Parents not piqued by book swap

By Kathleen Harper

harp0071@algonquincollege.com

Kathleen Harper photo Becky Cooke enthusiastically displays the results of her group's fieldwork with the Parent Resource Network. Though attendnace was low at the year-end meet, overall the fieldwork was rewarding.

The Parent Resource Network held a year-end meet March 25 to share experiences and swap children’s books. Unfortunately, the turnout was much lower than expected, with only one parent stopping by.

The Network was established to help those juggling the roles of parent and student, helping them to bring balance and stability to their busy lives. It has hosted numerous workshops this year and is touting a higher overall attendance rate than ever before. Host and coordinator Maria Taylor was not deterred by the turnout at this particular gathering, citing the hectic schedules of parents as a reason.

Taylor expressed her gratitude to three nursing students who contributed to the success of the network during the completion of their fieldwork. Nassrin Terstena, Kristin Fisher and Becky Cooke completed a semester with Taylor at the Network as part of their fieldwork for the program and contributed in many ways

The students helped to give the Network much needed publicity through the use of Facebook, the college’s website, and other promotional tools. “I think more people understand what’s going on [with the network], but it’s a slow, slow process,” said Maria Taylor. “Everybody could be in class, people might be home with their kids, people might be at work, and so it’s very tricky to make this time work [for parents].”

Even with more technological communication tools at hand, nursing student Fisher found more traditional means of advertising to be effective. “The parents at Algonquin are a hard group of people to find because there is no way for the school to collect the data,” said Fisher. “In the end, we ended up having to simply stop people in the hall and ask them if they were parents to try to get the word out.”

In spite of advertising difficulties, the nursing students found their fieldwork highly rewarding.

“Maria is a wonderful and caring person who has helped us in any way possible to make sure we succeed and feel good about our work,” said nursing student Nassrin Terstena. “She has inspired me to keep working hard and be positive and that I can tackle any challenge in life that comes my way,”