West Kootenay Friends of Refugees support local settlement of two Burmese refugee families with film night
As part of the Rossland Mountain Film Festival and supported by the Rossland Council for Arts and Culture, West Kootenay Friends of Refugees (WKoR) presents the film "God Grew Tired of Us" (89 min). The film is a recount of the experiences of 3 boys who fled war in Sudan and re-settled in the United States. WKFoR wished to...
Selkirk College performs well at KAST Spirit of Innovation Awards
Four finalists from Selkirk College went up against some of the region’s most innovative businesses at the recent Kootenay Association of Science and Technology (KAST) Spirit of Innovation Awards and one took home the Innovative Organization award at the end of the evening. Held only every four years, the KAST Spirit of...
Rise in student numbers at SD 8 means more teachers in system
Teachers are able to breathe a collective sigh of relief after School District 8 Kootenay Lake released the official staffing and student numbers for the 2012/2013 school year. As of October 5 the student population was 67 students higher — for a total of 4,875.8 full-time equivalent students — than district staff had projected it […]
Interior Health public flu vaccination clinics to continue despite drug suspension
In light of the recent temporary suspension of Novartis vaccine products (Agriflu and Fluad), Interior Health wishes to advise the public that our public flu clinics will continue as scheduled using our primary vaccine product Vaxigrip. Novartis products comprise less than 10% of the vaccine supply in Interior Health. Interior Health has been using another […]
CBT Youth Advisory Committee welcomes new members
The Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) is a group of involved youth from around the Columbia Basin who provide advice to Columbia Basin Trust (CBT) and a youth perspective on a variety of issues facing today’s youth. Members—called YACers—commit to a one-year term and have an opportunity to meet, work and travel with a group of […]
Red Mountain Racers dust off plans to blow snow on the shoulder season
The Red Mountain Racers (RMR) want a jump start on the ski season and, by October of next year, they hope snow guns will plaster Red for pre- and post-season training, world class ski competitions, and a guaranteed low-altitude base for the rush of skiers on Christmas vacation. Head coach Phil Patterson and RMR president Don...
Mass exodus from Rossland Secondary School—or nothing of the sort?
"It's a big talk in the community that there's this mass exodus out of here," said RSS Principal Karen Lavender regarding recent reports that the school has fallen well short of its projected enrolment as students head down the hill to J.L. Crowe Secondary in Trail. "Our projected numbers for RSS this year were 296 [students]....
Bats aren't really scary!
As Halloween approaches, bats with bloody teeth or scary green eyes become more common conjuring up images of blood-sucking, dirty, aggressive creatures. Educators trained by the Kootenay Community Bat Project (KCBP) are gearing up to dispel these myths to students in the Columbia Basin. “Bats are actually very shy, clean creatures” says Juliet Craig, Coordinating […]
Learning to unlearn: taking a new perspective on education
[This is the second post in a series on implementing blended learning. The first post, When A Vision Becomes A Reality is available here.] Today was serendipitous. I learned of Nikhil Goyal. At 17 years old, Goyal is the author of One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student’s Assessment of School. Fed up with an education system...
How to teach your child to dial 911
The mother of a four-year-old child faints. The child is the only other person at home. He calls 9-1-1. Paramedics take the mother to hospital. She recovers and rejoins her family. Such a simple scenario that could have gone so wrong. Brad Mitchell of BC Ambulance Service was the charge dispatcher on duty several months […]