Finally a Little Break

Well after an exhausting week of work, i finally have all my homework, assignments and tests done, a little earlier then i expected, thanks to the help of group work. well basically everyone doing one question and sharing it for an assignment.

There's a few things i want to point out today, a few links and a video.

1. Youth Retention and Attraction, the provincial government now has a website operational, this is the what is coming out of the Dialogues and Youth Summit i attended. Below is a video that came from the dialogues, i am not on it, but its quite interesting to watch, the here the views of youth, the video really brings home the message that we the youth wanted. The website has a fair bit of information about the program, and some pictures. if you want to read part of the report that came from the dialogues, check out CPRN (Canadain Policy Research Networks) website.

2. The New Orleans Mission - CNA Global Design Studio.

Well I leave on Sunday morning, flying to the big easy to play my part in the rebuild, I am quite excited, there has been a bit of press attention lately, I was interview by CBC Morning Show yesterday along with fellow classmate Janine Collins. Today the college issued a New Release about the mission.

While in New Orleans we will be staying at the Annunciation Mission, and working with the Broadmoor Development Corporation, This is going to be a very exciting and memorable trip.

I'll begin to pack soon, and before long I'll be there, still got a bit of stuff to do this week, but it should be all good in the end.

Civil Christmas Dinner tomorrow at Darlene's, house can't wait for a good'ol turkey dinner. Anyway i'll keep you all up to date throughout my time in New Orleans.

Broadmoor Lives in the Heart Of New Orleans!

Peace Out

Cor

Wow! Stressed.

Wow, I am finally taking a break, this week is going to be the most stressful busy week of my life.

Today I had class at 8:30, a test at 9;30 and another class at 10:30, then i had to work on a project until 1:00, when i had a meeting about New Orleans and some surveying practice, but the equipment was down so never got much done with that, then I had a meeting with Calvin Peach MHA, to get some freebies to give out in New Orleans, he gave me flags (big and small) as well as Lapel Pins to give out to people in New Orleans. after that meeting i grabed a bit to eat and a bit of gas for the car and headed back to school to work on the project again, I came home around 6 and havn't stoped with homework since.

This week is going to be so busy because i got to get everyhting done for friday because we leave for New Orleans on Sunday, i got 2 assignments, a major lab report, test, and tech thesis work, on top of Meetings and surveying Practice for New Orleans.

For those of you who enjoy the wonders of AM radio I'll be on CBC radio tommorow morning talking about the New Orleans mission.

I have 3 lots of physics lab to correct for the College before friday as well, and on Friday we have our Civil Christmas Dinner, which is going to be a good feed, at our Coordinator Darlene's house, can't wait. Mom and Dad are comming in Saturday to do a few things and bring me to the airport Sunday Morning, hoping to be able to blog the entire trip. Soo excited for it. Less then 5 days now.

Anyway I must get back to studying and writing reports, hope to find time for more blogs this week but i think it may be tight.

Peace
Cor

Less then a Week

In less then a week, i'll be one the ground, volunteering in Broadmoor New Orleans, I can't wait, the experience of a lifetime, to help those in despite need of assistance. I plan to update my blog as much as possible along my journey, I will have my laptop with me, but i will be in the field most of the day, and working on other projects throughout the evening, as well as touring the city. For those of you who wish to chat via MSN, or other methods, late nights would be the best time. I will have my cell with me, i only have 100 USA minitues so only call if it is important. I am not sure on the cost of texting yet, but will let you know if it is find to text me.

This weekend was quite relaxing, on Thursday I got my scholorship, the awards ceramony was nice, Civil was well repersented 7 scholorships to the civil crew. Congrats to you all.

I spent the weekend home, spent time with family and friends.

I went to see Twilight tonight with Tash, Laura, and Kibey. great movie, really enjoyed it.

Anyway i am off to the bed.

Good Night All
Cor

A town called dildo!!

Bahaha, So while enjoying the wonders of youtube, instead of doing my soils assignment that is due tommorow, i found this video. Its pretty old, but its about dildo, a town where i went to school.
I got a laugh from it.

enjoy

Half Busy Time Approaching

Well my life is going to get busy for a while, the upcoming few weeks are anticipated to be fairly busy for me. In just 12 short days I'll be in New Orleans, I am really excited, and can't wait to leave, its going to be a great experience to help people in need. We are suppose to have a meeting in the coming week, as well as few possible interviews with media to discuss the trip. I'm not going to bladder on about the trip, i done that in previous blogs.

Final Exams are closer then I actually realize, I start exams on December 11, and my last one is on the 16th. But i don't get back from New Orleans until the 12th, and that's if our flights are all on time. I wont have time to study in New Orleans and little when i get back so I Going to start this weekend.

Other then that school work is piling up, assignments, labs, tests, and reports, its all got to be done by next Friday, plus the stuff i am going to miss while in New Orleans.

On Thursday I have to attend the college awards ceremony top get my scholarship, I am getting the Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador scholarship. The same one i got last year at least this year I'll have a few people from my class, at the ceremony to talk to. Christina and Janine Collins also got scholarships, congrats girls.

On November 28th, we have our Civil Christmas Dinner, and our coordinator Darlene's House in foxtrap, i think it'll be a good feed, can't wait, I would expect some form of drinking with the class to follow.

We are planing to rent the party bus for a big'ol Norman's Cove style bash after exams. let me know if your interested.

That pretty much sums up what i got coming up until i go home for Christmas, oh and i'll be home to the cove this weekend, but it will probably be the last time, until some time in late December after my exams are done and over with.

Peace Out
Cor

Youth Summit

Wow, the summit closed on Saturday and it was a experience i wont forgot, in my previous blog, i mention the background and the events of Friday, in this one, the events of Saturday.

Saturday came, an early rise, to the fairmont hotel by 8am, upon arriving I signed up for the group I wanted to create an action plan for and present for.

The action plan i chose was education. there are many things we can do to improve the education system.

• strengthening the education system (infrastructure, course, quality)
• provide transitions from school to work (work-terms, co-op)
• reduce student debt, and the cost of education

these where the man topics we focused on. 5 people from our group each working on one. My chose to work on "strengthening the education system"

Along with my group members, we discussed the issues that need to be addressed,

• number of classes
  
• class size
• upgrade facilities
  
• offer practical life skills in k-12

Each playing an important role.

One issue was the number of classes offered, one person in my group stated "i'm on the waiting list for September 2010, and i applied last year" another "i've applied twice, both times the course was canceled"

we felt that distance education and virtual teachers could address this problem, we also felt that reduced class size would increase the quality of education.

Upgrading facilities needs to happen now, we need to be able to work in state of the art, up to date labs, have the newest equipment, and be experienced and confident in our work. I myself have been working out of a half-assed, homemade lab for 2 years, missing labs, spending most of our time making up some homemade contraption to do a job, that a simple piece of lab equipment could do.

And practical life skills in k-12, this is one that we felt we could involved private citzens and business in. we think that students in k-12 should learn basic skills, such as home maintence, basic financial information, taxs, basic law, cooking, and basic information on how to live on your know.

In the afternoon, we where joined by invited guests to present our ideas and actions. Premier Danny Williams had a very empowering speech.

"our richest resource is not on the grand banks, its not under the ground, its not onshore, its here in this room, Our Youth"

"we will remove out migration from our vocabulary, as we removed have not"

I had the opportunity to quickly met and introuce my self to Danny Williams, and i pointed out a few issues, including our lab.

I also met a few people from FINALY (futures in Newfoundland and Labradors Youth) an organization which i will be joining.

During our presentations I had the opportunity to present our ideas, to many people, inculding Mary Pratt, Business Leaders, and education leaders. One such person was the VP of College development/advancement for the College of the North Atlantic, and i made my point loud and clear to her that we need a adequate lab.

The overall conference was great, met some great people, and felt like I made a difference in this province, i can't wait to read the final report, and see the video.

Cor

Youth Retention and Attraction

In early June 2008, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, announced that they have committed $1.38 million to develop a "Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy"

As a result CPRN (Canadian Policy Research Networks) conducted 13 deliberate dialogue sessions, 11 across the province and one in each Ottawa and Fort McMurry. I attended one such dialogue session in St. John's in early September. While at these sessions youth aged 18-30, from varying backgrounds discussed the issue of youth retention and attraction, and the basic idea of "Making Newfoundland and Labrador the province of choice for young people"

Ideas brought to the table during the dialogue session included, areas where we all had a common ground, areas of divergence or trade offs, and bold actions.

Below are some bold actions that came from these dialogues, ideas that we fell the government could do to help address the problem.

• Education Incentives
• Business Development
• Transportation
  
• Jobs and wages
• Attracting Newcomers and Providing incentives to stay
• Social Services and Community Development
• Environmental Protection
• Diversity
• Image and Perception of the Province

While I have many things I'd like to talk about with the results of the dialogue, i will continue to the main point of my blog. Following the dialogues, 160 youth of the original 474, were picked to attend a youth summit, where we will develope ideas from the bold actions and present it to government. I was one of the 160 picked, and today i attended the first day of the summit, i will attend again tomorrow.

Today's session was great, I felt that i was able to voice my opinion very well, and I was able to let many people know how i felt about important issues. While at the dialogue there was many disagreements over some topics. Following an afternoon of discussion, we enjoyed a lovely 3 course meal and engaged in bold action development.

We had the opportunity to enter into 3 groups of discussion, I picked, education, jobs and wages, and social services and community development. I will explain the information from each shortly, tomorrow I will be able to pick one of these to enter into a group, and develop a presentation to present to 40 decision makers, including business leaders, media, government officials including premier Danny Williams. The presentations will take place tomorrow afternoon.

From the education groups many issues can forth:

• Reduce student debt (a common problem across Canada)
• Upgrade Education Facilities
• Develop More work terms and co-op programs
• Government Sponsored work-terms, where the government will offer tutuion vouchers, or loan repayment for work. (free to employer, no school fees)
  
• Mandatory co-op for high school
• Government Incentives for parents saving for school
• Upgrade the k-12 system
• More exposure to post secondary systems from an early age
• Develop a better repayment plan for student loans

From the view of Social Services and Community Development

• Heath Care (doctors) for rural areas
• ambulance service located in more areas
• Government Ambulance service, eliminate private services, and station an ambulance in most community's. (where possible)
• 24hr ER located within 45 mins of every community
• better Daycare services (free - low cost)
  
• Hosing Subsidies
  
• affordable housing
• better policing

From the view of Jobs and Wages

• Higher Wages
• Better Quality of work
• job security
  
• more entry level jobs
• programs to support students graduating from post secondary to enter them into the workforce.

I hope to enter into the education of social services/community development groups Tommie for the presentations.

For those of you who wish to read a little more on this read today new release from the NL Government. I am hoping to write more on this in the coming days.

I am going to head to bed, I have a busy day tomorrow, hoping to head back to Norman's Cove tomorrow night.

Cor

Happy Birthday to my favorite Cousin - Erica

Today is my cousin Erica's birthday she's the best cousin i have, happy birthday Erica. Love you soo much.
Happy Birthday Erica. Hope you have a wonderful day, and I can't wait for you to come back home to Newfoundland and hit up George Street with me. Loves you lots and hop to see you soon.

Love Corey

Good News

Today has been great! But before i ramble on about that I've updated my blog layout, what do you think?

Well today started great, woke up for my first bad of school in 5 days, because of the long weekend, to learn that my classes were canceled, making it a 6 day weekend. So I went back to bed and watch tv for a few hours, before getting up and getting on the go.

Went to get groceries with Karley, stocked up on healthy food, as i got to watch what i eat these days.

I then heard some new I have been waiting for, for months. Vale Inco is going to build a Nickle Hydromet Plant in Long Harbour, construction starts in 2009, and the chances of work are high. This porject will bring an ecomonic boom to the area, and cause growth that has never been seen. I am hoping to get a job there and be able to move home and make the big bucks.

Even better news came later on as I learnt that i would be the recipentant of the 2008 Municipalites Newfoundland and Labrador Scholorship. Its valued at $500.00 and will help me alot as a poor student.

New Orleans is only 18 days way, and press coverage is picking up, hoping to get a story on the news soon, College will release a news release in the coming days, as well as the College Newsletter, containing our story.

Me and Karley are planning on going to see a movie tonight, not sure what one.

I've been playing with photoscape, and this is a picture i came up with, from my trip to Indy, for My cousin Erica and Marks wedding in April.




Anyway i must go study the concepts of asphalt, and aggregate for asphalt, test tommorow, hopefully it wont be to bad.

Peace
Cor

Tuesday Nov 11th

Well today was remembrance day, I attended the local remembrance day service at our local "isthmus war memorial" it is so nice to finally have this monument in place. It took alot of work of many people in the community, but its here (and has been for 3 years). I remember back as a teenager in cadets having to travel to dildo, because we didn't even host services, that has since changed. the service was good, a little cold and wet, but thats the least we can do for those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom we have today.

After the service i head back to St. John's for another week of classes (well 3 days) just finished off some homework there now and am going to relax for the rest of the night.

This is going to be a fairly busy week, a few assignments due, a test, and lab. On Friday and Saturday, I am attending a youth summit hosted by CPRN (Canadain Policy Research Networks) it is to discuss the issue of "Youth retention and attration" here in Newfoundland and Labrador. I attended a similar dialogue session is September regarding the same issue, and have been selected to head back for this one. We are going to be presenting our ideas to the government, and hopefully some of what we bring to the table can be implmented. As we are finally a have province, one of only 4 in Canada, we stand alongside, Alberta, British Colombia, , Sask. We no longer recieve equalization payments from the federal government. With this added wealth in Newfoundland I am hoping the province can do something to create jobs here for youth, so i dont have to pack up and head to Alberta.

Cheers,
Cor

Old Pictures Of Norman's Cove

So I am just back form the weekly flea-market at the mall, here in St. John's. I heard of a guy selling old pictures there, and apparently there was old pictures of Norman's Cove, my hometown. I went over to check it out and sure enough he was there, with 6 pictures of Norman's Cove, he said that he has more and should have them in by next week, i picked up the six that were there, and it only cost $15.00, he sells his prints for 2 for $5.00, which I found rather cheap, below are the pictures, most of these are common pictures that i have seen before but i have never had access to get my know copy.
















The picture above is of Smith's Wraft, no longer existent, this was on the lower side of the beach near the trail that goes up by Smith's Snacks.

















This picture is also of Smith's Wraft, this one is looking in the other way from the trail.
















This picture is also of Smith's Wraft, very similar to the above picture except its a little larger area.














This picture is of Norman's Cove Beach, much different from today.















This picture is of fish drying on Norman's Cove beach, this is that rock island on the lower side of the beach near Smith's Wraft, you can see the flakes built across to the island.















The Last picture is of Smith's Wraft taken in the area of Randy Bennett's looking down at the area.

These pictures show how much the area has changed. Hope you enjoy.

Cor

Sunday

Just finished a wonderful turkey dinner, thanks to dad for the great job cooking it. Just getting my stuff ready now, and heading back to St. John's for the night, electrocardiogram in the morning, the last of my tests to find out if I have heart trouble, all is good so far, my cholesterol is a little high but that is it. Hopefully the rest turns out the same.

I should be back in the Cove, sometime tomorrow. Remembrance Day ceremony at the local war memorial then back to town on Tuesday.

The following is a video I made of a humpback whale, in my community over the past summer, the whale came very close the beach, about 10ft from shore at times, and came very close to grounding its self, although whales are common in are area, to come this close to shore is rare. The video and pictures are taken at Norman's Cove beach in Newfoundland.

Saturday

So I am home in Norman's Cove for the weekend, pretty bored. Not a whole lot to be at here, but its home, and well its better then town. I just been watching movies, the "honey i shrunk the kids", "shrunk ourselves" and "blew up the kid" series. Pretty old school but wicket movies. Other then that I have been helping the parents remodel the bathroom, new fixtures, new cabinets, new drywall, new floor, new everything actually.

its raining pretty hard today. That's not cool, it limits stuff to do.

Other then that i am heading back to town tomorrow for the night, got to get some tests done at the doctor on Monday, then I am heading back out around here for another night, and the remembrance day ceremony at the War Memorial here. Got to go pay respects to the veterans.

"Less We Forget"

Peace.
Cor.

You Tube Madness

So while being home in Norman's Cove with nothing to do I have been browsing you tube, finding stupid videos. The following video is one such stupid video, it is of a building demolition, the excavator driver is only asking for trouble. He is lucky to be alive.

Long Weekend

I am off school until Wednesday now, finally a break, just finished mid-terms yesterday. Hoping I done well. Things are getting so busy with school lately, all the classes are fairly busy, a fair amount of work to complete.

Lately we have been doing alot of work with the New Orleans mission, On Nov. 30th I will be leaving with a group consisting of some friends from my class, as well as instructors and college officials. To head to New Orleans to volunteer with the Annunciation Mission, as well as the Broadmoor Development Corporation, to assist with the rebuilding following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

As of right on the plan is to redesign the area around a local school, The Andrew Wilison Charter School. It is located in the Broadmoor Community in the heart of New Orleans, this area was under 8-10ft of water when the leves broke, and was completely destoryed, the school has since reopened, but the area around the school is still in bad shape. We will be desiging a new parking lot, at a near by site, and adding some green space.

This mission is a part of "global desgin studio" a group that enables students to design and network with officals eleswhere in the world, it is currently being used by the College of The North Atlantic, IUPUI in Indiana, and a university in Indinousa.

I can't wait for the trip, it is going to be a eye opener to the damge a hurricane can cause, being from Newfoundland, we rearly see extreme weather, and when we do the most we get is a post tropical storm. Although this trip is mainly for work in the community, we will be surveying the area, and doing any other jobs that needs to be done, such as drywall, paint, concrete work etc. we have 3 days to enjoy the city. Football games, french quater, boat tours, and brouben street are some of our plans.

There is a opportunity coming up for work in indianpolis as well, hopfully i can luck into someting there to be able to visit and family there.


Cor

First Blog

This is my first blog with this site, I have been micro-bloging with twitter over the past few months. I have decided to farther my bloging to this service.

Hmm. United States Presidential Election tonight, Obama is at 174 electoral seats, while McCain sits at 64. I am hoping we make history tonight with the first black presentident.

I must get back to studying, construction estimating exam tommorow, the joys of estimating.

Peace
Cor