March Career Madness at Bow Valley College

The BVCAA has partnered up with BVCWorks and the recruitment office to present a two and a half week career tool-kit extravaganza!

The series of events kicked off on March 5 with a Career Fair for Health Care Professionals at Franklin Station Campus, hosted by BVCWorks. Day two (March 6) at Main Campus the College staged its first Career Exploration Day combined with the Spring Open House. The event hosted a tradeshow to showcase the programs and services available at Bow Valley College, and was supplemented by a panel presentation with BVC faculty, students and alumni, and special workshops focused on choosing a career and funding options at BVC. Throughout the day, for the first time ever at BVC, a live Twitter feed was being monitored for questions and comments from prospective students and alumni who were unable to attend.

This week BVCWorks is hosting Career Week, March 9 – 13, which includes a variety of employment focused activities, such as drop-in resume and networking workshops open to students and alumni.


To round out March Career Madness the BVCAA will once again be offering Backpack to Briefcase sessions through until the 19th of March:




Monday, March 16 – Mock Interviews: Co-sponsored by BVCWorks, Career Connection and the BVCAA, Main Campus, Room 603, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (each appointment will be 20 minutes in length) Make an appointment today!

Tuesday, March 17 – Face the Fear of Public Speaking – BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!! Facilitated by Jeff Jewett, Main Campus, Room 603, Noon – 1:00 p.m. Reserve your seat today!

Thursday, March 19 – Let’s Talk Taxes, facilitated by Alan Frank, Room 603, Noon – 1:00 p.m. Reserve your seat today!

2nd Annual Legal Assistant Networking Reception a hit!

On February 19, long time donor and advocate for Bow Valley College, Liz Smith, sponsored the 2nd Annual Legal Assistant Alumni Networking Reception at the Bow Valley Club in Calgary. In attendance were current students, alumni and instructors from the Legal Assistant Diploma program at Bow Valley College along with staff from the BVCAA and Liz Smith & Associates.

In the current economic times placement services, such as those offered by Liz Smith & Associates, are holding their ground as important players in the search for a gainful employment. Liz addressed the guests with words of encouragement and an offer to act as a resource for anyone who had questions or concerns about their career as a Legal Assistant.

Elza Bruk, Dean of Business and Industry, gave a welcome from the College and presented Smith with an engraved frame with a photograph of the guests from the 2008 event. "Look around the room", said Bruk, "the people around you are a clear representation of the amazing work that is being done in the Legal Assistant program at Bow Valley College. It has been proven again and again that those people who obtain a post-secondary education excel in life, your choice to get an education will set you apart for the rest of your career."

Following the short program guests mingled and had an opportunity to reconnect with old classmates and instructors. There was also a good amount of networking between current students and alumni from the program. Liz Smith recognized the value of the event when she said, " I see many faces from last year's reception and even more new faces, a few years from now we will need to get together in a much larger space to accommodate the growth!"

Look for the 3rd Annual Legal Assistant Networking Reception in February 2010! If you are a Legal Assistant and missed out on this year's event please contact the BVCAA and update your contact information so we can add you to our database.

Protect yourself on Facebook

Hey, we’re on Facebook!

Facebook is a social networking site where people meet and reunite in cyberspace.
Many individuals, however, are concerned about protecting their privacy on the internet.

That’s OK! We’re here to help.

If you become a fan of a page, such as the Bow Valley College Alumni Association or Careers at Bow Valley College pages, others don’t have unfettered access to your account. They would need your email address and password to gain access, so make sure your password is a combination of letters and numbers that only you know.

Once you do become a fan to a page, a link will appear on your profile’s Info page, letting all your friends know that you are fan of that page.

Your profile picture and name also will show up in the Fans section of the page you have joined.
Unless you’ve made use of the privacy settings on Facebook, you might be allowing strangers access to your personal information . . . so get protected!

The first step you can take is to enable ONLY your friends to view your page. You can do this by accessing the Privacy settings here:

Clicking on Privacy Settings will take you to this page, where you can click on Profile:

And you end up here, where you can select from several privacy options which prevent people from accessing the information on your page.

It is also a good idea to set separate privacy levels for your photo albums. Otherwise, a photo you post can appear on the newsfeed for one of your friends’ pages and all their friends can access your photo.

To change those settings, go to your photo album page and click the Album Privacy link:

It will take you to this page where you can, once again, select from several security levels for your photo albums.

The Careers at Bow Valley College page is a partnership between Marketing and Communications, Human Resources, and Careerbuilder.ca The page lists career opportunities and features news, program descriptions, event announcements, and photo albums at the College.

It is intended as a recruitment tool for faculty, staff, and students . . . so, even if one or two of your friends click through to our page and learn something about BVC, it helps us get the word out about the wonderful work we do here.

Become a fan of Make it Happen at Bow Valley College here!

The Bow Valley College Alumni Association page is a Facebook group for alumni of the College. The intention of this page is to inform alumni about upcoming events and announcements that pertain to the alumni program. It is a great way to keep informed on the growth and development of the Alumni program, while using your favourite form of social media.

Join the Bow Valley College Alumni Association group today!

Content posted with the permission of Marketing and Communications at Bow Valley College.

Alumna of the Month: Karen Filbert, Events Management Certificate 2005

Karen Filbert graduated from the Events Management Certificate in 2005, prior to taking the Event program she had completed a Bachelor’s degree at the University of Lethbridge and came to Bow Valley College to enhance her skills so that she could transition into a career in Event Management. In early 2006, not long after completing her program, Karen joined the BVC team as the Special Event Officer in Fund Development. During her career at Bow Valley College Karen has planned and executed several high profile annual events, such as the Golf Tournament and Learn a Better Living Breakfast. Recently Karen has been seconded into the position of Acting Senior Development Officer at BVC and is one of the 2009 recipients of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s Rising Star Award – presentation of this award took place in February at the Annual District VIII conference in Seattle, Washington.
In her spare time Karen also does contract work from her home business, is co-chair of the 2009 National Philanthropy Week committee and is the President of the University of Lethbridge Alumni Association's Calgary Chapter.

1. Name?
Karen Filbert

2. Program and year?
Events Management Certificate, 2005

3. Current position?
Acting Senior Development Officer, Bow Valley College

4. What is your fondest memory of your time at AVC/BVC?
Whenever we (team) got to make the final presentation at a Convention or Trade Show after being up all night to get things together.

5. Tim Horton’s or Starbucks?
Tim’s

6. Who was your favorite instructor?
Too many to name!

7. Chocolate or vanilla?
Vanilla

8. How do you foresee yourself staying connected to BVC?
I feel very connected already, I work here at BVC of course will always be connected being an alumna. As to capacity, as the BVCAA moves forward, I’m sure there will be many opportunities to volunteer.

9. What is your favourite thing to do in Calgary?
That would be shoe shopping and hanging out with friends.

10. What advice would you give to current learners taking the same program you did?
Be strong, be smart, be creative – events are creative by nature, but also detailed and subject to change. You must always have plan B in place (or at least be able to think wisely on your feet).

11. What is your favourite place that you have travelled to?
Greece

Congratulations to Karen on the Rising Star Award!

BVC Alumna wins BIG with TD Insurance Meloche Monnex

At the annual Client Appreciation Dinner, hosted by TD Insurance Meloche Monnex, in Edmonton on March 3, BVC Alumna Christine Marston won the $50,000 cash prize for home renovations in TDIMM's most recent national contest for new policy holders. 21 year old Marston is engaged to be married and has just recently become the first official graduate of the Online Office Administration Certificate offered at Bow Valley College.

The Bow Valley College Alumni Association (BVCAA) signed on with TD Insurance Meloche Monnex as an affinity partner in July 2008. This partnership enabled the BVCAA to offer group rates on home, auto and small business insurance to alumni. Each year TD Insurance Meloche Monnex runs a contest that all new policy holders are entered into, by taking advantage of her alumni benefits Christine is not only paying less for her insurance but she is $50,000 richer.

BVC and AVC alumni are eligible for group rates.