Working at NSCC, I get to meet great people and visit some pretty cool places. Recently, I was lucky enough to attend an International College & University Fair in Bermuda. I spent time visiting students in every high school on the Island.

Similar to students here in Nova Scotia, Bermudians had lots of great questions about student life, scholarships and admissions requirements. But by far the most popular question was “How cold is it in Canada?” What a thrill for me to visit students in December wearing sandals! J Weather was indeed the hot topic during my time there. Most had never been to Nova Scotia, so I had some explaining to do.

Just like in Nova Scotia, I spent my days talking a lot about the great learning opportunities available at Nova Scotia Community College! Many of the students in Bermuda had never heard of NSCC, so I was excited to introduce them to the College and share my student experience at NSCC. Students were surprised to learn about the over 100 hands-on programs NSCC offers in everything from Marine Navigation, Horticulture and Landscaping to Geographic Sciences, Cosmetology and Culinary Arts!

I am really excited to welcome my Bermudian acquaintances to NSCC and I look forward to introducing them to Nova Scotia in the new school year.

Earlier this week, I was invited to a really cool event at Halifax City Hall - it was called "Be A Maverick." Mayor Peter Kelly invited members of several youth groups from around the HRM, along with a bunch of people representing various groups and organizations around the city together to talk about the cool things they're doing in their communities, and to brainstorm about positive changes we'd like to see in the city.  

There were all kinds of great stories at the event. We heard from some young people who had started off on a bad path, but ended up turning things around to make positive changes in their lives and communities. We worked in groups to come up with innovative ideas on how to improve the city for young people. We discussed everything from how to provide more public artistic spaces for young people, to how to make our streets safer.

Perhaps the thing that I found most exciting about the evening was the incredible breakdancing demonstration that was put on by one of the groups that attended. I've always wanted to be able to breakdance, but there are about 36 reasons why it's a bad (and unsafe) idea for me to try it. Oh well, at least I got to have free pizza!

I'd be interested in hearing from any of you who are involved in youth groups in all parts of the province. What are you guys doing to improve your communities, and what kinds of things would you like to see in place to improve your communities for young people?

Last week was Metro Week on the AARAO tour, and for the third week in a row, we were absolutely swamped at the booth! I spoke to guidance counsellors at a few schools who said that NSCC is more popular than ever, and they can't keep our books on the shelves!

Here's my co-worker Jenn, at the NSCC booth at Citadel HS in Halifax (which incidentally is on the exact same site where the old NSCC Halifax Campus used to be - where I was a Screen Arts student for 2 years!)

We have both been working the road like crazy for the past few weeks, and I have a big old stack of Inquiry cards to respond to. If you haven't received an email from me yet, I haven't forgotten you - I'm back in the office for a few days, and will be sending you guys messages like there's no tomorrow. If you didn't fill out a card and you have some questions, send me a note at thomas.ryan@nscc.ca -

In the meantime, being home again means healthy eating for a while, I sadly will be cheeseburger free until the last week of November. Booooooo!

I was back home in Cape Breton last week for AARAO and had the chance to speak to a bunch of students throughout Inverness and Richmond counties. I am always especially excited to get back to Cape Breton because I'm from Inverness, and it's great to speak to students from my old high school, Inverness Academy.

Another great thing about visiting my old stomping grounds at this time of year are the beautiful fall colors! A few years ago, I was lucky enough to make an animated film, "A Cape Breton Ghost Story" and my memories of the spectacular October scenery from when I was still living at home in Inverness really helped inspire the design of the film.

I'm always telling students that among the many advantages of an NSCC education are the relationships you make as a student. When I applied for the grant that allowed me to make this film, it was with a couple of guys from my Screen Arts class, a few years after we graduated. We were able to use the working relationship we built as students, as well as the skills we learned in the program to create a pretty cool little film! If anyone wants to find out more about Screen Arts, Digital Animation, or any of our other awesome arts programs, send me an email at thomas.ryan@nscc.ca - also, remember that arts programs require portfolios with applications, so check out those details on the program web pages.

So, a quick recap of AARAO in Cape Breton - lots of questions about trades programs (Heavy Equipment Operator and Electrical especially) and our Health Care programs, like Practical Nursing and Continuing Care. I was happy to hear that students were really on the ball with applications - lots of grade eleven students already getting their applications in, which means they are a year ahead of the game trying to get a seat in a program! Also lots of interest in Arts programs, especially Music Arts.

Finally, a bit of sad news, I stayed with my parents in CB, so no cheeseburgers all week. On a bright note - pizza three days in a row - Boo Yah!

Over and out.

Last week I had the chance to check out some NSCC grads at a really cool job site. Way back in the woods in the Mount Thom area (between Truro and New Glasgow) a big team of welders, machinists, ironworkers and technicians, among others, are erecting 34 wind turbines, which will channel the heavy winds coming off the Northumberland Strait and generate alternative energy for the province.

Driving around a turn on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere, I all of a sudden came upon what looked like a scene from a science fiction movie. Stretching far onto the horizon were massive, sleek windmills, some of which were surrounded by teams of workers.

Pretty cool to see that cutting edge projects like this are happening right here in Nova Scotia, and that graduates from some of our programs are right in the thick of things. If you're interested in sustainable energy or trades programs, check out our program listings on the main page or send me an email with questions at thomas.ryan@nscc.ca and I'll help point you in the right direction.