Osaka's Michio Kuniyasu and Burnaby’s Len Walker are both
students and teachers. The bilingual Japanese Language In-
stitute Program, unique to Douglas College, allows English
as Second Language students from Japan and Canadians
studying Japanese to meet and learn language skills from
each other. The program is supported by a $3,000 grant from

the Asia Pacific Foundation.

Gifts from Japan for THC

The new grounds of Maple Ridge’s
Thomas Haney Centre’s will feature a lit-
tle corner of Japan.

The new educational facility will receive
gifts of 500,000 yen (approximately
$4,700) and several special trees from
the Nara Shirafuji High School of Nara,
Japan.

Students from the Japanese school have
been taking English as a Second Language
training with the Maple Ridge School Dis-
trict and Douglas College since 1990,
when the special program was transfered
from the College’s New Westminster cam-
pus.

The Nara school will provide several
White Wisteria and Somei-Yoshino
(cherry) trees which will be planted in a
special section of Thomas Haney Centre's

grounds to be named the Shirafuji Corner.

The cash donation will be equalled by
matching grants from the Douglas College
Foundation and Provincial Government,

generating approximately $14,000 for
scholarships and bursaries for students at
the new facility.

A representative of the Shirafuji Academy
is expected to attend the official opening
of Thomas Haney Centre on October 22. &

 
  

THC continued from

page 1 a

ease the transition from secondary school
to college.

"One issue concerning education in
Canada is the high dropout rate in the sec-
ondary system. We need to do more to
help students focus on completing high
school and going on to further training,"
said Floyd. "The advantage of operating
two institutions together is that we can
get rid of the mystical view students have
of post-secondary education. It makes
choices easier for students."

B.C. ranks eighth among provinces in post-
secondary participation, with only 21.8
percent of college-aged (18-24) people
enrolled.

The Thomas Haney Centre will also

provide some relief to taxpayers by pre-
venting duplication of some services and
facilities. There will be sharing in areas

such as cafeteria facilities, building ni@g
nance, library services, administration

and counselling.

A joint project of Douglas College, the
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District
(No. 42) and the Municipality of Maple
Ridge, the facility can accommodate 1,000
secondary and 450 fulltime college
students. A

 

iseile Pitaetiok

INside Douglas College is pub-
lished the first Tuesday of every
month by the Public Information
Office.

Submissions are due Tuesday
noon two weeks prior to publica-
tion. Submissions on floppy disk in
WordPerfect or ASCII format
would be appreciated. Material
may be edited for brevity and
clarity.

 

 

 

Tips, scoops and suggestions are
always welcome. Please contact
the Public Information Office, (604)
527-5325, FAX: (604) 527-5095,
Room 4840 at the New Westmin-
ster campus, 700 Royal Avenue,
New Westminster, B.C. V3L 5B2

$s douglas college @