Northwest Community College Connections

NWCC Skills Canada BC Regional Trades Competition 2013 Winners

Junior Skills Category
Spaghetti Bridge — Students from Mount Elizabeth Middle School in Kitimat BC came away with the top prizes with Jared’s team taking first place. Congratulations to all participants, who learned today that spaghetti is not a great building material.

Secondary Skills Category
Automotive
1st place: Scott Beertema, Hazelton Secondary, Hazelton BC
2nd place: Jordan McNiece, Caledonia Senior Secondary, Terrace BC
3rd place: Andrew Martel, Northwest Community College

Carpentry — sponsored by Progressive Ventures
1st place: Brayden Fulljames, Smithers Secondary, Smithers BC
2nd place: William Helps, Smithers Secondary, Smithers BC
3rd place: Kristian Vidal, Caledonia Senior Secondary, Terrace BC

Culinary Arts — sponsored by Sysco Vancouver
1st place: Ben Williams, Hazelton Secondary, Hazelton BC
2nd place: Luc Statham, Charles Hayes Secondary, Prince Rupert BC
3rd place: Phil Ralston, Caledonia Secondary, Terrace BC

Welding — sponsored by KBR
1st place: Kolton Miller, Northwest Community College
2nd place: Jeremy Soares, Caledonia Senior Secondary, Terrace BC
3rd place: Colton Szmata, Mount Elizabeth Middle School, Kitimat BC

Electrical Wiring
1st place: Chris Leblanc, Northwest Community College
2nd place: Duncan Fisher, Northwest Community College
3rd place: Josh Clark, Northwest Community College

Post-Secondary Category
Automotive
1st place: Jocelyn Harris, Northwest Community College
2nd place, tie: Bertram Gonu and Cody Nelson, Northwest Community College

Carpentry
1st place: Brandon Stella, Northwest Community College
2nd place: Ian Fromm, Northwest Community College
3rd place: James Haley, Northwest Community College

Culinary Arts — sponsored by Sysco Vancouver
1st place: Candice Thomas, Northwest Community College
2nd place: Janelle Robinson, Northwest Community College
3rd place: Leah Kolesar, Northwest Community College

Electrical Wiring
1st place: Shonte William, Northwest Community College
2nd place: Linnea Waechter, Northwest Community College
3rd place: Allen Noordhoff, Northwest Community College


Thank you to the sponsors of the Skills Canada BC Regional Competition:
KBR
Progressive Ventures Construction
Galore Creek Mining Corporation
Avanti Kitsault Mine Ltd
Imperial Metals
Shell
Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines
Sysco Vancouver
Classic Rock CFNR

Prizes were donated by these generous local businesses:
Convoy Construction Supplies
Spectra Energy
Kaman Industrial Technologies
Rudon Hydraulics Ltd
EB Horsman & Son
Air Liquide
Praxair
NAPA Auto Parts
McCarthy Motors GM
Finning Canada
Western Equipment Ltd
Canadian Tire

NWCC gets new Director of Technology, Chef and Manager of Student Development

TERRACE – There have been a few personnel changes at Northwest Community College (NWCC) over the past month.

Tahlia Thomas has been hired to lead the College’s Information Technology (IT) department as the Director of Technology Services. Thomas comes to NWCC from Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan, where she spent three years as the Information Systems Project Coordinator and six years as the Director of Academic Computing and Information Services. “Tahlia’s extensive experience, project management skills and success in leadership will help guide the IT department as NWCC enters its next phase of growth,” said Cathay Sousa, NWCC Vice President of Finance & Administration.  

In other personnel moves, Chef Brad Vennard has joined NWCC’s School of Northwest Culinary Arts. Vennard brings more than two decades worth of experience and expertise in the culinary and hospitality sectors. Most recently living in Smithers, Vennard has worked in fine dining establishments in the Lower Mainland and in the North, and has several years of teaching experience at the College of New Caledonia. Margo Van der Touw, NWCC Dean of Culinary Arts programs, said, “Brad brings experience and a fresh perspective to the Culinary Arts programs and we’re all looking forward to the fine dining events returning.”

Irlanda Price has taken on a new role at NWCC and has joined the Student Services Team as its Manager of Student Development. Price will focus on creating a more positive experience for students at all NWCC campuses by focusing on campus life, early intervention, peer tutoring, mentoring and strategic enrolment management. Price will maintain her role as Campus Manager in Kitimat.

“The student experience goes far beyond what happens in the classroom,” said Lianne Gagnon, NWCC Dean of Student Services. “We understand that in order for our students to be truly successful, we need to look at the whole picture of what our students experience in and out of the classroom. Irlanda's social work background and past experience in Student Services will serve her well in this new role.”

NWCC Student Blogger - Christine Leclerc

NUTRICIOUS AND DELICIOUS

If you went to the cafeteria last week you may have noticed a little kiosk. The nurses teamed up with the culinary arts students to have a healthy eating week and were surveying any willing participants on healthy eating. Together they are looking at offering more healthy options on the menu.

The problem with eating healthy is it costs more, and it’s more time consuming to prepare the meals. I have dabbled with raw foodism over the past couple years (eating foods that haven’t been heated above 116F) and would love to eat a strict diet as such, but reality is, is I don’t have the time, or the money to pay for the specialized products needed to uncook this way.

If school isn’t stressful enough, we are faced with a limited budget and limited time away from studies. It's finding the balance between what is most important with your spare time, whether it be working out, making healthy food, hanging out with friends and family or playing Starcraft. But this balance isn’t always easy to find.

In order to be successful, I’m a firm believer that you need a healthy mind and healthy body. It’s great seeing NWCC make these steps towards trying to make things easier for the students to make the right decisions. I asked a couple people what they thought of this, and their answers were pretty similar:

“I’m so happy to see the cafeteria looking into offering healthier options. I try not to eat there because I don’t always want a burger and fries. A salad with chicken would bring me in there on a more regular basis” C. Farkvam, Business Admin

 

“We got into groups and came up with healthy mainline lunches, short order lunches, salads, desserts, and baked goods. Our objectives were mainly to see if people were interested in healthy eating and the booths were set up to provide information about nutrition!” L. Smith, Biology 222

It looks like the students are responding in a positive manner and we can hope to see some positive results from this. Good work NWCC!

Christine Leclerc is NWCC's first ever full-time student blogger! She's a second-year Business Administration student in Terrace who took part in a study exchange to China earlier this year. Over the fall and winter semesters, she'll be giving her take on student life at NWCC. We're excited to see and read her posts and encourage you - the college community - to follow along. She's looking forward to getting your feedback and maybe some inspiration, too, throughout her blogging experience. And in case you're wondering, that's her beloved English bulldog Maddox!

Healthy eating the buzz words this week at NWCC

NWCC nursing and culinary arts students are behind an informative and tasty initiative this week at the Terrace Campus. Here is a group of students working on menu items for Healthy Eating Week.

TERRACE – Northwest Community College (NWCC) is celebrating Healthy Eating Week at its Terrace Campus all week thanks to a unique collaboration between students in two programs that know a little something about nutrition.

Aiming to promote healthy eating to their fellow students, nursing and culinary arts students put their heads together last month to alter the cafeteria menus this week, in what is being promoted as Healthy Eating Week. Working in five groups with students from each program, they created healthy menus for each day of the week.

“Nutrition is an important part of both programs and it just made sense to get both groups in the same classroom with two instructors, Germaine Mistry and Chef Darlene Godfrey, to work on putting together a healthy eating week,” said Kerry Clarke, NWCC Director of Ancillary Services.

Working from the menus created, culinary students will be preparing the food that the students have brought forward to represent healthy eating. In addition, nursing students will be presenting static displays about healthy eating and taking blood pressures readings from volunteers in the cafeteria.

Professional Cook 1 student Taien Creed said it’s been a great experience working with the nursing students, bringing what each cohort has learned when it comes to nutrition as part of a healthy lifestyle.

And in what might be a first for a college cafeteria, the deep fryers will not be turned on all day this Friday, what Clarke is dubbing “Fryless Friday.”

“It should be very interesting,” says Clarke, who knows some students will be disappointed. “There is nothing wrong with fried foods in moderation and this week of activity and menu items is just showcasing how healthy eating doesn’t compromise on taste.”

Guests of the cafeteria this week will be asked to complete a survey — with a chance at a daily draw for a $10 cafeteria card — asking what they learned from the week and what improvement it has made in their eating.

NWCC celebrates International Chefs Day all week!

All week at Northwest Community College (NWCC), the first-year Culinary Arts department has been celebrating what is official today, Oct. 20: International Chefs Day.

Throughout the week, a different international region's cooking classics have been prepared to celebrate what was started in 2005 by the World Association of Chefs Societies. It is a day given to chefs all over the world to celebrate the profession as well as honour their dedication in bringing good food to the table. Remember that last great restaurant meal you enjoyed? Well, there was a chef behind the scenes involved in bringing you that memorable taste.

NWCC's School of Northwest Culinary Arts is training a future generation of hopeful chefs. NWCC culinary arts students can earn the industry recognized Professional Cook Certificate or Diploma and continue on in the Professional Cook Apprentice – Level 3. The latter program prepares students to write the Inter-Provincial (Red Seal) exam, with Chef status on the line.

Today, NWCC culinary arts students took a short breather to pose with three NWCC Chefs.

At centre is Chef Darlene Godfrey, culinary arts instructor. She is flanked by NWCC Chefs Erbert Operana, left, and Rob Stach, right.

Don't forget, Friday is your last chance to try the tastes of the world. The first-year students tackle the tastes of Europe, with prime rib of beef, Yorkshire pudding and more. Starts at 11:30 a.m.

 

Culinary Arts students serve Caledonia Seniors

NWCC Culinary Arts students served over 875 people at Caledonia High School's graduation last Saturday night in Terrace.

Every available Culinary Arts student worked in the preparation and serving of the food and gained valuable work based training hours as well as being paid as a college employee. Kerry Clarke, Director, Food Services, College Safety & Security said, "Our students did an amazing job and worked long hours over several days to get ready for this event. I'd like to thank  Cafeteria Head Cashier Shauna Levesque for handling all the logistics and onsite organizing."

Over 500 pounds of beef and ham were cooked and leftovers went to the Terrrace soup kitchen where Chef Erbert Operana volunteers every weekend.

Chili for 600? No problem!

NWCC's first year Culinary Arts students served up chili for 600 at Kitimat's Health & Safety Fair this past Saturday.

Several students volunteered for the event and served free chili from the Salvation Army emergency disaster catering truck.

Northern Health was not only a sponsor of the event, but the organization purchased the chili ingredients as well.

Kudos to the students and Chef Dennis who cooked and volunteered at the event!

Pictured is Mike Wright (L) and Josh Dollimont (R).

Camel burgers on the menu at NWCC Terrace Campus

TERRACE – When Kerry Clarke, Northwest Community College’s (NWCC) Director of Food Services, took over the operations of the college cafeteria in January 2010, he vowed to transform the menu by offering healthier choices and to generate some buzz with new and exciting tastes. It’s safe to say the latest additions to the cafeteria menu have done just that — and the reviews are glowing.

Since January, new to the menu at NWCC’s Terrace Campus cafeteria are the ahi tuna clubhouse, the bison burger and the camel burger. That’s right, the camel burger. Curious eaters have made it a surprise hit, says Clarke.

 “While some people have trouble wrapping their heads around a meat they’ve never tasted before, others have no such constraints about trying something new, exciting and exotic,” says Clarke. “The new burgers have become quite popular and we see this as a way to introduce new foods while still serving burgers. I’m confident that once the novelty of these new burgers fades, diners will keep coming back because of the taste and quality.”

 Clarke says it’s important to introduce different menu items at the cafeteria, to give customers what he calls a world view of their food, adding meat such as camel is as routine as beef is to North American consumers in other parts of the world.

 While these are changes that have been embraced by those who frequent the cafeteria, at the forefront of all menu changes, maintains Clarke, is a continued push to promote healthy eating. The new burgers are served with a tossed salad as standard, though French fries are still on the menu. The new meats are leaner than beef, high in protein and have almost no cholesterol.

 “Camel is very lean – somewhere between a beef and a venison,” said Clarke, adding he’s heard a number of different comparisons. “Of course, we use our own secret blend of spices.”

 Not content to stay idle, a trio of new burgers is destined soon for the Terrace NWCC cafeteria: Arctic muskox, kangaroo and boar. All meats come from a supplier in the Lower Mainland, which Clarke says sources only wild game.

 “We’re never going to get rid of burgers at a college campus cafeteria,” adds Clarke. “But we feel we’re introducing people to food they won’t find anywhere else and we’re open to the public.”

The camel and bison burgers sell for $9.50 each, while the ahi tuna clubhouse is $12.50 – all served with a side salad. The cafeteria is located in Waap Haawk at the NWCC Terrace Campus and is open Monday to Friday from
7:30 am. to 6 p.m. 

Photo: NWCC chefs Erbert Operana, left, and Rob Stach with the new tastes at the college’s Terrace Campus cafeteria; left to right, that’s the camel burger, ahi tuna clubhouse and bison burger.

Professional Cook 2 class will wow you with their cakes

Students from NWCC's School of Northwest Culinary Arts are trained in a wide array of food preparation, from meats, poultry and seafood to stocks, soups and sauces – and much more! The students in the Professional Cook Certificate program take the first two levels of their apprenticeship. As part of this training, there are two levels of Baked Goods and Desserts courses.

Visitors to the cafeteria at NWCC Terrace Campus may have noticed some spectacular looking cakes on display. They are the work of Professional Cook 2 students in Jonathan Bull's class. Come have a look for yourself or check out the new photo album (click here to view) that captures the great work by these emerging culinary stars.