Two Camosun co-op education students recently won both college categories at the 2020 B.C. Association for Co-op Education and Work-Integrated Learning Student of the Year Awards.
Dylan Kaplan & Tanya Fogarty, B.C./Yukon College Co-op & Work-Integrated Student of the Year Award Recipients
Victoria, B.C. - The Association for Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning BC / Yukon (ACE-WIL) announced recently that two Camosun College students won both college categories at the 2020 ACE-WIL Student of the Year awards.
This is the twelfth time in 14 years that a Camosun student has won provincial accolades from ACE-WIL. Tanya Fogarty, a Bachelor of Sport and Fitness Leadership student, won in the Work-Integrated Learning category while Dylan Kaplan, a Bachelor of Business Administration (Human Resources) student, won the Co-op category.
“It’s incredible to see two Camosun students recognized on a provincial level for their outstanding achievements during their work terms,” says Claudia Sperling, Director of Applied Learning, Co-operative Education and Career Services. “Their success is a testament to the applied nature of Camosun programs and the support of faculty and staff as well as our community partners who employ and provide mentorships to our students.”
The ACE-WIL awards recognize BC or Yukon students who demonstrate an outstanding level of achievement in their co-operative education or work-integrated learning experience; combined with a strong academic record, volunteer activities, and significant contributions to promoting co-operative education in their school and in the community.
Tanya completed her work term at the YMCA-YWCA of Vancouver Island as part of the Healthy Living department. Tanya taught group fitness classes that were specific to chronic disease such as cancer, heart failure, asthma, osteoporosis, diabetes, etc. During her work term Tanya helped facilitate a mental health research project called Mind Fit. As the physical activity specialist for Mind Fit, Tanya provided exercise sessions to teenagers with mild to moderate anxiety and depression in an effort to improve their mental health after eight weeks.
“I have always been very passionate about exercise and movement, and extremely fascinated by the biomechanics of the human body,” says Tanya. “My internship allowed me to share my passion with my co-workers, supervisors, and most importantly my participants through the group fitness classes or personal coaching sessions. With my end goal of completing a master’s degree in physiotherapy, I have developed skills and creativity in exercise rehabilitation during the course of my internship.”
Dylan started his work term as the Support Coordinator in the Engagement and Communications Group at InnovativeCommunities.Org Foundation (ICO), a Victoria-based charity with operations in over a dozen countries. While in his role, Dylan was responsible for onboarding new members, defining role responsibilities and creating presentations. Part way through his work term, he was offered the role of Leader of the Communications Group.
Dylan grew his team to 11 people during his work term, and worked diligently to provide them with support and direction, which posed a challenge given the many complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My co-op work term allowed me to gain more applied experience with many concepts covered by my program classes,” explains Dylan. “Despite memorizing the advantages of different methods of creating job descriptions, I never actually understood how many of the advantages could be significant in the real world. Working with job descriptions in the real world made the applicability of these advantages very clear.”
Dylan had previously won both Camosun’s institution-wide and Business Yvonne Thompson Page (YTP) Co-op/Internship Student of the Year awards, while Tanya picked up Camosun’s Sport and Exercise YTP Co-op/Internship Student of the Year award.
If your organization is interested in hiring Camosun students for work terms, or if you’re a Camosun student interested in taking part in a work term, please get in touch with the Co-operative Education and Career Services department at EducationThatWorks@camosun.ca.
Camosun, located in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia with campuses on the Traditional Territories of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, is one of the largest colleges in the province. Established in 1971, Camosun now celebrates 50 years of delivering innovative, life-changing academic and applied programs to 20,000 students annually.
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