Cws EDITOR MICHAEL LETENDRE THE VOICE, THURSDAY, MONTH 27, 2018 2 THE SPIRIT OF EASTER ROCKS LA NGARA CAMPUS MICHAEL LETENDRE photo The Langara rock gets an Easter Bunny makeover of floppy ears and whiskers in time for the Easter weekend. Langara recognizes the best Over $70,000 in scholarships were awarded at Monday’s Celebration of Excellence, meant to honour the school’s brightest and best Award criteria 1 Must be a Canadian citizen, landed im- migrants, or con- vention refugees with proof of status 2 Registered for a minimum of 12 credits 3 Scholarships awarded for acedemic merit 4 Students can also get award recom- mendation from program faculty when they meet scholarship criteria By JACQUELINE LANGEN angara’s annual Celebration of Ex- cellence recognizes outstanding student achievement by providing lover $70,000 in scholarships. Langara hosted the event Mar. 25, honoring over 100 students who have demonstrated superb academic ability. “Scholarships give us recognition. It tells us that other people are noticing and appreciating all the hard work we are putting in,” said human kinetics student Janet Low. Low was awarded the Langara Alumni Association Scholarship award for her excellence in sciences, as well as the Jade Volunteering Excellence Award. “Scholarships give us a sense of pride,” said Low. “That certificate re- minds us that we are doing good both for ourselves and the world.” Low said the scholarships have helped her with her studies by lightening her fi- This schol- arship nancial burden. “Between my full time course load, part-time job and’ volunteering Lakes a load off my back and will help me pay off there were not enough hours in a my student loans. day to complete my Joshua Esterhuizen, studying.” The funding scholarship winner would not be made possible without the support of the donors. “Scholarships give us a sense of appreciation — for the organizations and individuals that provide them,” said Low. David Drummond, a donor represen- tative from isoSolutions introduced the Armstrong-Lepeska Science Market- ing Scholarship this year at Langara. The scholarship is designed to encour- age science students to realize that they have the option not to work out- side laboratories. “Broaden your horizons, as well as your opportunities,” said Drummond. In arts, the Alvin Schafer Memorial Scholarship, named after Langara’s re- nowned photography instructor, was awarded to fourth-term professional photo-imaging student Joshua Ester- huizen. Esterhuizen won the award for accu- mulating the highest GPA in the pro- gram throughout the first three terms. “T graduate in two weeks. This schol- arship takes a load off my back and will help me pay off my student loans,” said Esterhuizen. Langara vies to be a top employer By GARIN FAHLMAN cation to be recognized as one of the best employers in Canada. Canada’s Top 100 Employers is a pro- gram organized by Mediacorp Canada Inc., a specialty publisher that focuses on career and employment-related pe- riodicals. The list has been published in the Globe and Mail since 2000, and winners get to enjoy the benefits of publicity and professional writers composing pages of text to praise their name. Finalists are chosen based on eight core values, such as: the quality of the workplace; the work and social atmo- sphere, and training and skills develop- ment. But some employees at Langara don’t seem to know what the college of- fers that can compete with companies like GM. Nathalie Therriault, an instructor from Langara’s continuing studies de- partment, said that while the college was fairly comparable to other post- secondary institutions in terms of em- ployee benefits, it didn’t offer much be- yond anywhere else. She said that her position as a unionized employee means that changes like the induction of new president Daykin have little pos- sible impact on her job quality. Last year, only four schools made it on the list. Custodian Herjit Sherjann has worked at Langara since 1997 and knows some other staff members who have been around for over 30 years. “We are fine,” she said. “I can’t say it’s too much, but it’s not too little either. It’s just what I need.” Le College has put in an appli- Chow's platform Continued from page 1 The Vancouver-Langara constituen- cy contains around 40 per cent Chi- nese-Canadians, which Chow hopes will be an advantage for him. Born in China, Chow settled in Van- couver in 1965. He graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from UBC, and went on to have a 32-year ca- reer at BC Hydro. Prominent in the Vancouver Chinese community, Chow was actively in- volved in the building of the Chinese Cultural Centre in the 1970s and helped organise Vancouver's first dragon boat race in 1986. “T think it’s going to be interesting,” Chow says of the election. “After the writ is dropped, we’ll have our plat- form...and the public will get a sense to see whether we’re to be trusted or not, and I hope they will [trust us].” Cambie Park considered for public garden ill, Council plans to create more community gardens, with Cambie Park as one of the proposed sites By JESSE ADAMSON posing a new community garden at Cambie Park, to promote local food products. The garden would allow local resi- dents to plant and grow their own food, which would have a positive effect on the environment. T: Vancouver park board is pro- Vancouver park board chairwoman Sarah Blyth said it will also promote a sense of companionship in the commu- nity. “Community gardens are great,” she said. “It’s good to have people growing their own food locally.” Community gardens also help to re- duce waste from packaging, ease con- cerns about food safety and decrease a person’s ecological footprint. “When you buy fruit and vegetables from the store, that product has usual- ly travelled all over the province to get there,” said Blyth. “This has a negative effect on the en- vironment and that is eliminated with the community garden.” Blythe said Cambie Park was chosen as a possible location after the public made suggestions to the board. “It comes from the community,” she said. The amount and type of food that would be grown is up to the people that will be using it, according to Blyth. “It depends on how much effort they put into making a productive garden,” she said. Local residents are pleased to hear that they will have a potential new source to grow their own food. “T think it’s a fantastic idea,” said Debra Mussinas, a neighbour of the park. “My husband and I love to grow our own food,” she said. “We normally have vegetables growing in our yard but you can always use more space. We will definitely take advantage of the com- munity garden if it goes through.” The Mussinas family are not the only one who hopes the new garden is put in place. “Some of the tastiest veggies I’ve had since moving out here have been locally grown,” said Ulf Schmidt, a lo- cal resident. “We like to make sure we are get- ting locally grown food so this garden would be a welcome sight for us.” \ — -_" oh SARAH BLYTH Vancouver park board chair 66 It’s good to have peo- ple grow- ing their own food locally.