Achieve by Glacier Specialty Publishing

excellence in education

spring 2018

Teaching code photo: dan toulgoet

page 4

Science World brings coding to life page 8

michelle obama on education

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also available online at issuu.com/glacierspecialtypublishing

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As soon as we teach the theory, the students go out and do it. Diana Caputo, digital marketing manager

whistler adventure school

From passion to profession Whistler Adventure School gives students the skills they need for a career in adventure tourism, marketing and media or retail manufacturing.

says Diana Caputo, the school’s digital marketing manager. “Everything is hands on. As soon as we teach the theory, the students go out and do it.”

To the students at the Whistler Adventure School, it must seem like they are living the dream.

The Whistler-based school offers two one-year certificate programs: marketing and media manager; and retail manufacturing. It also has sixmonth programs in ski/snowboarding, rock climbing, alpine and bike guiding. Other six-month programs include winter adventure tourism and design and innovation.

Not only are they doing what they love, but they are also gaining the skills — and, often, the experience — that will help them transform their passion into their profession. The school offers programs in everything from making your own ski or snowboard to learning how to safely guide ski or snowboarding tours through the backcountry; from learning how to build and maintain a mountain bike to running your own retail or service business; and from learning how to shoot and edit adventure tourism pictures and videos to planning your marketing strategy to get as many eyes on those videos as possible. “We attract people who like to be in Whistler and enjoy the mountain life,” 2

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The instructors are professionals based in Whistler or the Sea-to-Sky corridor and the one-year programs also include co-op placements in the field. Each year the school accepts around 100 students who have a high success rate in either setting up their own businesses or finding employment after they graduate. For details about the wide range of programming go to www.WhistlerAdventureSchool.com.

Unit 5–1345 Alpha Lake Road, Whistler, Bc V0N1B1 t +1 604 962 2220 LOCAL 604 935 4783 E info@whistleradventureschool.com w whistleradventureschool.com

excellence in education

from the editor photo: dan toulgoet

spring 2018

www.glaciermedia.ca publisher

Alvin Brouwer editor

Martha Perkins Michelle Bhatti creative director

Marina Rockey contributing writers

For advertising inquiries, contact Michelle Bhatti at mbhatti@vancourier.com

volume 2 number 1 spring 2018 Published by glacier media. Copyright ©2018. All rights reserved. Reproduction of articles permitted with credit. Advertisements in this magazine are coordinated by Glacier Media. Glacier Media does not endorse products or services. Any errors, omissions or opinions found in this magazine should not be attributed to the publisher. The authors, the publisher and the collaborating organizations will not assume any responsibility for commercial loss due to business decisions made based on the information contained in this magazine. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted without crediting Glacier Media. Printed in Canada. Please recycle.

American theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku says that a smart phone you hold in your hand today “has more computer power than all of NASA back in 1969, when it placed two astronauts on the moon.” Are you old enough to remember when a high school’s entire computer classroom was dominated by one, huge machine?

director of advertising

John Kurucz Martha Perkins

The brave new(ish) world of coding

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Teaching code What do you do when a student knows more than a teacher? martha perkins Women in tech Are you a young woman with an interest in technology? Science World brings coding to life Students, teachers benefit from new initiatives Michelle Obama: ‘You can’t just stop when it gets hard’ Former first lady speaks in Vancouver martha perkins

Generation Z’s perfect workplace Positive atmosphere one of their priorities martha perkins

Say no to screen time Vancouver parents give children too much access to tablets and tv martha perkins

In an age when new technology can be obsolete only one year later, it must seem like an overwhelming task for our schools to keep up. Teachers, especially, must be a bit daunted by the prospect of trying to teach the skills that they themselves might not have. But just as you don’t need to be able to write a novel to teach a child how to read, you don’t need to be a computer programmer to turn students onto their ability to be our next coders and engineers. “We are born scientists,” Dr. Kaku says. From the moment we open our eyes we are trying to figure out the world around us. Achieve magazine is excited to be part of that constant exploration. martha perkins

Odd jobs Unusual career choices

john kurucz

mperkins@vancourier.com 604 630 2520

spring 2018

Teaching code Martha Perkins

What do you do when a student knows more than a teacher?

When that subject is computer coding, the best advice might be to simply let them loose. “The deepest learning happens when children are engaged, and they’re so engaged with this,” long-time elementary teacher Steve Coffin said as a group of Grade 3 and 4 students excitedly learned how to code a wearable night light at Microsoft’s downtown Vancouver office. Microsoft was hosting the students as part of Hour of Code, a global initiative to “demystify” the science behind all the technology in our lives.

photo: dan toulgoet

“To me it’s like teaching a language,” Stacey Mulcahy, the program manager of Vancouver’s Microsoft Garage, said shortly before she patiently led the students through the process of creating their own computerized light

spring 2018

women in tech Are you a young woman with an interest in technology? Like minds unite at the recently rebooted B.C. chapter of Women in Communications and Technology. display. Just as language has grammar and syntax, coding has a structure that forms the foundation of conversations that can then go anywhere. While children today are natural consumers of technology, it’s okay that teachers aren’t as naturally conversant, she says. “Teachers need to not be afraid that students know more than they do. It’s important that people understand the process more than the how-to. You need to know where to guide and lead them but do you need to code? No. Should teachers be familiar with it and embrace it? Absolutely. “If you’re teaching the future, you have to understand what’s leading it.” Eleanor Tufts was as excited by the December visit to Microsoft as her Sir John Franklin Elementary School students. She recognizes that some teachers might be hesitant to go out of their comfort zone but technology has actually made it much easier to teach technology. Whether you’re the teacher or the student, all you need to do is turn on your computer and search for

tutorials. (hourofcode.com is a good place to start.) Her school has a computer lab which each class visits once a week. “It’s an amazing resource for them,” Tufts says. “They can teach themselves and work at their own pace. It caters to different needs and abilities... It’s almost a process of discovering it together and then sharing knowledge with each other. I learn from them. It’s very cool.” Her school also had a coding enrichment program for students who are extra keen. When Mulcahy looked out at the group of students eagerly huddled over laptop computers, she saw future colleagues and bosses — and was thrilled by the prospect. “You don’t have to struggle for engagement,” she said of the students’ keen interest in discovering they are not just consumers of technology but potential creators of it. “Learning to code is learning to wield another tool. Once you learn the language you need to practise and use it and other doors get opened.”

“We’re a place where meaningful conversations and relationships happen, particularly surrounding how we can give more voice to and opportunities for women in leadership positions,” says co-chair Briana Sim of Radical I/O. To find out more, go to WCT-FCT.com and follow the links to the regional chapters.

spring 2018

photo: Gaetan Nerincx

conseil Scolaire Francophone

CSF schools are an embodiment of Franco-Columbian culture Several times a year, we all get a glimpse of British Columbia’s French culture at popular events such as the Festival du Bois and Festival d’été francophone.

The first Francophone school didn’t open until 1983 but the network of schools has been steadily growing ever since.

For the 6,000 students enrolled in schools operated by the Conseil scolaire francophone de la ColombieBritannique, each and every day is a celebration of French language and culture.

Today, the CSF, which is the province’s French language school board, oversees 40 schools throughout the province. The majority offer classes from kindergarten to Grade 12, including the International Baccalaureate at some schools. Greater Vancouver has seven schools run by the CSF, including a French high school. Many students are children of French-speaking parents from around the world.

CSF’s programming is not to be confused with French immersion. Every part of the school day is in French but the hidden value is in learning how to be proud of being a Franco-Columbian. “It’s more than just the words. It’s more than just the language,” says CSF public relations coordinator, Pascale Cyr. “What they’re learning is how to celebrate their Francophonie. The schools are a way to share their culture.” What’s important to remember is that each province has developed its own Francophone identity. British Columbia’s natural surroundings and exposure to other cultures influence a Franco-Columbian culture that dates back to the arrival of traders with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Starting in 1848, many of the first schools in B.C. were French. The schools were asked to include Anglophone students in a province where the first school board was not created until 1871. In 1977, the provincial government granted Francophones the right to an education in French. The principles governing French-language education are established in a program called the “Programme cadre de français.”

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It’s more than just the words. It’s more than just the language. pascale cyr, public relations coordinator

In a CSF video, students talk about how important it is to be able to speak the language of their families, and the advantages of bilingualism as they plan for their futures. “For me, la francophonie encompasses many things,” says one teenager. “It encompasses culture, personality and language.” Through partnerships with many Francophone organaisation, and mostly with the Francophone youth council of B.C., students participate in a large range of activities, sports and events during and after their school day. “It really creates a sense of family,” Cyr says. The students are all really proud of their schools and their own personal contributions to continuing the ongoing evolution of the FrancoColumbian identity as they get more involved in various activities. That involvement lasts long after they graduate, thanks to the sense of community that CSF schools make possible.

100–13511 commerce parkway richmond, BC v6v 2J8 t 604 214 2600 e info@cfs.bc.ca w csf.bc.ca spring 2018

Science World brings

coding to life Telus World of Science is a place of discovery. And its universe of coding opportunities is about to get bigger. In January, the federal government committed $693,000 to help young people discover the possibilities inherent in the internet of things. The funding allows Science World to enhance its current province-wide outreach programs for students and teachers and create new content. The funding will help with:

photo: gorodenkoff

 Scientists & innovators in schools Real STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) professionals visit schools to promote students’ interest in science and technology. The goal is to

spring 2018

address British Columbia’s need for more scientists, engineers, technologists and technicians.  Super Science Club The after-school club for inner-city elementary students inspires at-risk children to develop an interest in science and technology.  Hands-on workshops Science World will develop a range of hands-on, in-school workshops for multiple grade levels that will use technology to apply the methods of computational thinking.  The development of Tech-Up library kits Hands-on computational thinking and digital skills-building discovery kits.

Science World also wants to help teachers embrace this brave new world. It will use the Tech-Up funding to give teachers access to new training modules on how to meaningfully incorporate digital learning outcomes aligned with the provincial curriculum. “In a time of unprecedented change, when high-tech innovations are rapidly transforming the job requirements of our province, the need for digital skills is greater than ever. We are thrilled to be a funding recipient, enabling us to provide youth in British Columbia access to the education and resources needed for the next generation to thrive,” says Dr. Scott Sampson, president and CEO of Science World.

‘ You can’t just stop when it gets hard’ Martha Perkins

Michelle Obama looked directly into the crowd at a downtown Vancouver theatre. Amongst the audience were 350 high school students from throughout the Lower Mainland whose tickets to the former U.S. first lady’s presentation in mid-February were sponsored by Vancity. “Education is the foundation that allowed me to be the person I am today,” she told the teenagers, asking them to look behind the surface of her phenomenal success and popularity to understand how she got to be on that stage with 3,500 people hanging onto her every word.

But young people can’t do it on their own. Obama also encouraged the women and men in the crowd to act as mentors, in big ways and small.

Part of mentoring is opening up the eyes of young people about how to be in the world.

“Part of mentoring is opening up the eyes of young people about how to be in the world,” Obama said. Her first mentors were her parents, who always stressed the importance of education. “They had values, they had faith, they were kind and compassionate.”

For every time that Obama stressed the importance of being kind, she was also resolute michelle obama in her message that the responsibility for creating the kind of society we value falls to each and Her working class parents took out loans so she (and her brother) every one of us. could attend university, first Princeton then Harvard, where she got her law degree. She was a lawyer at a Chicago firm when she was assigned an intern named Barack Obama. When her husband became president, she had to forge her own path under intense scrutiny.

Young people watch everything the adults around them do, she said, so “it’s never too soon to be a mentor.”

“I could not have done what I did had I not tested myself on college campuses,” she said.

She tries to be a mentor through her every action. “I know I got where I am because someone helped me and paved the way for me. I’m going to share the lessons I learned and make room for others.”

“It’s not that it will be easy,” she said. “Some people will pull themselves off the path because they think they can’t do it.” Sounding like the Mother-in-Chief, she told the teens “you can’t stop just when it gets hard.”

Being too busy is not an excuse. “If Barack and I found the time to have a group of kids come through the White House (as part of an ongoing program every few months), you can, too... Kids are everywhere. Find them.” spring 2018

photo: Chuck Kennedy

michelle obama:

Generation Z’s

perfect workplace Positive atmosphere one of their priorities

Martha Perkins

A chef in a busy restaurant looks across the kitchen and sees a young new hire is about to cut himself while chopping some vegetables. “Watch out,” the chef yells. To the chef, yelling is the only way to catch the young person’s attention fast enough to avoid the accident. To the young person, all they hear is a reprimand, as if they’re being called out publicly for doing something wrong. Welcome to what might be an updated version of the generational divide. “A lot of people hear a raised voice and think you’re saying something bad. They don’t think you’re warning them not to cut your finger off,” said Samantha Scholefield, project manager of the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association’s labour market study program at a forum to tackle her industry’s labour shortage. 10

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Young people don’t like the idea of conflict in the workplace, a study by the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association says.

Generation Z — those who were born after millennials and who will turn 22 this year — want an overall tone of positivity in the workplace, Scholefield said. “It’s a generational shift... People don’t want the idea of conflict in the workplace.” For those tempted to dismiss young workers’ desires, Scholefield had some timely reminders.

Not only is Generation Z the next wave of future employees, but there will be fewer of them to feed the industry’s never-ending need for staff. There are 40,000 fewer 15 to 24-year-olds in B.C. Graduating high school classes will be the smallest on record over the next five years. “We’re facing a shortage of just plain bodies,” Scholefield says.

As part of her research into she said. When she asked They want to learn at the challenges facing the the college students if work and food industry, Scholefield they’d be more likely to reach goals talked with students who stay at their job if their faster. are about to graduate from employer sat down with college culinary programs. them on the first day samantha scholefield When she asked them how and talked about what long they expected to work for their first they could do together over the next 12 employers, their answer made her jaw months, every hand went up. drop — six months. They felt that within “That is an easy conversation to have,” that time they would have learned what she told the restaurateurs. “That might they needed to learn and would be ready be 15 minutes that keeps someone six to move on. months longer.” Since the cost of hiring and training an She also used the example of a White entry level restaurant worker is $3,000, Spot in Richmond. The restaurant high employee turnover would put a big created an area where staff can hang out financial burden on restaurants that are before shifts and a lot of new staff are already operating on super tight margins. friends of existing staff. “They feel valued “Students want to chart a course for and excited to be there. They want to success the minute they join a company,” learn at work and reach goals faster.”

Millennials also want to feel that their workplace is a good match for their values, which is why many vegan restaurants have no problem attracting staff. Tell them about where your products come from and what your business ethics are. When posting jobs, create them in the language millennials and Generation Z speak — use photos and videos, she said. Sell your business and remember that in the interview process, the potential employee has probably already checked out your workplace reviews on GlassDoor.ca, a job search site, Indeed and Yelp. “In this day and age, people are interviewing you,” she said. “Be proud of your workplace culture.”

EDUCATION DONE. NOW WHAT? We can help you find a job in your field. All our services are FREE. Contact us today! vancouverworkbc.ca The Employment Program of British Columbia is funded by the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia.

Say no to screen time Contrary to recommendations, 58 per cent of Vancouver parents surveyed give children under two access to tablets and tv Martha Perkins

Parenting a toddler can be a challenge, but a team of nurses from UBC is cautioning parents not to give into the temptation of giving them any screen time. “We noticed in our practice that we were seeing a lot of use of screens in younger kids,” said Reda Wilkes, a public health nurse with Vancouver Coastal Health who co-authored a study of Vancouver parents. “During vaccination clinics, instead of holding their child and cuddling them when they got pain after a shot, they would be flashing their smartphone in front of them to try and distract them with a video.” Wilkes says, “We can sugarcoat it all we want, but screens are not recommended and at a young age it’s not good for them. 12

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There’s nothing to support it. Young kids are supposed to be constantly moving and when you put them in front of the TV, that just stops.” More than half of Vancouver parents in the survey reported allowing their young children to use electronic devices like smartphones and tablets, the team from UBC says. This is despite guidelines from the Canadian Pediatric Society that says children aged two and younger should not be given any screen time. A large proportion (42 per cent) of the 242 parents who were surveyed at community health centres throughout the city said they don’t allow any screen time for their children under two. However, an almost equal number (40.5 per cent) allowed up to 30 minutes. An addition 17.5 per cent gave their children an hour or more a day of screen time.

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The top three reasons cited included needing time to complete household chores, coping with a busy workday, and the belief that it helped with their child’s speech and language development. The UBC team, led by nursing professor Wendy Hall, says studies show that screen time can interfere with a young child’s language development. “It’s unsurprising that parents use screens to distract children so they can get chores done and try to balance work and family life,” she said. “Nevertheless, we need to help parents appreciate that screen time can not only have negative effects on children’s language development, but it also interferes with children getting adequate amounts of sleep, even if the screens are not part of the bedtime routine.”

odd jobs John Kurucz

If you thirst for pedal power and pitas, and have a panache for being your own boss, Foodora has something to sink your teeth — and feet — in to. The on-demand food delivery service is on the lookout for bike carriers to deliver take-out orders across most Vancouver neighbourhoods. The company suggest riders can make up to $25 an hour (plus tips) on a schedule that is largely self-driven. photo: aluxum

Other specs to get your foot in the door include: A n iPhone 4s (or newer) or an Android phone (4.2. or newer) with sufficient data to stay plugged into orders at all times. A bike, car or scooter. F lexibility to work weekends E ligibility to work in Canada A passion for excellent service  To be responsible and reliable  To be at least 18 years of age More foodora factoids are online at foodora.ca/city/vancouver.

The Whistler Adventure School has something for both outside-the-box and outside-the-city personality types. Geared towards outdoor enthusiasts with a bend on bikes, snowboarding and more, the school offers provincially certified training to become accredited guides in rock climbing, biking, snowboarding and tooling off into the backcountry. The rock climbing course, for example, is offered across three levels that include anywhere from 22 to 68 hours of training in the fundamentals of rocking climbing and guiding. Entry requirements include proficiency in English, being 18 or older and in good physical condition. Tuition fees for international students are $5,000 or $3,500 for locals, and the next course intake is slated for July. Online info is found at whistleradventureschool.com.

spring 2018

Earn Grad Credits Online Without Changing Schools

The Canadian Armed Forces has a slew of job openings for the musically inclined, with starting wages hovering near the $60,000 mark. Openings are found across a broad spectrum of performance opportunities: concert, parade, stage and dance bands, woodwind quartets, brass quintets and many others. Those who get the gig will be expected to perform at both domestic and international events such as ceremonial parades, military graduations and ship ceremonies. Full-time positions are available with the regular force, while part-time gigs are open in the reserve force. For information about the audition or application process, call 1-866-991-0422 or log on tocmp-cpm. forces.gc.ca.

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