Fall 2019 SCHS Newsletter

Fall 2019 Fall 2019
Department of Child
and Family Studies
Child and Youth Care Program, CCSAI Club:
Council for Change
The Council for Change (CFC) is a club through the
CCSAI that consists of student representatives from
all three years of the CYC program. Over the years,
this club has been responsible for the Random Act
of Kindness events held at Progress, as well as other
meaningful and supportive initiatives that impact the
Centennial College students. In the 2018-2019 school
year, the CFC worked hard on creating program specific
newsletters to support all of the CYC students to
connect, learn about specific resources at the college,
and promote supportive strategies such as interview
skills and helping those students who were getting
ready for field placement interviews.
Department of Community Studies
Social Service Worker and Addiction and
Mental Health Worker Programs Partner
with WE WRAP:
Through a wonderful partnership with the non-profit
organization Health Out Loud, twelve of our Social
Service Worker and Addiction and Mental Health
Worker students attended a 2 day WE WRAP Retreat
focused on self-care, wellness and personal recovery
and empowerment. Our students gave testimonials
about their learning in this program, sharing
comments such as:
“I enjoyed the sharing! The classroom and
participants are all very interactive, and I liked that
the facilitators are peers and very welcoming.”
“I liked how inclusive and interactive the retreat
was! It was a safe space to open up and get to
know new individuals.”
“I loved the activities. I like the fact that it was
a very diverse environment.”
“I loved hearing others share their stories, and
it helped me to open up as well.”
“Learning about different strategies about
mental health, triggers, and crisis planning was
useful for myself.”
Now that they have graduated from the WE WRAP
Program, these students are eligible to become WE
WRAP Facilitators.
The CFC meetings continue to be held once a month:
this dedicated group holds their meetings on the
second Saturday of every month for three hours, and
the turnout is always high. At the end of the fall 2018
semester, the CFC celebrated their hard work by
hosting a potluck lunch after their December meeting.
The club has continued to work hard, and they hosted
a Random Act of Kindness (RAOK) event, where they
“rolled” around the campus giving students breakfast
items during the winter 2019 semester.
The CFC has a strategic plan for the 2019-2020 school
year and they are already starting recruitment of our
new first year students, and following through on the
tasks they have set out to accomplish. These students
are integral to the CYC program, as well as the college
community at large.
Suzhou College in China
On October 2nd and 3rd Centennial College hosted its partners from Suzhou College in China.
At these meetings, a number of Schools hosted sessions with the visiting faculty and administrators and
discussed program design, content and pathways. Our Early Childhood Education coordinators, Pauline Camutti-
Cull from Progress Campus and Tiffany Dittman, from Ashtonbee Campus met with Zhang Xinli, Department Head
from Suzhou College. The coordinators exchanged information with our counterpart about the model route for
ECE, as well as our Ontario Standards document and other items as requested by Suzhou College. The discussion
was focused on a shift in workforce needs in local regions of China and the increased need for both Nursery
Programs (infant and Toddler) as well as Kindergarten Programs (Preschool) and the need to provide well trained
staff to run these programs. The second day of meetings included a more detailed discussion about our courses
and the learning outcomes related to the course outlines and a tour of our Progress Lab School at the end of our
meeting. I want to thank the two coordinators, Tiffany Dittmann and Pauline Camuti-Cull, for showcasing our ECE
program as a true partnership with our colleagues in Suzhou, China.
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