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Have You Checked Out Our New CONNECTIONS The Campus Store Yet?

Contributed by Cathy Lee

The result of many ideas, meetings, plans and designs has been the amazing transformation of the previous First Class Bookstore into the sparkling new Connections The Campus Store. As part of the whole Student Commons Project, the old bookstore was totally gutted, redesigned, rewired, rethought and expanded, using the previous footprint to also include the old Savoir Faire space and hallway, out through the Algonquin Travel location, and relocation of the offices across the hall as well.

The shining new space is full of oversized flatscreen TVs, gleaming hardwood floors, bright display windows, a spacious customer service centre, multi cashes in a row, as well as several new surprises.

There is a lounge area in front of a gas fireplace to welcome you as you enter, and you can discover many new fun products in all of the expanded areas where you may find autumn décor gifts, assorted stationery, fun Algonquin clothing choices, treats and temptations, quirky gadgets, trendy accessories, as well as an expanded central textbook area which includes a Self-Serve Warehouse to enhance customer service. At the big blue Customer Service centre, you can decide to buy your course materials in print-based, electronic version, access code, more frugal used, or even a rental of your textbook now.

For your leisure reading, a selection of Bestsellers is featured at 30% off, or choose from a wide array of Bargain Books for any taste or budget. And don’t forget to check out the reference reading section for everything from nursing to dog cookie recipes. For your sweet tooth, to snack while you read, you can indulge by filling a bag with multiple flavours of Jelly Belly beans, or snag a bag of gourmet cookies.

There is a tea-bar where you can get Steeped and Infused loose blends of flavourful teas in black, green and herbal assortments from Vanilla Bourbon to Rooibos Chai, or try this month’s Apple Pie flavour. You can accompany that with 1 of 3 kinds of chewy brownies or a luscious Cupcake Lounge gourmet cupcake treat. Or cross the line to decadence and buy fresh chilled Godiva Gourmet Chocolates by the pound. Yummm!

All in all, I am sure that you will not recognize the old Bookstore, which has taken a huge trend leap into Connections The Campus Store, the place to browse, to meet for a mango tea, the place to find multiple formats of course materials, to discover a feather wreath for your front door, or to find a good book. Come on in and discover.

Here is another option, for you online shoppers http://www.bookstore.algonquincollege.com/

Beginnings — and the power of ‘New’

“Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.” ― Wallace Stegner

A beginning implies adventure — yet as much as we like to consider ourselves empowered by bravery and foresight, most of us don’t wish to head into an unknown forest without a map (or GPS?).

Our school year begins in the fall. Students, new to an institution, may experience a mixture of anxiety, hope, confusion and relief. Their means of navigation could be a sibling’s advice, a guidance counsellor’s wisdom, a college calendar, or their own sense of direction. For returning students, the beginning is a kind of rebirth, a chance to alter their destination.

There is always an underlying tone of excitement — which in turn inspires an effort to persevere and succeed. That’s human nature. It seems a major challenge of educators is to sustain, or at least somehow access, this excitement and expectation — a challenge that gains prominence when students abandon programs.

Any discussion of student attrition rates, sooner or later, circles the more ephemeral notions of why some students stay on the bus while others skip the trip.

The Theories

In comparison to universities, community colleges have lower rates of retention. One explanatory model posits that background variables, particularly a student’s high school educational experiences, educational goals, and family support, influence the way he or she interacts with the college: there are as many theories as there are educational consultants.

A recent UK study indicated that students left PSE due to “growing hardships” and “the reduced amount of time available for staff to provide academic and social support to students.”

A Syracuse University study collected five conditions as supportive of student retention:

  • Expectation (students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings that expect them to succeed)
  • Advice (students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings that provide clear and consistent information about institutional requirements and effective advising about the choices)
  • Support (students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings that provide academic, social, and personal support)
  • Involvement (students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings that involve them as valued members of the institution)
  • Learning (students are more likely to persist and graduate in settings that foster learning)

Immeasurable but Real

When we discuss a solution for attrition, let’s not discount the power of ‘new’, that positive buzz, perhaps immeasurable but nonetheless real, that comes from a beginning (a course, a semester, a project, a team, a friendship…). If a PS institution could somehow harness and reinvent that buzz, that curiosity and eagerness, that sense of possibility, and extend it to moments when attrition is most apparent (first year) — well, students wouldn’t stop leaving, but certainly the exit stream would slow.

Enjoy Your Busy Retirement Beth! Contributed by Cathy Lee

Beth Cameron has just retired from the College. She most recently worked as secretary for Community Studies, and felt lucky to have been part of that department with its great and varied programs, and loved working there, although she was famous with the coordinators for her *nag lists*.

While Beth is retiring from Algonquin College, she tells us she will not be retiring entirely from working. Beth took Algonquin’s Web Site Development course this past summer and you can take a peek at how she will be filling some of her days by checking it out at www.DomesticGoddessCanada.com.

Beth says she will miss many of the friends and acquaintances she has made here at Algonquin, especially the ones with a keen sense of humour, as she always likes nothing better than a really good chuckle, but she is really looking forward to the next phase of her life. She is going to be even busier in retirement than she was when working full time at the College. Beth has many crafty type jobs lined up, including teaching her famous quilting, her “virtual assistant” business, and some travelling as well. You may remember having seen a number of the quilts she donated to her Community Studies Programs for raffles over the past several years. Her quilts have also won many richly deserved awards and accolades over the years as well.

Beth is also known for her 5 Orientation T-shirt dresses, coordinating the Summer Academy of the Arts, teaching quilting at Kaleidoscope, which led to the spin-off lunchtime quilting classes, instigating the Employee Suggestion Box under Bob Gillett, and for being a most creative and resourceful editorial board member for Live Laugh Learn. Beth will be greatly missed around the many areas of the College.

If you are looking for her in October, Beth says you will find her painting pumpkins in the pumpkin patch at Miller’s Berry Farm in Manotick. Beth, enjoy your very busy retirement.

Chris Boal Leaves Algonquin College After 34 Years of Service!

My retired friends say that they are busier in retirement, than they were when they were working. This certainly has been the case for me in the last week and a half.

In thirty-four years at Algonquin, I have seen the College go from seven campus sites in Ottawa to the present super campus at Woodroffe. I have also seen the the techncial advances that have been made and that are continuing to be made. Marshall McLuhan talked of a Global Village and now,via the internet people can connect to each other all over the world. At Algonquin College we have Distance Education and Mobile Learning. Students can be in Alaska or London, England and take a program or a course at Algonquin. Students can access e-resources through the Learning Resource Centre 24/7.

The most memorable event for me was being part of a group, from the College, that went to Costa Rica to learn about sustainability and tourism. This trip for me, was a once in a lifetime experience.

When I think about what I will miss about the College, these thoughts come back to the people that work at Algonquin. In the thirty-four years that I have worked at Algonquin. I have had the opportunity to meet and work with so many wonderful people. It is the staff that make Algonquin College, they are the best!

Saying Farewell to Judy Bernstein, Gail Reid and Josette Puttee

On 3 May, 2012 Judy Bernstein, Gail Reid and Josette Puttee, faculty members who began their teaching roles in the former Adult Basic Education Department, were joined by many friends and colleagues, to celebrate their combined many long years of dedicated service to Algonquin College.

Keith Younghusband and Kent MacDonald join retirees Judy, Gail & Josette in this picture

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Fond Farewell from D’Arcy Pos in Mail Services!

D'Arcy Pos, former Mail Services Clerk.

We caught up with D’Arcy in his last week at the College and he had the following to share…

“I started to work in Ottawa in 1983. I have spent 27 of the last 29 years at Algonquin College.

G building was new then and the Nursing program was in F building. We had a Colonel By, a Rideau, a Heron Park and a Hawkesbury campus. When I started to work at Algonquin College, our student body was approximately 5,000.
I will miss the people that I have worked with over the years the most but, the students are a close second. Students add a vibrant energy to the College and I always found it very quiet when they were gone for the summer.”