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Annual Student ElectionsDo you know a student who would like to make a difference, boost their resume and learn about non-profit governance? Six student representatives are sought for: Education Council (four positions) and the Board of Governors (two positions) for a one-year term. Education Council (EdCo) considers curriculum and educational policies relating to students, standards, planning and operations. The Board of Governors has the sole responsibility for the management, administration and control of the property, revenue, expenditures, business and affairs of Okanagan College.Nominations are open from September 10-27, 2015 with the election taking place from October 10-18, 2015 online in myOkanagan.Further details including nomination forms are available on the Elections tab in myOkanagan.

Faculty Representative NeededAt the same time as the student election, an EdCo by-election for one faculty positon in the Central Okanagan will be held. All details can be found on the Elections tab in myOkanagan.

Application ChangesApplications for Fall 2016 and many Winter 2017 programs open on November

2 at 8:30 a.m. This is also the time when the Registrar’s Office implements any changes to the online application or our admissions processes and this year is no different.Changes are as follows:• Students who apply to Continuing Studies Certificate programs will now be charged a $30 application fee.• Online applicants can no longer defer their application fee and pay at a later date. All online applications will require payment at the time they are submitted. If no payment is made, the application isn’t pushed through to the admissions staff.• OC is now going to accept credit card payment for the offer/non-refundable tuition deposit. When accepting an offer online (this is similar to the application fee process), applicants will be required to pay the deposit at the same time with a credit card. If they don’t submit payment, the offer will not go through. Applicants without credit cards can come in person to accept their offer and pay their deposit.Meetings will be held in October, with all admission and registration staff to go over these changes and address any questions they may have.

September | 2015Volume 6 | Issue 1

Reach OutNews from the Registrar’s Office (Kelowna)

IN IN

Okanagan College Registrar’s Office

www.okanagan.bc.ca/registrar

1 Annual Student Elections

1 Faculty Representative Needed

1 Application Changes

2 Scheduling Office News

2 Staff Updates

2 2016-17 Academic Schedule

2 Career Fair 2015

2 Important Dates

3 Recruitment Season has Begun!

4 New Course Equivalency

4 More Orientation Fun at the Kelowna Campus

5 FlyWire 101

5 Orientation Day Recap

IN THIS Issue

October meeting but no later than the November Education Council meeting.For questions, please contact Inga Wheeler at ext. 4847.

Career FairOkanagan College will host the 34th annual Career Fair Sunday, November 1, 2015 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Applications officially open on November 2, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. During Career Fair attendees will have a chance to win $500 towards tuition for any Okanagan College program! Contact Michelle Lowry for further information at 250-862-5473.

Reach OutNews from the Registrar’s Office (Kelowna)

Scheduling Office NewsFinal ExamsFinal exam pre-prints were sent out September 11 and are due back no later than September 18. A draft will be in circulation September 25 with the final schedule available for students in Kelowna by October 16.

Room Bookings and Stable EnrolmentAs the new semester begins, many departments are ready to start making bookings for fall events and classes. Room bookers have been notified of the availability of booking in general academic rooms during the day. For event bookings through Facilities, the contacts are:Internal Event bookings: Bobbie Wyatt ext 4382External Event bookings:Sandra Dillon ext 4614

Staff UpdatesThe Registrar’s Office welcomed Steph Bodden as the new recruiter in the Central Okanagan in June. Steph moved to Kelowna from Ontario to transfer into the third year of the BBA program at the College, graduating in 2013. After graduation, she spent two months

travelling through Southeast Asia. Following that, Steph spent one year working with the Royal Bank of Canada before starting at Okanagan College. Now that the fall semester has begun, Adam McCaffrey is returning to pursue his third year in the BBA program. Adam was a co-op student from May to early September supporting Recruitment and Orientation. He also worked with Kerry Rempel on the College’s Strategic Plan. Thank you Adam for joining us!

Adam will continue to help with campus tours and events as he decided he doesn’t want to leave the Registrar’s Office quite yet. He will be one of our Student Ambassadors along with Aaron Gregory and Mark Faester.

2016-17 Academic DatesThe academic schedule for 2016-17 has now been posted online at okanagan.bc.ca/dates. Departments will be contacted in the next few weeks about vocational and other program schedules for 2016-17, which have to go through Education Council, ideally at the

October 2015

1 Stress Buster student event

12 Thanksgiving Day (College closed)

22 Fifth Annual Muffins and Cupcakes fundraiser in the Pit

30 Last day to: withdraw from a course without academic penalty, change registration status from audit to credit

29 Halloween Howler student event

31 Deadline to apply for Winter Convocation

September 2015

24 Seventh Annual PowWow

Reach OutNews from the Registrar’s Office (Kelowna)

Recruitment Season has Begun!Shuswap-RevelstokeProspective students will be seeing a lot of recruiter Leslie Bogula from Okanagan College this semester. This year, Leslie will be holding formal “office hours” at four secondary schools in the region. In addition to this, Leslie will be on the road in early October when she travels to the East Kootenays through the Post-Secondary Institutions (PSI) annual high school recruitment program. Other events in the area include College Prep 101 for Parents, an on-campus Counsellors update seminar, and on November 3, a Salmon Arm Campus Open House. Local career and education fairs are being organized in the area to be held sometime this fall. Leslie will also represent OC at the larger “ECF” career fair in Abbotsford in late November. On the events front, don’t miss Shuswap Bookfest (okanagan.bc.ca/Bookfest) presented by Okanagan College Shuswap Revelstoke Region.VernonTawnya Cameron, Vernon Campus Recruiter, will kick off a busy fall season with her Counsellors Breakfast on October 2, in the Kal View Café. This annual event keeps the local high school counsellors up to date on what’s new and different at OC! She will then be heading out to Armstrong, two local Vernon schools and to Kamloops October 7–9 for local PSI visits. A week later, she’ll be up in Prince George, McBride, Quesnel and 100 Mile House for another PSI week tour from October 18–22. October 28 she’s hosting her Service Provider Update, at Community Futures, followed by College Prep 101 on November 4, Info Night/Open House November 12 and then the Adult Learner Seminar on November 16. Throw into this her weekly high school office hours at Vernon Secondary School, W.L. Seaton and Clarence Fulton every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning and you’ve got one busy recruiter! KelownaCentral Okanagan Recruiter, Steph Bodden, will be heading to the Fraser Valley September 23-25, followed by the PSI week in Central Okanagan September 30–October 4. She will be attending the Mount Boucherie Secondary Career and Education Fair on October 16. The annual Counsellor Lunch has been scheduled for Monday, October 26 at Infusions, providing counsellors with an update on what is new at Okanagan College. On November 1 she will run the College Prep 101 session during Career Fair held at the Kelowna Campus, followed by a week in Surrey/Delta for recruitment presentations and mini fairs. Education and Career Fair will be taking place on December 7 at Prospera Place from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. PentictonSouth Okanagan-Similkameen recruiter, Melanie Wasilenkoff, heads to the West Kootenay region the week of October 19 for PSI visits. The Penticton campus will also be hosting an Information Night followed by a College Prep 101 session in the Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in November (dates TBA). You can also find Melanie at the Cherry Lane Career Expo and Fair from November 4-6.

International students from the Kelowna campus enjoy an afternoon at the beach during orientation week events.

Reach OutNews from the Registrar’s Office (Kelowna)

New Course Equivalency DeadlinesIt has come to our attention that requesting course equivalence has not had deadlines for students. This has caused problems for students and department Chairs when the request comes in late (i.e. the first week of classes) and the course has never been assessed for equivalence. Course equivalence is not the same as transfer credit. Transfer credit deals with courses taken outside of Okanagan College. Course equivalencies look at courses completed at Okanagan College.To remedy the situation, we have created the following information, which will now be included on Become a Student and linked to from the Calendar.Course Equivalency RequestsStudents who have attended Okanagan College in the past may request course equivalency once they have accepted their offer of admission to a subsequent program. • Course equivalency may be re-assessed upon admission to another program.• Courses to be considered must have been successfully completed. • If course equivalency is granted, it may be used as a prerequisite unless otherwise indicated.• Okanagan College reserves the right to deny course equivalency for courses completed 10 or more years before the date of application.• If you are registered in a course for which equivalence is granted, you must submit a Course Change/Withdrawal form to the Registrar’s Office. Withdrawal from a course is not automatic.• Evaluation services prior to admission are currently not available.• There is no evaluation fee.Please note, the deadlines for requesting course equivalencies are:• July 15 for the Fall semester• November 15 for the Winter semester• March 15 for the Summer semesterStudents requiring course equivalency assessment for graduation should submit their request as early as possible to prevent any delays in processing graduation. Please submit a Course Equivalency Request form, signed by the Chair of the program you are commencing, to the Registrar’s Office (Kelowna) or Administration Office (Vernon, Salmon Arm, Penticton).

More Orientation Fun at the Kelowna CampusThe fun didn’t stop after orientation day at the Kelowna campus. New and returning students were treated to additional events in the two weeks following September 8.

The amazing Back to the Future cake created by PJ’s Party Cakes for the outdoor movie night.

Students were treated to carnival games, free pizza, cake and of course popcorn at the outdoor movie, Back to the Future, on Wednesday evening.

Out-of-Town Cafe sponsor, Shaw, treated students to free coffee and treats on Wednesday afternoon.

Beach day included sand castle building contests, free towels, and unlimited watersport activities for 56 students on Friday.

Students rediscovered their inner child at Bounce Bash, part of the OCSU’s annual free BBQ on Tuesday, Sep. 15.

FlyWire 101 (formerly peerTransfer)Okanagan College has partnered with FlyWire to streamline the international payment process. This service will not be available to Canadian students.What is FlyWire?FlyWire allows international students to pay securely from most non-Canadian banks in other countries in their home currency. Depending on the country, they can pay by credit card, wire transfer or other means through FlyWire. Other payment options may also be available. What is the benefit to the student?By making a payment with FlyWire students can: • Save on bank fees and exchange rates • Track payments from start to finish • Contact their multilingual customer support team with any questions, day or night • Receive refunds in a more streamlined wayWhat is the benefit to Okanagan College?• Fraud prevention/reduction• Save on credit card fees • Reduce refund administration costWhen will this start?September 21, 2105: FlyWire will be added as a payment option for international students on myOkanagan and the website will reference this service as the preferred payment option. November 2, 2015: International students will no longer be able to pay by credit card as this option will disappear from myOkanagan. Wire transfer instructions will also disappear from the website and will be replaced with FlyWire as the only payment option (besides cash). How will FlyWire affect International students already here?FlyWire does not allow students to make a payment from a Canadian bank or a Canadian credit card. Only international students can pay through FlyWire if paying from an international bank or credit card even if they are in Canada. If an international student has opened up a Canadian bank account and has a Canadian credit card they have the same options as a domestic student in regards to payments. The International Education department will develop some seminars to help their students understand FlyWire. And the Student Information team is already working on some CRM emails to let students know. Are there any exceptions?Application fees are an exception. From a technical point, both domestic and International students will pay online the same way they always have when submitting an online application. However, as of November 2 the Registrar’s Office is also implementing another change for domestic and International students: online applications will only be pushed into our system if a credit card payment is made at the time of application. More details on this soon.Questions?Check out FlyWire’s How It Works page. Students who have questions can also contact OC’s International Education department. Staff can contact either Lianne or Inga. FlyWire 201 will be released in the next few weeks. It will dive in to process details such as how we know someone paid by FlyWire. Stay tuned.

Reach OutNews from the Registrar’s Office (Kelowna)

Reach OutNews from the Registrar’s Office (Kelowna)

Orientation Day - September 8, 2015Salmon ArmJust over 100 new and returning students attended Kick Off at the Salmon Arm campus.Students spent time getting to know each other within their own programs and then attended campus-wide learning seminars and participated in ice-breaker games. By all accounts a good time was had by all and Salmon Arm students are off to a great start this semester!Vernon

The rain at the Vernon campus didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits! Students were kept busy, starting with an important information session in the Lecture Theatre (with free coffee and cookies), followed by short program sessions and then a scavenger hunt - a way of getting new students to find all the important places on campus. Some locations on the hunt had Minute-to-Win-it games at them, some had skill testing questions. The hunt ended with a great lunch, provided by the new campus caterers Basket Case Picnics, lots of music, games and a ton of prizes. MC for the day was Eric Reist (Vernon Students Association Okanagan College manager) who kept the vibe upbeat and fun! The day’s grand prize

was an iPad mini, but there were lots of other prizes to give away such as a fridge, BBQ, blue tooth speaker, lots of gift certificate’s, clothing items, and more! Everyone was kept dry and happy under tents in the parking lot.KelownaDespite the rain, more than 1,300 students attended Kick Off to Orientation at the Kelowna campus. In keeping with the luau theme, students were given welcome bags and coloured leis as they arrived, each colour of lei

representing a different department at the College. After a short ice breaker and welcome, students went off to their program-specific orientations.The afternoon luau included more than 40 information booths from the College as well as sponsors which included Big White, CIBC, Scotiabank, Silver Star and Costco. Activities included a dunk tank, bounce house, photo booth, henna tattoos, the annual beaver toss and an Amazing-Race type activity which had students completing challenges all over campus. Susan Knight and John Stone from Q103.1 helped run some of the DJ’s games and John even ventured into the very wet bounce house!

Students were treated to a culinary delight with pulled pork sandwiches, rainbow slaw and mountains of fruit at the free lunch prepared by our Culinary department.Penticton

The rain did not stop the fun at Penticton’s Day One: Orientation! Students began their day with breakfast parfaits courtesy of the Library staff and spent the morning meeting new people, playing games, and winning TONS of prizes. This year, students took home prizes which included a Pontoon Picnic on Skaha Lake, a mini fridge, a $250 tuition credit, and several other community donated prizes. A kaiser sandwich lunch provided by the campus’ cafeteria was served to students by several staff and faculty members along with Jim Hamilton. What a fabulous start to the year!

Photo courtesy of The Morning Star, Jennifer Smith.