Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ccare Pro Nick Marsden Featre
Ccare Pro Nick Marsden Featre
and Jans Diemer who peppered me with peculiar (to me) questions such as
“How would you see your role at Camosun College?” My lame reply was: “I will
do whatever is expected of me”. I left very confused but, incredibly, I got a phone
call two hours later telling me I was hired! I figure they must have been
desperate.
Day 1, Monday August 2, 1971. Wearing a blazer and tie - a uniform I assumed
would be appropriate for the job - I showed up for the first day of orientation.
Running things was Lloyd Morin, an affable man wearing a casual shirt and NO
TIE. I learned later that he had deliberately dressed down, most likely to put us
all at ease. Also present was Gordon Hartley, my old tennis teacher but now
another administrator, who asked me if I wanted to go for a jog at lunch time. So I
dashed home at a break, changed into something more casual, and packed my
jogging gear. What a great start to my career!
Dr. Lloyd Morin. Let me jump forward 51 years for a moment. Lloyd Morin was
Camosun’s second president (following Grant Fisher) and is now the last
surviving member of the College’s initial Admin Council. This past December, an
integral component of the College was renamed the Dr. Lloyd Morin Centre for
Excellence in Teaching and Learning. I feel privileged to have known this
intelligent, inspirational and kind man all these years and am thrilled that he was
recognized in this way.
occasionally invited). At the end of the term we decided a class photo was
called for. Now take a look at the photo. This is not how we dressed on a
daily basis. I, young and politically incorrect, insisted that all the girls be in
skirts or dresses (which they never ever wore). They countered by insisting
that I and the other males wear sports coats and ties (I hate dressing up).
In the end, we each gave in. Yes, that’s me with the beard ☺.
when he did arrive it was with a loud sigh as he sank into his seat. Quite
the interruption! One day I stopped the class to ask Ahmed why he was
late. This prompted a long and pathetic rant, the gist being that he was
terribly homesick and he especially missed his mother. A few in the class
issued a collective “Aah”, the rest nodded sympathetically, but things were
different after that. Did Ahmed ever arrive on time? No. But when he did
get there, I would stop the class, we would ask Ahmed how he was doing
and then just chat for a few minutes. When class resumed, everyone was
ready to learn some math. In the picture below (that’s Ahmed bottom left)
you will see the Certificate of Appreciation the class presented me at the
end of the term, and it has been on the wall in my den ever since.
I am indebted to a few key current and former employees who put in major hours
in support of OT over the years: Brian Genge, Cathy Corbett, Jim Cosgrove,
Cathy Dye, Susan Pang, Brian Calvert, Andrew Macauley and, most notably,
Cathy Macauley, my unofficial Admin Assistant for close to three decades who
never said “No” to any work request I gave her. I might add that Judith is still the
president of OT, and Cathy & Andrew Macauley as well as Susan Pang are
current board members. I continue to serve, but in the background.
Jill Britton. Jill Britton was a teacher whose specialty was teaching mathematics
to future elementary school teachers. Many of her students would start the year
terrified of math but, thanks to her skills and enthusiasm, ended up loving it. She
pulled off this miracle year after year. In 2008 I decided proper credit was
Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023
Sandee Mitchell. Long ago, I met Sandee in a Teaching Skills class. The last
day we got to give a mini-class on a topic of our own choosing. I picked
something in Math (of course). Sandee chose something much more practical –
how to make the sound of a crow. My pathetic attempts to caw brought out
concern and empathy in the teacher, but at the same time she couldn’t stop from
giggling. This struck a chord and at
that point we became friends.
What does it mean to be a friend
of Sandee’s? Well, whenever she
saw me, whatever I was doing,
she would caw at me and expect
me to caw in return. She did it
walking past my classes, she did it
once when I was engaged in a
serious conversation with then
president Liz Ashton, …, there
were no limits here. Her office in
the Indigenous Education Centre
was just a few doors down from
mine and a caw from there was an
invitation to come in to chat and
Sandee Mitchell
Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, February 2023
have a snack – which I often did. I became friendly with others, especially
Sekwan Wabasca whom I enjoyed teasing but we’d have serious conversations
as well. To this day, I have a warm feeling of my times in this centre. Yes, its main
purpose is to welcome and serve Camosun’s indigenous students. And yet,
Sandee and the others still found lots of time for me, and I feel honoured and
grateful for that.
Thanks from the Past. On January 2 of this year I received an email from Jeff, a
former student. It said in part: I am writing to thank you for helping rekindle my
interest in learning. You taught me algebra at night school back in 1981. He went
on to acknowledge five other instructors and then said to us all: [Thank you] for
getting one near dropout interested in science and learning again. It is fair to say
that this is typical of the gratitude a great many students feel towards Camosun
for the personal attention received from its dedicated and enthusiastic staff.
What a Career! As I reflect over my 41 years at Camosun, I realize how
unbelievably fortunate I had been to have landed this “gig”. I got to experience
the college in its infancy and see it grow to where it is now. I met so many
interesting people and had such a rewarding time. Mine was, without doubt, the
best job ever!