Written by Bernice Trick
Citizen staff
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Friday, 26 June 2009 |
A visit to Prince George Friday was both a new and eye-opening experience for B.C.'s new Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development.
Moira Stilwell's first visit to Prince George offered much for her to digest through visits to College of New Caledonia and UNBC.
She said CNC president John Bowman and staff impressed her to no end with "their passion and commitment to the students."
"A couple of things they are doing there through his leadership are very special. One is that he''s very conscious of the regional mandate to try and serve all of the students, and he's willing to collaborate to make sure all the schools are using their resources in the best way they can for the students. That really came through and I was very impressed," said Stilwell.
Up at UNBC she was "amazed" at the architecture. "What a beautiful campus. I had seen pictures of it on the Internet, but when you actually get to walk around and see how the amazing architecture supports the goals of the northern institution, it's really wonderful." said Stilwell.
She sees interim president Charles Jago as a "visionary" who has brought a lot to UNBC and the community. "I think it's fitting they named the new Sport Centre, which has a ton of machinery, in his honour," she said.
When it comes to northern B.C. she admits she's "geographically challenged" , but wants to learn about it as quickly as she can.
"My goal is to visit all the northern institutions that I can, so I'm hoping to make more trips up here to see more."
Right now she's concentrating on putting faces to names as well as seeing the campuses and "hear what the people in Prince George aspire to along with their hopes and goals."
"I don't have a vision, but I'm here to hear their vision."
Despite taking on the job in such recessionary times, she said "it's never a bad time to push the agenda of education forward."
"The thing to do is look at what we can do now with what we have so that when the recession does end we can ride that wave up again. As tough as things are, we know B.C. is one of the best places to be, so we just have to retrench, look at the future, and start walking towards it."
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Last Updated ( Friday, 26 June 2009 )
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