Maria Asselin-Roy Staff Reporter ouglas College launched it’s very own book on Wednesday, February 10. The book is titled Douglas College: The First 40 Years and it is now available in the Douglas College bookstore at both campuses. A few books were given away during the launch, although now you can purchase them for $20.00 with HST. The author, Gerry Della Mattia, is a retired Douglas administrator as well as a part of the leadership and management development council of British Columbia, and also used to be a part of the Faculty of Education at UBC. : The book is about everything — Douglas. It goes into details about when Douglas College first came to be a school up until recently. There are tons of details as of what has taken place in the school as well as planned future activities. All of the major events that have ever taken place at Douglas are written in this book. There are also first hand Gerry Della Mattia interviews and experiences by both the staff and students of Douglas College over the past 40 years. Mattia goes into great detail about the past of the college, the current goals and progress that the school has made into the present day, and what is to be expected for the future of the school. All about the recent Leadership Retreat By Allie Davison he weekend of February 4 marked T= second annual Douglas College leadership retreat, hosted by the Centre for Campus Life & Athletics. The retreat, a two-day event, took place at Quest University in Squamish. With the main goal of helping students to develop their own leadership skills, students participated in a series of workshops and presentations. Activity topics included, but were not limited to, leadership skills and styles, ~ presentation skills and how to build groups and organizations within Douglas College. Another section of the retreat was devoted to discussing leadership issues on a variety of scales, around the campus, as well as locally and around the world. Next year, the leadership retreat will be held in September. The Centre for Campus Life & Athletics, who organize the event, is hoping that holding the event earlier in the year will encourage students to use their new-found leadership skills to - become more involved in organizing and participations in events around the school for the entirety of the year. Douglas College leadership retreats are open to any student attending Douglas College. For more information on this event and other campus life activities visit the Centre for Campus Life & Athletics, located in room 1315 at the New Westminster Campus, or their website at: http://www.douglas.bc.ca/campus-life. html Getting involved at Douglas and New Westminster By Maria Asselin-Roy, Staff Reporter ouglas College is a continuously growing post secondary educational institution. To show that, there are growth plans which are set to take place within the next three to five years. Douglas is planning to “expand their learning opportunities while improving their learner pathways.” Vice President Kathy Denton is currently looking for ideas on creating new college programs, as well as expanding programs that are already available. At the same time as this, the President of the college is announcing the creation of what will be known as the Program Development and Implementation Funding Envelope (PDIFE). What PDIFE basically is for is supporting the development of new degree, diploma, and certificate programs as well as post-degree programs. It also supports the expansion of existing degree programs, academic options for Aboriginal students, second career ' learners, provides funding, etc. The college is looking for such bright ideas from students. All students are 4 encouraged to participate in putting their thoughts forward in hopes of creating new and better programs for all students. Because it is students that are taking programs at Douglas, it is refreshing to get a students’ view on what would be helpful in helping students get the most out of their college experience. Kathy Denton hopes that many students will | come forward to contribute their ideas. If you are interested, all that you have to do is send a three-page letter of intent. The deadline for the letter is on Friday, March 4. For more information on this, check out the Douglas website or contact Kathy Denton personally. Along with Douglas College expanding their programs, the college is also currently in the process of nominating student representatives for the academic council and the College Board for the 2011 and 2012 year. The College Board focuses on the policies of the school as well as looking at both student and staff leadership in the college. The ‘education council basically helps setting the curriculum and looks at the academic standards of Douglas, mainly focusing on the programs that the school offers. They are both important governance bodies in the school that play a crucial role in shaping the overall direction and educational policies of Douglas. You can find more information on the academic council and College Board at www. douglascollege.ca/about The college is looking for two new students to join the College Board and four new students to join the academic council. After the Registrar’s office receives all of the nominations, all students in the school will be asked to vote online. (You will get the message in your myDouglas account) If you have any questions about the election, you can contact the Registrar’s office at 604-527- 5478. Moving out of Douglas and onto the streets of New Westminster; the New West Chamber of Commerce is seeking nominees. The Chamber of Commerce has something called a Bernie Legge Cultural Award and a Citizen of the Year Award. The act is kind and simple, basically if you know someone who is involved in performing arts, visual arts, photography, literature, creative writing, or something along those lines you can nominate them for the Bernie Legge Cultural Award. This goes if they are either using their artistic skills to live as an artist, for fundraising, organizing, or for themselves, If you know someone who has volunteered their time in thé community of New West either in sports or recreation, youth services, senior services, community fundraising, or other things related you can nominate them for the Citizen of the Year Award. Al Hyland is a media buyer for Douglas College and is also a member of the New West Chamber of Commerce and encourages students and residents of New West to nominate someone great. Hyland believes that it is important to recognize people who make communities a better place, and this is a great opportunity for people to recognize others who are making a difference in the city of New Westminster. For more information on this and to see what else the Chamber of Commerce does, check out www.newwestchamber. com.