imagineCALGARY Working Group To Engage Calgary Students
The March 2010 All Partner Meeting included an opportunity for Partners to brainstorm about ways to expand engagement, involvement and results within the imagineCALGARY Partnership. One of the key suggestions to emerge from the meeting was the need for a strategy to engage post-secondary students in the Calgary community. More than 50,000 Calgarians are enrolled in post-secondary education today, offering a substantial opportunity for engagement within imagineCALGARY.
In early May, imagineCALGARY Partners representing The University of Calgary and Bow Valley College met to discuss opportunities to engage students. The new working group explored ways to expand links with organized student groups, including students’ associations and clubs at most of the public post-secondary education institutions in Calgary.
The working group plans to meet again in July to coordinate a strategy to approach contacts in student leadership positions and/or clubs. In the interim, a recruitment toolbox is being developed by the imagineCALGARY Partnership to provide information that will help to engage potential Partners.
Specific groups being approached by the working group include:
• University of Calgary Students’ Union executives
• Bow Valley College Students’ Association
• SAIT Student Association
• Mount Royal University
• Alberta College of Art and Design
“Our short-term goal is to organize a discussion where we can bring representatives from the various student groups together,” says Brett Bergie of Bow Valley College, the Coordinator of the Collaborative Action Committee and a member of the student engagement working group. “Ultimately, we’d like to have the students help inform or lead in the development of the engagement strategy to bring them into the imagineCALGARY Partnership fully. This could mean integration into the current governance structure or introducing a new committee of students. Our hope is to develop a strategy over the summer that calls for direct student engagement and dialogue by September.”
Look for further updates on the working group’s activities in upcoming editions of the imagineCALGARY e-news.
If you are interested in learning more about student engagement within the imagineCALGARY Partnership, please email info@imaginecalgary.ca.
