The Ontario Association of Career Colleges is very excited to launch this cool contest for career college students and graduates. Create a poster or 30-second video explaining why you chose a career college, what you learned while attending or the benefits of career college education for a chance to win $500 in cash! Upload your entry online at www.oacc.ca/contest until May 22 and vote for your favourite entries! Entries with the most votes will be the finalists – and one poster and one video will be chosen by an OACC committee to win $500.

Show us your talent! Get creative! Career college students do amazing work and we want to show it off! Get thinking.. visit www.oacc.ca/contest for more details.

Career colleges were featured in today’s Toronto Sun. The article profiled two career college graduates who received funding under the province’s Second Career Strategy, a popular retraining program that assists students with tuition, books and living expenses. Ontario’s career colleges have delivered about half of the training under Second Career.

Three Second Career recipients will tell their story at Blue Mountain 2010, OACC’s 37th annual conference. In their own words, the two graduates and one student will explain what is was like to lose their jobs due to cutbacks and how they persevered to become a college graduate.

An article about laid-off workers seeking retraining appeared in the Waterloo Region Record newspaper last Saturday. Don Thibert, OACC President and Director of Academic Affairs at Everest College, commented on the strong work ethic of students pursuing a second career. After the initial adjustment, the mature students are “there every day, active and participating in class. They are excited to learn,” said Thibert.

About 28,000 people across Ontario have had financial aid in retraining from the province’s Second Career program. Last fall the criteria was tightened on Second Career as the government moved to control costs.

In the budget released last Thursday, the Ontario government promised to help another 30,000 people with the Second Career program over two years for a total cost of approximately $600 million.

To read the article, click here.

Good news from Ontario’s career colleges made it into the media last week.

Two instructors – one from Trebas Institute and the other from Medix School – were profiled by Metro, a daily commuter newspaper. The feature followed a similar story from February, written about two other career college instructors. From TV and film to clinical anatomy to accounting, career college instructors teach a wide variety of subjects. They are interesting and passionate about what they do!

The other news item comes from the Barrie Examiner newspaper. CTS Canadian Career College graduate Lori Majer talks about her placement experience at the David Busby Street Centre, a drop-in centre in downtown Barrie for homeless or marginalized people. Lori graduated from the addictions and interventions counselling program at CTS. As a result of her extraordinary work during the co-op placement, Lori was hired on as a full-time case manager at the Centre in mid February.

“My placement has allowed me to experience, the joys, hardships, sadness and triumphs of many of the participants,” writes Lori in the article. “Whether I am helping with referrals, speaking kind words, sorting clothing, and dispensing personal care products, I am hopeful this encourages one person to have a better day as it does mine.”

Lori closes the piece with this:

“My placement has reinforced my belief in humanity, that there is goodness in every person, and every person deserves and has the right to basic needs.”

Career colleges are making a difference in the lives of many every day, and it’s rewarding when we get to share our good news stories.

“OMG – my college just tweeted me.”

And so begins a trend piece that was in the Toronto Star this weekend about post secondary institutions using social media. A Toronto student, frustrated with being placed on hold, complained via Twitter. Within minutes, a “How can I help?” reply came from a college rep.

Social media and its use for career colleges was the subject of a blog post I wrote a few months ago. Is it something your college is exploring? What have your experiences been?

A related item in the headlines: smart phone applications and their use in academic settings. Most recently, the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business launched an app for the iPhone and Blackberry called “Ivey MBA.” It will allow students to connect to the School’s social media channels, news feeds and blogs posted by admissions staff and current MBA students. Students can also use the app to register for upcoming events.

Interesting. Do you think this is the future of recruitment?

Social media for career colleges will be the subject of a workshop on April 23 at Blue Mountain 2010, OACC’s 37th annual conference. Find out more by clicking here.