News
June 7, 2010VCC wins a gold, silver and bronze at ACCC awards
VANCOUVER, B.C. -- They say good things come in threes.
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This held true for Vancouver Community College when it won national recognition this weekend -- three times over -- with excellence awards from the Association of Canadian Community Colleges.
An employee has taken the gold for staff excellence; an innovative program to help vulnerable immigrants has taken silver; and a student won bronze for student leadership.
"We are delighted that Vancouver Community College has been recognized with national honours," says VCC president Kathy Kinloch, who was on hand at the awards presentations Sunday in Niagara Falls, Ont., and congratulated the VCC award recipients.
"VCC takes great pride in student engagement and innovative community partnerships. Validation of such initiatives through national recognition, such as that from the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, speaks to the expertise and commitment that VCC offers in partnership with others in the Vancouver community," she says.
"We are honoured to be recognized for excellence among Canada's community colleges."
Honours were handed out yesterday at the ACCC conference, where more than 130 colleges and institutes across Canada are eligible for the awards, which recognize programming, teaching and leadership. Details follow on the three VCC winners.
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ACCC Staff Excellence Award: VCC employee wins the gold
Jodi Van Brunt is VCC music school's golden girl.
"For more than 10 years, she has brought a sense of joy, professionalism and effectiveness to her role as student coordinator for the school of music," says Sal Ferreras, dean of VCC's school of music.
"These qualities are exceeded only by her genuine affection for VCC's hard-working student body and the uncompromising quality of her work."
Van Brunt described her reaction to the award as "complete shock."
The announcement came at a poignant time for her as she lost her mother to cancer just six days earlier. "My mom was a VCC employee in international education for eight years and she would have been so incredibly proud of me."
"I feel the award is for her, really, as she's the one who taught me that having a job you love is so important, that giving back to others is incredibly rewarding."
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ACCC Program Excellence Award: VCC's World Beat wins a silver medal
They're not just new to the country, but are immigrant youth at risk.
VCC's World Beat program, silver recipient of the program excellence award, uses a unique approach to re-introduce out-of-school, vulnerable immigrant youth into the education system. The program integrates language, music, and multimedia to create an interesting, expressive and meaningful learning environment.
VCC's project coordinator Michael Yue is the creator of World Beat. He says of the program: "Every day, we know that we are helping the youth move just one step closer to the future they envision for themselves."
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ACCC Student Leadership Award: VCC student Zoran Kovacevic
And you think you're busy.
By day, Zoran Kovacevic attends classes in VCC's hospitality management diploma program. By night, he manages Vancouver's Shangri-La Hotel.
This international student from Serbia is also a VCC student ambassador and past president of the college's student leadership club.
"I am excited to be part of the VCC winning team," says Kovacevic, winner of the ACCC's bronze medal for student leadership. "These three awards prove that VCC is one of the top colleges in Canada."
Nancy Nesbitt, associate director of VCC's alumni relations, has worked with Kovacevic on several events and wrote his ACCC award nomination. She says of Kovacevic, "It makes sense for Zoran to work in the hospitality environment. He has a passion and zest for life and service that people are drawn to. This helps create his natural leadership style.
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Media can contact:
Vicky Noble
Communications Officer
604.871.7427