Lakes District Campus

Campus Overview

Community Partners

Guiding Principles

Advisory Committee

Campus History

Campus Overview

The Lakes District Campus of the College of New Caledonia has served students and community in the Lakes District since 1976. The campus region covers approximately 20,000 sq km with a population exceeding 8,000. A wide range of courses, programs and services are offered to meet community needs. In particular, the campus and staff have received international recognition for their work in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. CNC Lakes uses a holistic, wrap-around approach to education and as such three generations of students may be found in the campus at one time.

The Lakes District Campus has a community Advisory Committee that meets at least twice yearly to provide feedback and course input. College faculty and staff also participate in a number of community organizations, agencies and boards. The College of New Caledonia, Lakes District Campus believes strongly in the concept of lifelong learning. Student success and support are the building blocks of this campus.

Community Partners

Our thanks go to the following community partners.

Restaurants supporting community education by displaying tablecards:

• Babine Lodge, Granisle
• Dragon Palace
• Grassy Plains Store
• Grapevine
• Keefe's Landing Cafe
• KFC
• Kim's
• Lakeland Inn
• Royal Canadian Legion
• Likkel's Lakeside Resort
• Mulvaney's Pub
• Redfern's

Work and practicum placement hosts:

• Babine Forest Products
• Burns Lake Home Hardware
• Burns Lake Native Development Corporation
• Lakes Economic Development Association 
• Marmon Financial Services
• M. McPhail & Associates Inc.
• Regional District of Bulkley Nechako
• Rexall Drug Store
• Burns Lake & District Chamber of Commerce
• The Corporation of the Village of Burns Lake 
• Overwaitea
• Irly Bird
• KFC
• A&W
• Burns Lake Veterinary Clinic 

Guiding Principles

Equality Based
We cultivate an attitude of mutual respect among faculty, operational staff, management, and students. We see ourselves as equal partners in the learning process. We are each a student and a learner.

Encouraging
We create a climate of encouragement by placing our focus on the things people are doing right.

Interdependent
We see ourselves as an interdependent team with meshed responsibilities. At times we step outside the boundaries of our roles or job descriptions in a spirit of cooperative support for one another.

Learner Centred
We create all services, programs, and courses to meet the needs of our students. We try to balance the educational needs of each student with the personal skills required for success. To meet these needs we offer a full spectrum of programs including vocational, technical, university, personal growth, healthy living, and general interest.

Community Based
We connect our students to their community by bringing the community into the college and by involving the college in the community. The community suggests many of our courses. We pick content, format, and location to meet our community’s need, not to suit the convenience of the institution.

Accountable
All our programs, services, and finances are accountable to our students, our community, and our funders. We use clearly defined outcomes; evaluation mechanisms ensure our success.

Competitive and Innovative
We encourage employees and students to be their very best. Our courses respond to current needs and are of the highest quality. We pursue innovation and we seek constantly to improve our product.

Comfortable and Healthy
We create a safe, culturally inclusive, enjoyable environment where people feel free to take risks without fear of judgement. To this end, we invest some of our time in having fun.

Advisory Committee

 

 

 

 

The College appreciates the direction and support provided by the  Advisory Committee. Please contact the campus for a list of current members.

 

 

 

 

Campus History

1963 Local resident, Berenice Haggarty, became a founding volunteer member of the Regional College Committee. The Prince George College of New Caledonia was formed in 1969 as a result of this committee’s hard work. Mrs. Haggarty then decided the Lakes District needed a satellite campus and started working towards this goal.

1976 The local CNC campus was opened. Joe Gubbels was hired as the first Community Education Director; Rick Wilsgard was the first instructor. First classes were held in the Anglican Hall on Second Avenue.

1978 The College hired a part time programming assistant in Granisle.

1979 There were four employees - two part-time instructors, a regional director and a part-time secretary. A part time Business Administration program was offered.

1980 Advisory Board members this year were Jim Minger, Dick Schritt, Berenice Haggarty, Duncan Frame, Wayne Brown, Stephen Patrick, Tom Gilgan, and Bill Allen.

1982 The Business Office Training program (next called Office Administration and now called Applied Business Technology) began and continues to train topnotch office personnel.

1983 The Lakes District Campus moved to a new home in one half of the School District’s Resource Centre, behind the tennis courts.

1984 The Volunteer Adult Literacy Tutor Training (VALT) was initiated in the Lakes District in response to the fact the Bulkley Valley Regional District had the lowest level of literacy in BC. Also this year a part time programming assistant was hired on the Southside.

1985 The College offered 70 courses in ’85-'86 with an annual course enrolment of 673. General Interest Programming comprised 63 percent of the total enrolments.

1986 The college entered into an agreement with the School District to purchase computers for the Southside, making computer training available there for the first time.

1987 Renovations to the local campus made additional room for the CNC administration office and library facilities.

1988 The local campus was successful in obtaining funding for the Family Centred Program. This program continues today and assists hundreds of community residents every year with comprehensive programs in personal growth, parenting and family skills.

1990 Course enrolments climbed to 2,255 with a noticeable shift away from General Interest programming. Now 81% of the offerings were focused on academic, employment training or community capacity building skills.

1991 The local campus was renting five locations in Burns Lake for classes and programs. A partnership was formed with the Village to bid on the now closed Immaculata School. The idea was to offer the gymnasium as a Civic Centre and move the College into the rest of the facility. The college was unsuccessful in obtaining the premises. The Family Centred Program began offering workshops and training around the issue of FASD.

1992 The campus began negotiating to obtain the William Konkin Elementary School. Noranda Bell Copper closed in Granisle and CNC started offering programs in Granisle for the displaced employees.

1994 The old William Konkin Elementary School was sold to the College. Renovations began. Enrolments hit 3,314. The Kids’ Edge program was launched. This program continues to offer assistance and early intervention services for children 0 – 6 who were affected by FASD.

1995 In March CNC moved into the new 26,000 square foot facility and opened the first community children’s centre. Part of this centre included a Speech Language Pathologist, Physiotherapist and Occupational Therapist.

1996 This was the beginning year for the Access Centre (now called the Adult Education Centre) in partnership with School District 91. The partnership more than doubled the student spaces in the College and Career Preparation Program. Other new ventures for this year included the Reservoir Logging Program for the Cheslatta Carrier Nation, Youth Options for unemployed youth and Bridges for Women.

1997 Healthier Babies - Brighter Futures (HBBF). HBBF is an FASD prevention program that provides support to pregnant women and their families and was funded by the Ministry of Children & Family Development. (Total course enrolments hit 6,739.)

1999 FOCUS, an employment and personal development skills program for adults who are affected by prenatal exposure to alcohol, and the Crime Prevention Program, an alternative justice program for the same clientele, were both funded. The FAS/pFAS programs running here launched the Lakes District campus into the national spotlight as a forerunner in FASD programs.

2000 Premier Ujjal Dosanjh visited the Lakes District campus. He had been informed of the unique FAS/pFAS programs offered at the College in Burns Lake. A part time programming assistant was hired in Topley.

2001 Renovations got underway to upgrade heating and cooling systems throughout the entire building.

2002 Base funding that rotates amongst the 4 regional campuses was obtained. Culinary Arts and Entry Level Carpentry were offered in Burns Lake. Total course enrolments were over 8,500. Fifty plus regular full and part time faculty & operational staff as well as 100 short term instructors work at the college.

2003 The campus was awarded $1.4 million to renovate the gymnasium into a 2½ story complex with classrooms, offices, and a culinary arts lab. Total course enrolments remained high (8,500). The campus was chosen to host a national FASD conference. Dr. Clyde Hertzman, a leading national and international expert in Early Childhood Development from UBC visited our community campus and was pleased with work being done as noted in a follow up letter. “Indeed, the model (at this campus) should be emulated across the smaller communities in BC.”

2004-present Lakes Campus has continued to grow in response to community needs. The campus now employs over 80 full and part-time staff.