sancie said. “They learn about sexual and gender diversity. When they complete the training, if they choose to become a participant, they receive a Positive Space sticker.”

Having the sticker means there is someone in that designated work space LGBTQ students can openly approach for whatever they need help with.

According to Centennial College’s Positive Space brochure, the rainbow triangle indicates that the sticker bearer “will treat LGBTQ people with respect and…be ready to challenge discriminatory words and actions.”

At the moment, the college only provides Positive Space training to faculty and staff.

“I think it’s a really important program because it offers students the opportunity to self-identify,” Centennial student Natalie Samson said.

“It builds awareness around the fact that the general social climate (at the college) isn’t always friendly to people who don’t fall into mainstream designations or lifestyles,” she added.

With her previous experience working at a university that also had Positive Space, Samson said that the campaign helped to improve relationships, notably between students and faculty.

“Anything that might get people to stop and think about their behaviour, their attitudes and their biases is good,” she said. “Becoming a person who is more respectful, more knowledgeable and more sensitive is a good thing, always.”

The LGBTQ student initiative, supervised by Leigh Simpson, fully supports Positive Space. Their goal is to keep the momentum going in creating awareness for LGBTQ students at Centennial.

“(It’s) about solidifying the community and just trying to give them that self-start initiative,” Simpson said.

Her student group is planning to launch a website that could become integrated into the Positive Space campaign.

“It’s going to be a fantastic way for our LGBTQ students to come together in a more private setting,” she said.

“I think that this (online presence plus the Positive Space sticker campaign) meets students’ needs in today’s society through ways we feel most comfortable. I’m really, really excited.”

Courier Staff

The first sign that something different was happening was the bustling crowd chatting excitedly outside of the classroom—half an hour early.

“You can always get better,” shouted third-year microbiology student, Jonathan Burgess, as he joined the growing group.

No, these students were not lining up to listen to their professor lecture about math or science, they were here to talk about sex.

On Wednesday, Feb. 10, Sue Johanson, the veteran sex educator from the “Sunday Night Sex Show,” visited Centennial College’s Morningside campus to talk a little sex with the students.

Every seat in the small classroom was filled by the group of about 85 students, with many students being forced to stand to get a chance to listen to Johanson.

The two-hour presentation covered topics ranging from sexual health to ideal sex positions and had students laughing and paying attention like no ordinary morning lecture could.

A professor outside the room commented she had “never seen a class so excited to get in. This could only be for sex with Sue.”

Students had every reason to be excited. The 78-year-old Johanson wasted no time getting into the sex talk, quickly using humour to break the ice.

“Talking about sex is harder than jumping into bed and having a humping, thumping good time,” Johanson said.

With youthful energy Johanson jumped right into her graphic form of sexual education, using sound effects and props to teach students about things most parents wouldn’t dream of bringing up.

“We didn’t do a very good job of teaching you guys sex education,” Johanson said.  “I’m going to cover some of the myths you picked up from magazines, pornography and your friends.”

Johanson also held an anonymous question-and-answer session at the end, where she used jokes to lighten the mood, while still giving serious answers to the students.

“One guy said he masturbated an average of 22 times a day, I asked him, when do you make time for lunch?” responded Johanson to the question how many times men can safely masturbate in a day.  “But regardless, it is a completely safe behaviour.”

Johanson said she loves talking to college students about sex because of their “eagerness to learn and their reactions.”

As a mother, she also knows how hard it can be to talk to your own child about sex.

“I can talk all I want to kids your age about sex, but when it comes to my own children, not so easy,” Johanson said.

The students seemed to enjoy and the presentation, and agree that talking to Johanson was much easier than their parents.

“Someone with the knowledge like Sue has, this is a great place for people to ask questions and get real answers among their peers,” Burgess said.

Johanson has been travelling the province talking to college students for several years, and made an appearance at Centennial’s Progress campus last year.  The vice-president of the Centennial College Student Association Inc., Jay Patel, hopes to bring back Johanson next year.

“I was very pleased this year, hopefully next year we will have more time to plan and get a bigger venue to hold her in,” Patel said.

Progress and Morningside News Editors

Centennial College students in joint programs with University of Toronto Scarborough will be out of school with everyone else if Centennial’s faculty decides to strike.

“Once you’re at Centennial, whether you’re in a joint program, the time that you’re here you operate under [the college’s] rules,” said Jules Elder, coordinator of Centennial’s journalism and new media programs.

With the registration deadline already passed at UTSC, joint program students won’t even be able to pick up any university credits in the mean time.

There is one up side, however. In the event of a strike, students who are out on placements won’t be affected.

College faculty is also ensuring students that they will do their best to deal with a strike in a timely manner.

“Our goal is to make sure that the semester is not lost for the students,” said John Curtis, registrar.

Curtis noted that the strike in 2006 lasted three weeks and students were able to keep their semester.

“My advice to students is to continue as though there is no strike,” said Elder. “As of now everything is going as planned. Based on what happens later on, we will be informed at that time and pass the information on to students.”

Production Editor

Reading week could disappear this year while the college battles with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

Chris Ballard, 22, a sports journalism student at Centennial’s Centre for Creative Communications has plans to go to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to visit his parents on the March break.

“I moved up here in January, I’m from Newfoundland originally. By the time May gets here…I’m going to want to see (my parents),” he says.

Getting rid of the March break is one of the strike contingency plans to compensate for lost time. Students, like Ballard who have already plans for the break face a hard dilemma if there’s a strike and reading week is cancelled: Cancel their plans or miss a week of school.

“I’ll probably still go…I’ll make up the day or two I have to miss,” he says.

Ballard feels the school has failed to give him and his classmates adequate information regarding the strike.  He had no idea that faculty would be voting on Wednesday, Feb. 10 on the college’s final offer.

“To be honest, I’m not well enough informed to be scared yet. I don’t know enough of what is really going on or what the implications will be for myself,” he says.

The vice president of the Centennial College Student Association Inc. at the CCC, Carl Anthony John, said the faculty would walk off the job on Feb. 17 if the outcome of this vote were to strike.

“If things continue to go the way that they are, which is having no progress at all, we could see our full time faculty striking…if they deny the offer on Wednesday,” he says.

As for Ballard he will still go to Florida to visit his parents.

“This is a birthday gift from my parents they are bringing me down there…I’m not from here I don’t see my parents all the time,” he says.

John says cancelling reading week in case of a strike would protect some students. John understands Centennial’s contingency plan takes into account students who have leases that will be ending when the semester ends.

“They want to make sure some of our students are not left homeless for the end of their semester if it’s extended,” he say.

The communications officer at the CCC, Mark Toljagic, does not know if students will lose their March break but recalls the outcome of the last strike.

“The last time was a strike in 2006. It lasted a little over three weeks and the March break was sacrificed to help make up for the lost time. If there is a strike of a similar duration that’s probably one of the first things to go would be the March break,” he says.

Nobody knows exactly what is going to happen to the March break because it depends on the length of the strike and Centennial’s decision after the strike has ended.

“Unfortunately anything could happen if you have plans for March break you may be asked to come back to school and that’s just the reality of the system right now,” Toljagic says.

Just like four years ago, students like Ballard have been left in a lurch, having no idea what to do, if anything, with their March break plans.

Courier Staff

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Students and faculty at Centennial College wait for the results of the vote as ballots make their way through the snail mail.

On Feb. 10, 51.25 per cent of Ontario College teachers voted in favor of the province’s contract offer. At Centennial, 55.35 per cent of faculty accepted the final offer and 44.65% rejected it.

However, the threat of a strike is not over yet. Ballots that were sent out to teachers on maternity leave and sick leave are still unaccounted for. The Ontario Labour Relations Board (ORLB), who organized the vote on behalf of College Compensation and Appointments Council, cannot release an official vote until the ballots arrive by mail. Ontario Public Service Employee Union (OPSEU) representative Jacques O’Sullivan said that around 500 ballots went out, but doesn’t expect 500 to be counted.

“The only number that matters is the number of votes received in time,” he said. “Ballots post marked up to February 17 will be counted, anything later will not be considered.”

He believes that the ballots will not likely affect the current result, but won’t rule anything out.

“If the results do change, the next step will include the union asking the managers to come back to the bargaining table. If they refuse then we will set a new strike date,” he said.

According to College Council representative David Scott, the Council will not negotiate any further.

“The strike is a faculty decision and is ultimately in the hands of the union. We’ve been very clear that we are not negotiating any further and will not agree to arbitration,” he said.

While votes float around Canada Post, teachers and students are anxious to find out the state of the semester. Journalism student Lloyd Quansah feels frustrated by the wait.

“The bulk of the semester’s work is starting to pile up,” he said. “It’s very frustrating because I don’t know whether I should start working on my projects now or not.”

Ontario students and faculty will continue to play the waiting game until the votes are accounted for. The OLRB is expected to release an official result on Feb. 24.

CCC and Ashtonbee Editor

Micheline Beauvais’s eyes remain glued to the TV screen every night when she returns home from school. She scans the countless faces and bodies with the faint hope she’ll recognize someone she‘s related to. She regrets the dead won’t have a proper funeral.

 “There’s no place for the body … They put them in fire to burn,” Beauvais says. “We’re not the garbage. We’re human beings.”

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the island nation of Haiti on Tuesday, Jan. 12, destroying nearly everything in its path. The death toll is estimated around 200,000 people. Now a week later, international attention is focused on delivering aid to the impoverished nation and sifting through the rubble in hopes of finding those still clinging to life.

  Beauvais, 31, studies social work at College Boreal, located inside the Centre for Creative Communications. Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, she came with her father, brother and step-mother to Canada when she was 15. Another brother, Nickson, still lives in Port-au-Prince. She knows he’s alive, but fears for his health now that he’s homeless because of the earthquake.

 “He’s OK, but his wife and baby, no,” she says. “I can tell you. Died.”

Beauvais planned to go back to Haiti this summer to meet her new niece or nephew. Her brother’s wife is pregnant and currently unaccounted for, as are her grandparents. She assumes they’re dead.

“For Haitian people like me, we die,” Beauvais said. “I watch TV and I die in my heart because I can’t do anything; just pray.”

This sense of emotional paralysis is common among Beauvais’s Haitian classmates. She said they don’t talk much about their missing relatives and friends in Haiti. They’re too angry right now; angry their country was devastated by the earthquake, that aid is taking so long to filter through the streets and that the Canadian government is preoccupied with finding Canadian survivors.

 “Canadians do a lot. Every country do a lot,” she said. “I say thank you everyday.”

“But why the army Canadian do everything it can do to find the missing Canadian people?” she wonders. “The kids are missing. Not a Canadian, but still a human being.”

Mimosa Tulina, a counsellor at College Boreal, notices how Haitian students are in a state of shock. She said three or four aren’t yet ready to talk to her about their grief.

“Most of them are frozen at the moment. They don’t express their emotions,” Tulina says. “For the moment, I feel like they are blocked. Some of them express their emotions by doing. They’re very involved in helping Haitians back home.”

However frustrated Beauvais feels at the moment, she remains positive Haiti will rebuild itself for future prosperity.

“Everything happen for a reason,” she insists. “Maybe now my country’s down … Later it’s going to be better.”

Progress Editor

he Health and Wellness Building is not only a beacon of physical well being for the campus but is expected to be an environmental example for the community as well.

The two-story building will be designed with enviro-conscious elements including an Ice Peak Storage System that will make ice during hours of low consumption. The ice will then be used to cool the air in the building during peak hours. This method reduces the amount of dollars spent on electricity by using a heavier load during off peak, cheaper, hours.

“It’s basically like an 80 ton ice-cooler,” said Vish Amin, Centennials Initiatives Coordinator who has been overseeing the project for the past two years.

The yard will be paved with Pervious Concrete, a material that allows rain water to pass through and into the soil reducing the need for sewers. Rain water will also be collected from the roof and filtered to flush toilets which will reduce the overall use of tap water.  Solar Collectors will also be placed on the roof to heat the water that will be used in showers and faucets.

The process has taken a learning approach as welling. Students from various programs including architectural and civil engineering students visited the cite throughout the past few months to study its various elements.

In an effort to reduce waste, 8000 sq feet of flooring from the old gym will be used to build a wall in the new building.

The 65 000 square foot gymnasium will include squash courts, a cardio area, a climbing wall, an indoor track, two aerobic studios, a spa treatment area and full fitness facility.

Luckily, students who will be graduating before the building is complete will have a chance to make use of the $75 a semester they currently pay. According to Amin, if a graduate student has paid the fee for an amount of semesters before the centre is finished they will have access to the gym for that many semesters when the building is complete.        

At this time students have access to subsidized programs off campus including the Scarborough Town Centre YMCA and the Cedarbrae Extreme Fitness

“Students will get the full package having a healthier life,” said Amin who recognizes the importance of an eco-friendly energy saving building.

The building is scheduled to be completed March 2011.

Progress Editor

• Dress professionally
• Know about the companies before you approach them
• Do not ask what the company does
• Bring your resume and offer to leave copies
• Visit booths by yourself not with your friends
• Greet representatives with a handshake and introduce yourself
• Be prepared to ask intelligent questions about the company
• Be prepared to answer questions about yourself
• Do not ask about salary and benefits

Students had the opportunity to meet with 25 different employers ranging from short-term summer jobs to long-term industry-specific positions.  earlier this month at the Progress campus. It was part of Centennial’s Business Studies, Hospitality and Tourism Career Fair.

Companies recruiting included CN Tower, Scotiabank and Winners Merchants International. Recruiting events like these give students an opportunity to meet potential employers, as well as giving students an idea of what life is like after school.

According to Alice Hsiung, a student employment advisor at Centennial, “it’s a good way to network with employers.”

She also advises students to come prepared to make a good impression.

“Beforehand, students should update their resume. Make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes. We also post a list of the companies that will be attending the fair so students can go on our website to see who is coming and research about the companies they are interested in,” Hsiung said.

Christina Ramsaroop, a Recruiting Manager for InField Marketing Group noted students should not limit themselves to the companies specifically targeting their program, but rather, “learn what you can about everyone.”

According to Hsiung, companies involve themselves in career fairs for a chance to meet and screen potential candidates. However, career fairs should not be the only method used during the job-seeking process.

“Our department has other information sessions throughout the year including employment information and workshops that help with job finding,” Hsiung said.

The next career fair at Progress will be held on March 17 for Community Studies which will target programs such as Child and Youth Worker, Early Childhood Assistant, Early Childhood Education, Police Foundations, and Recreation and Leisure Services.