Algonquin College will join this week with other organizations, local and national, to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day.
On Thursday, June 21, the Mamidosewin Centre will host a storytelling event in the DARE District’s Indigenous Commons that highlights Indigenous traditions tied to the arrival of summer. It is open to the entire College community.
Entitled “Honouring the Heart-Shaped Berry,” the noon to 2 p.m. event will offer stories that relate the importance of harvesting strawberries as a symbol of new life as well as their value as a medicine for healing and reconciliation. Guests will enjoy strawberry drinks and desserts as they listen. Read more >
It’s a tired cliché: a little girl grows up dreaming of a career in animal care because, well, dogs are loveable and cats cuddly. That stereotype needs to meet Christine Archer.
“I am an unabashed reptile nerd and fish nerd. I love non-mammals in general and will talk about them at length,” says Archer, who graduated from Algonquin’s Veterinary Technician Program in 2009.
It’s not that Archer doesn’t love cute, furry mammals — she counts three rescue cat among her beloved “critters” — but her respect for animals is so much broader. It is founded as much on a keen interest in science as on natural empathy. Read more >
Emilie McKay’s advanced diploma in Massage Therapy from Algonquin College has taken her in directions she never imagined. The skills and techniques she learned in the three-year program opened the doors, she says, but it was the self-assurance instilled by her college professors that allowed her to push through.
“The most important lesson I learned through Algonquin was to take any opportunity that was presented to me,” McKay says. “I’ve been very fortunate to have had a lot of opportunities in my career so far. Having that drive and confidence that Algonquin created for me meant that I’m not going to close these doors; I’m going to keep them open and see where they take me.” Read more >
