www.capcollege

Early days at Ca

by Crawford Kilian

In the summer of 1968, Capilano
College was a two-story portable
grafted onto the west wing of West
Vancouver Secondary. In memory
it seems spacious, but if we could
revisit it we'd probably be appalled
at how small and cramped it was.
(Another portable, by the school
parking area on Mathers, was our
one-story AV centre and library.)

The first floor had some offices and
a big room used for registration and
meetings. Upstairs, principal Alf
Glenesk and dean Lestie Brooks
had offices flanking the reception

Before Capilano had a campus, classes were held at West Vancouver Secondary and at St. David's
United Church in the Highlands area of West Vancouver.

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At Capilano College our mission.

is to enable student success. Qh!

area where a few overworked young
women actually ran the place.

Walk down the hall and you'd pass

a series of tiny offices, each with a
bifold door and no lock, and each
containing two desks, a couple of
bookshelves, and a filing cabinet.
The bullpen, a larger area, held about
eight desks. A lounge held a couch, an
armchair or two, and not much else.

The only phone was down in the
reception area. If someone was trying
to reach us, they'd call reception

and one of the secretaries would yell
down the hall. Believe it or not, we
actually had two instructors named
Crawford, and the other one was

far more popular than I. When a

Capilano launches OCW site

The CC OCW website can be found a

we'd both pop out of our offices and
the call was always for him.

Classes ran from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m.
We were literally a night school,
moving into high-school classrooms
from Mondays through Thursdays —
which may be why a prejudice
remains against teaching on Fridays.
The portable was an intense
environment. We talked face to

face with the kids who came in to
register. We sat in the tiny lounge,
debating our problems: How to

get the administration to give

the English department its own
typewriter; how to develop our own
courses without asking permission
from the University of British
Columbia. I well recall the faculty
meeting in the big first-floor room
when we furiously voted to condemn
the shootings at Kent State.

One of my most vivid memories
from that early time (probably the
fall of 1969) is of leaving my office
in the portable to meet a class. In
my sport coat and necktie, carrying
my briefcase full of dittographed
handouts, I thought: “You know, I
could do this job for 20 years.” And
I did... but first I spent 20 years
learning how to do it.

http://ocw.capcollege.bc.ca

secretary shouted, “Crawford! Phone!”

Photo by Ken Barbour

Squamish reads

Submitted by Michelle Lebeau
The first annual Squamish Reads
day was held on Friday, January 25
in recognition of National Family
Literacy Day. The event was a
fund- and awareness-raising
activity modelled on Canwest’s
Raise-A-Reader campaign.

Capilano’s president, Dr. Greg
Lee, MLA Joan Mcintyre, MP
Blair Wilson, Squamish Mayor
lan Sutherland and Howe Sound
and Tourism programs dean,
Casey Dorin, were just a few of
the paper carriers who helped to
raise $1,234. Along with newsstand
sales, $2,400 was raised locally,
and with matching funds from
the provincial government, the
total raised was $4,800. These
funds will go to literacy programs .
administered by Capilano and
the Squamish Public Library,
Partners in the Regional Literacy
Coordination program.

The Squamish Chief newspaper
included a four-page wrap-
around that focused on general
information about literacy

and local literacy programs.
Capilanos award-winning literacy
newspaper, The Westcoast Reader,
produced by Capilano English as

ks that were

d by eager event
ingos.
atthe