Co-operative Education drops by Lululemon Athletica

Students mingle at the mix-and-meet at Lululemon's Oakridge store. (Photo by Paul Fleischanderl)

Staff and faculty from Kwantlen met with staff and leaders from Lululemon Athletica at Oakridge Centre last week To discuss and exchange ideas for co-operation.

From now on, Lululemon Athelica is one of the employers in Kwantlen’s Co-operative Education Program. The two-year program combines on-campus study with one semester of paid, career-related work experience./p>

“During this semester, students work at a job in their typical field where they can apply their theoretical knowledge. Also, students get in contact with employers,” said Caitlin Stiles, co-op coordinator at Kwantlen.

So far, Kwantlen offers co-op for students of Computer Information Systems, Environmental Protection Technology, the Marketing Management Diploma, Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology, Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Entrepreneurial Leadership and BBA in Accounting.

Hector Cabrera, key leader, floor manager and reatail on boarding trainer of Lululemon's Oakridge store. (Photo by Paul Fleischanderl)

For Lululemon co-operation with Kwantlen is no way of recruiting staff, said Hector Cabrera, who is key manager, floor manager and retail trainer.

“We want to get in touch with young, vibrant people in the community that want to make a difference and don’t really know how. We give them resources to do that and create what they want,” Cabrera said.

There is no typical hierarchy at Lululemon Athletica. Each store is independent and the mission statement for each is different.

“We don’t do our business for the sake of profits right away: It’s about what can we do to establish a relationship with the people in our community. When people see that, they get gravitated towards the brand and to what the company means and what it’s about and that makes us successful on the long haul,” said Cabrera.

Lululemon wants to extend the relationship with Kwantlen, Cabera said. “This hasn’t to be bureaucratic; it’s as easy as an conversation. People are people and that’s why it’s great to partner up with a school that sees it that way as well.”

This is just the start and coordinators at Kwantlen’s Career Services and Co-op, as well as staff at Lululemon Athletica, are looking forward to see how things will evolve. What happens next depends on the students.

To see if your program has an option for co-op and for more information, go to www.kwantlen.ca/coop.

Kwantlen men’s hoop team loses two close ones

The Northwest Indian College Eagles received a huge effort from Josh Nelson and Randy Evans as they beat the Kwantlen Eagles Men’s basketball team 92-86 Friday night at the Surrey campus of Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

The Northwest Eagles took the lead midway through the first quarter and established a 10-point lead at halftime, a lead they would never surrender. Nelson led the way for the Eagles with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

The Northwest Eagles, from Washington State, came out and played hard and fast in the games’ first quarter and established their presence on defence, a suffocating Eagles defence that led to Kwantlen committing 24 turnovers in the game.

“This is the first time I’ve seen them,” Kwantlen head coach Bernie Love said at half time. “They’re coming out hard and aggressive and I think they are dictating the pace of the game. They’re hitting more shots in our gym then we are.”

Kwantlen came out in the second half and dominated early going on an 8-0 run in the middle of the third quarter to tie the game up at 54.

Kwantlen was led by a monster performance by Mark Dabrowski, who finished the game with 29 points and 12 rebounds in just under 32 minutes of action. Kwantlen, which was missing four starters for this game, leaned heavily on Dabrowski even though he was nursing a knee injury for most of the game.

“He really shouldn’t be playing right now, he is nursing a bit of a bum knee,” Coach Love said. “He’s a big difference maker, though, and he stepped in there and was a big presence for us.”

Though Kwantlen was down four starters, the team stepped up and competed in a game where many of their players were first-year players.

“You’re going to take your lumps when you have nine first-year players, but we battled today and we competed which we need to do on a more consistent basis,” Love said.

Kwantlen continued its exhibition season on Saturday against Portland Bible College and lost another close game, 79-75.

Video: First impressions: the do’s and don’ts of meeting people

The rise of social networking has made it more difficult to make face-to-face connections with people. As part of the Chronicle’s ongoing series on the new age of dating, we talked to a dating expert from Vancouver company ManMeetsWoman as well as several Kwantlen students. Video by Jocelyn Gollner, Meagan Gill and Amanda Punshon.

Kwantlen students support fight against breast cancer

(Clockwise from left) Reena Bali, Harj Dhesi, Nicole Joe and Puja Basi sell cupcakes on Kwantlen’s Richmond campus last Tuesday in support of breast cancer awareness month. (Photo by Matt Law)

In support of breast cancer awareness month, the Kwantlen Student Association held a Breast Cancer Cupcake Bar last week.

This was the third year of the annual event, held on the Richmond, Langley and Surrey campuses, and it raised $877, all of which goes to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

“It’s been a lot more responsive than the last few years, and we were thinking maybe it’s just the way we’ve set up. We’ve grown with the event, made it a little bigger, a little fancier,” said Reena Bali, director of events and student life.

The third annual Breast Cancer Cupcake Bar raised $877 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. (Photo by Matt Law)

The recipe for the cupcakes sold on Richmond and Surrey campuses was donated by the local business Dolce Delights; the cupcakes were made by campus representative Nicole Joe.

“The ones from Langley, we bought from a local bakery called Frostings, only because it’s really hard to bake cupcakes for three days in a row,” said Bali. “In Langley, the cupcakes went really fast. We were done by 1:30, students and faculty were buying them like no tomorrow.”

The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation estimates 23,200 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, which is up 500 from 2009. Close to 950 of these cases will be women under 40.

Men are also affected by breast cancer. Estimates suggest 180 men will be diagnosed with the disease in 2010.

KSA’s Kwantlen yoga studio loses $6,000 in first year

Eddie Lee, Health & Recreation Manager for the KSA, believes the new model for fitness classes on the Richmond campus will turn the budget around. (Photo by Matt Law)

The Blossoming Lotus yoga studio at Kwantlen’s Richmond campus took a financial hit during its first year of operation.

According to a June 24 budget update from the Kwantlen Student Association, the studio had accumulated a net loss of $6,855 while generating only $1,887 in revenue.

“We definitely took a loss this year; it was unanticipated. It was the first year of doing it, we’ve never really done fitness classes out here before. We were trying a couple of different models and it’s reflected in the losses,” said Eddie Lee, health & recreation manager of the Kwantlen Student Association.

Most of the expenses for the studio came from instructor fees which totalled $6,060. Other expenses included marketing and administrative costs, which came to $969, and general operating expenses (cleaning, signage, postage), which came to $1,713.

According to Lee, lack of student participation in the classes was a big factor.

Lack of student participation was a major factor in the Blossoming Lotus’ first year losses (Photo by Matt Law)

“Students want to take classes but it interferes with their classes, so for that reason they can’t participate. But it’s not for a lack of interest,” Lee said.

“We’ve priced ourselves to be affordable to students, which means we’re typically lower than the community centres, the studios, the fitness clubs, things like that. We’re not here to profit off the students.”

The cost for individual classes is $25 for students on the health and dental plan and $35 for students who are not. Community centres in both Richmond and Surrey also offer drop in classes at costs ranging from $4.25 (with student discount) to $5.50.

To help mitigate losses, the KSA has created an online registration system using Paypal. This will enable courses to be run when there are enough students to fill them. The KSA has also changed some instructors and opened classes to the community to make them more cost effective.

“With the reduction in instructor fees and going to this online registration, we’ve definitely seen a growth in the numbers and attendance, which obviously combined with the reduced instructor fees are taking us closer to that break-even point.” said Lee.

The next budget will be released in January 2011 and Lee is positive things will have turned around.

“I’m confident in saying that the losses have been significantly reduced and we’re hoping to break even or come in with a small profit margin by next year.”

Sustainability theme for World Food Day at Kwantlen

Kwantlen students and faculty celebrate World Food Day. (Photo by Hayley Woodin)

Sustainability was the theme for World Food Day 2010, and while the day has already come and gone, organizers have aimed to have a lasting impact.

On Monday Oct. 18, Kwantlen students and faculty took part in a free United Against Hunger event at the Langley campus.

In addition to food and cake, education was served up by numerous speakers that presented between 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.

Among the presenters were Dr. Deborah Henderson, Kwantlen’s Director of the Institute for Sustainable Horticulture, Dave Stark, the director of Langley Food First, and Langley Mayor Peter Fassbender.

The event was sponsored by the university, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Food For Famine Society, a Langley-based company that sends a food supplement called Cibo to starving children overseas.

Kwantlen’s World Food Day focused on the importance of local sustainability, in keeping with the idea that hunger can be fought at international, national and regional levels. While the event was positive and meant to encourage local action, it did touch on the world’s current environmental situation, which was less than positive.

“Canada is really bad… needing four to six planets to keep our lifestyle alive,” Henderson said to attendees in the school’s auditorium.

The topics discussed included agricultural pollution, healthy living, food production and fair trade.

“It is a moral obligation to feed ourselves,” Henderson continued, before highlighting the benefits to producing food locally.

And, with regards to trade, “We’ve gone past the point that makes sense,” she said, noting that importing food that can be grown here is simply excessive.

Women thrive while men struggle against Cap

Both of the Kwantlen soccer teams played their final home games of the season, against the Capilano Blues, on Oct. 17 at Newton Athletic Park.

Just like last year, the men’s team couldn’t wait for a dreadful season to end, while the women’s team was set to play in the provincial championships, which are being co-hosted between Kwantlen, Capilano and Langara.

Going into the match, the women hadn’t lost in three games, and were hoping to extend that run.

They were also sitting in second place; four points behind UBCO.

On the other hand, the men’s team was struggling before the match, only picking up one point so far this season.

They had only scored seven goals in nine matches going into this encounter with Capilano, including a streak where the team went over 450 minutes without scoring.

Nicole Gibbons gives the Eagles the lead after 10 minutes into the match against the Blues. (Photo by Kyle Benning)

The ball trickles into the goal after the Blues keeper Samantha Duncan's lapse of concentration causes her team to go down by two after 20 minutes. (Photo by Kyle Benning)

The second goal was scored by Marissa Dionne (left), who celebrates with her teammate. (Photo by Kyle Benning)

Shanay Sangha (left) wraps up the scoring just before the break after lobbing her header over the goalkeeper to hand the Eagles a 3-0 win. (Photo by Kyle Benning)

Despite his best efforts, goalkeeper Tom Johnston can't contain the pressure as Capilano take the lead inside 11 minutes. (Photo by Kyle Benning)

Connor Sheepwash (red) breaks free from his defender, but can't direct his chipped attempt on target. (Photo by Kyle Benning)

The Blues goalkeeper Skyler Causey (right) is able to keep a clean sheet for his team as Capilano would add a late goal through Thomas Mallette to beat the Eagles 2-0. (Photo by Kyle Benning)

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