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Experience OC attracts 200 high school students to Okanagan College's Penticton campus

More than 200 high school students got to exchange their high school classroom for a classroom at Okanagan College in Penticton on Tuesday and they appeared to be having a great time.

Okanagan College’s Penticton campus held its annual Experience OC, where 200 high school students from Osoyoos, Oliver, Penticton, Summerland and Princeton got a taste of college life.

<who>Photo Credit: PentictonNow </who>Eric Corneau, the new dean of the Penticton campus with Okanagan College, was very pleased with the response to the 2018 Experience OC event held Tuesday with more than 200 high school students from across the region visiting the college.

“Most of the students are in Grade 10 and 11 as the idea is to give them a taste of what post-secondary education is like and to show them the campus and everything we have to offer at Okanagan College,” said Liana Swedahl, recruitment and events co-ordinator for the Penticton campus of Okanagan College and organizer of the 2018 Experience OC event.

Each of the students was asked to select two learning sessions in advance that they have an interest in and they were given full access to teachers and professors at the college during those sessions, said Swedahl.

“All of our full-time instructors are here lending a helping hand as they thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to meet with these young students and lend their expertise,” said Swedahl. “This is about giving the students the full college experience, including meeting with our instructors.”

<who>Photo Credit: PentictonNow </who>Liana Swedahl, recruitment and events co-ordinator with Okanagan College's Penticton campus, was thrilled with Experience OC event on Tuesday. More than 200 high school students from across the region were given full access to the college's teaching staff during the event.

Following the two learning sessions, students were treated to an outdoor lunch and games in the concourse area of the Penticton campus.

Some of the courses offered in Penticton include aircraft maintenance engineering, astronomy, audio engineering and music production, office administration, health care assistant, marketing, physics, collision repair, computer information systems, piping trades, refrigeration and air conditioning, practical nursing, English and food, wine and tourism management.

The response to Expo OC has been so strong, Swedahl is confident it will continue in the future.

<who>Photo Credit: PentictonNow </who>More than 200 Grade 10 and 11 students from Penticton and across the region took part in the Experience OC event Tuesday.

“The goal is to get more students involved and grow the event,” she said. “It’s a great way to promote the college and allow students from this area to see they have a viable option when it comes to pursuing a post-secondary education.”

Eric Corneau, dean of Okanagan College’s Penticton campus, said he just started his new position last August and he was very impressed with the response of visiting high school students and the teaching staff at the college to Experience OC.

“It’s a really great way of exposing students to the variety of programs we’re offering here at the college,” he said. “It’s also about getting rid of that intimidation factor as a lot of students this age can find walking on to a college campus to be a little bit intimidating.”

<who>Photo Credit: PentictonNow

British Columbia’s education system offers a lot of courses where high school students can receive accreditation at the college level and sharing this information with students is another benefit of Experience OC, said Corneau.

“These students will have the opportunity in their high schools to participate in the dual credit program we’re offering with the local school district and this is the perfect opportunity to inform them of all their options,” he said.

Corneau agreed the college’s teaching faculty has been tremendously supportive of the Experience OC event and he’s confident that’s not going to change.

Corneau agreed he would like to see the number of students attending Expo OC and he will make that a priority now that he’s settling in to his new position at the college.



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