douglas
college

 

SIDE

Frick’s golden touch
Meet the new director

Curriculum conference

 

 

 

 

 

Playing vintage Coltrane and Adderley, Brad Turner's trio took music students on
a tour of jazz's bop era during an August 17 concert in the College Band Room.

 

 

 

New program to
focus on opticians

n the heels of provincial
legislation last spring which
makes certified training
mandatory for optical
dispensers, Douglas College
will become B.C.’s first
institution to offer a Dispensing

Optician Program beginning in

the fall of 1995.

The program will begin operations on
Douglas College’s New Westminster
campus but will have a permanent home
at the new Pinetree site in Coquitlam. The
program will offer a one-year certificate
option which will train students to work

with glasses and a two-year diploma
option with a focus on contact lenses.

“Tn the first year, students will look at
basic theories of optics, lens and frame
applications and how to work with
customers,” said Director of Health
Services Joy Holmwood. “Overall the
program will combine clinical knowledge
with retail, communication and business
management skills.”

Holmwood expects the program will
eventually require three fulltime instruc-
tors and will also utilize faculty from

Opticians continued on page 6

Autumn arts

ouhWND

INside Zone

THE DOUGLAS COLLEGE NEWSLETTER WM SEPTEMBER 1994

 

College essay
best in B.C.

An essay by Douglas College student
Robert Wright examining the plight of
female teachers in rural British Columbia
during the 1920s-30s has won the B.C.
Historical Federation Essay Contest.

The essay will be published in the B.C.
Historical News and Wright will be
awarded a $500 prize at the Vancouver
Historical Society meeting on Sept. 21 at
the Maritime Museum. Wright originally
wrote the essay in his History 210 -
History of British Columbia course and
was encouraged to enter the contest by
instructor Jacqueline Gresko.

The choice of subject matters came
quite naturally to Wright. His aunt, Grace
Bennett, taught in rural Saskatchewan,
and his grandmother, Dean Wright, was a
respected teacher in Winnipeg. Wright
himself will study elementary school
education at Simon Fraser University.

Researching his essay, Wright churned
through old newspaper articles and books
by educators and administrators of the
day. What he found was that for many
women, a Career as a small-town
schoolteacher could be nasty, brutish and
short.

“What struck me was basically the
difficult conditions they lived in, and the
loneliness and restrictions they faced,”
said Wright.

In many towns, marriage or male
companionship were causes for dismissal;
living in a hotel or rooming house was
frowned upon. Public opinion galvanized
on the issue and forced provincial
government action in 1928 when an
ostracized teacher named Mabel Jones
committed suicide in Lake Cowichan. &