When Dan Stoddard became Algonquin College’s most famous student last fall, he wasn’t prepared for the attention.
The local media arrived first, then the Globe and Mail. Soon he was getting inquiries from Sports Illustrated and the Washington Post, as well as from newspapers in Europe and India.
Okay, Stoddard thought, I’m a 38-year-old first year business administration student and I made the Algonquin Thunder basketball team. Cute story, but why so much fuss? Continue reading
The Algonquin College Marc Maracle attended in 1979 was in many ways the same college that presented him with an honorary degree four decades later. But in at least one way, today’s Algonquin has profoundly changed, he says.
Algonquin remains as great a place to learn as it was when he studied Architecture Technology and Mechanical Systems from 1979 to 1983, says Maracle, Executive Director of the Gignul Non-Profit Housing Corporation. But now it is also a welcoming place for students of diverse backgrounds, and an institution conscious of the values inherent in its name. Continue reading
It took a high school drama class for Lisa Murray to settle on a career. However, her decision had nothing to do with acting, directing, or production.
During the class, Murray volunteered to support two classmates with Down syndrome. She was amazed at the attitudes of the young men, the happiness they found in the smallest things.
“It really made me (question) why I was stressing about these big things in life when I could focus on a simple smile from a friend,” she says. “They really just changed my outlook on life so I decided to start doing this full-time.” Continue reading