[{"id":1607699,"date":"2026-05-07T16:04:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?p=1607699"},"modified":"2026-05-07T16:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:04:34","slug":"nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/","title":{"rendered":"NC hosts immersive 2026 FAM Tour for global recruitment partners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Niagara College welcomed more than 50 global recruitment partners from over 35 countries to its campuses from May 26 to 29 as part of the 2026 Study in Niagara Familiarization (FAM) Tour.<\/p>\n

The annual tour offers NC’s international recruitment partners an immersive introduction to the College’s academic programs, student services and campus culture. By experiencing NC firsthand, partners gain deeper insight into the student experience, equipping them to provide informed, personalized guidance to prospective international students considering studying in Canada.<\/p>\n

“This year’s FAM Tour further enriched the partner experience through the introduction of the Alumni Showcase Dinner, where recruitment partners heard directly from graduates about the long-term academic, personal, and professional impact of their Niagara College journey,” said Orel Ruiz, Director, Global Business Development & Global Campus Operations. “Across the full student lifecycle, from pre-arrival through to graduation, partners experienced firsthand how NC, as one of Canada’s leading global colleges, prepares world- and work-ready graduates through applied learning and comprehensive student support. The 2026 FAM Tour reflected the strength of global collaboration and Niagara College’s continued commitment to inclusive, high-quality education.”<\/p>\n

Recruitment partners highlighted how the experience reinforced their understanding of NC’s student experience and outcomes.<\/p>\n

“I was particularly impressed by how the college connects education with industry and how students are not only learning but actively being prepared for the workforce through hands-on experiences, co-ops, and real-world exposure,” said Krishna Niyogi, Chief Advisor at The Chopras, an agency that works with students from South Asia. “NC has created an ecosystem where students feel guided, supported, and set up for success. I am confident that the students we support will not just study here–they will grow, thrive, and build their future.”<\/p>\n

NC Alumni Showcase Dinner<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\"\"

During the Alumni Showcase Dinner, graduates shared insights about the long-term academic, personal, and professional impact of their Niagara College journey.<\/p><\/div>\n

Following an immersive tour of Niagara Falls, the Alumni Showcase Dinner was held at Queen Victoria Place Restaurant.<\/p>\n

Panelists included Alejandra Palma Merino (Colombia), Business – Sales and Marketing<\/a> (2021); Alka Singh (India), Registered Nurse – Critical Care Nursing (2015) and Gerontology<\/a> (2016); Chevell Clarke (Jamaica), Culinary Innovation and Food Technology<\/a> (2025); Javier Carranza Salmeron (Honduras), Business<\/a> (2023); and Mofopefoluwa A. Akomolafe (Nigeria), Honours Bachelor of Business Administration – Hospitality<\/a> (2022).<\/p>\n

“We were proud to welcome Niagara College alumni, who first came to Canada as international students, each with a unique story shaped by their time at NC,” said Jana Boniferro, Director, Development and Alumni Relations. “Hearing them reflect on their journeys and the lives they have built in Canada, the country they now proudly call home, was incredibly powerful. These alumni are making real impacts in their industries, and it all started with the decision to come to Niagara College.”<\/p>\n

Top destination for learners\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

The FAM Tour highlighted what makes NC and the Niagara Region a top destination for learners from around the world. As part of their experience, recruitment partners had the opportunity to engage directly with Niagara College President Sean Kennedy, Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, and Chief Executive Officer of Niagara Parks Commission and member of NC’s Board of Governors,\u00a0David Adames.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Meeting local leaders was especially meaningful, as they shared the region’s many strengths and opportunities — this confirmed the great potential in promoting the Niagara Region alongside the College,” said \u00c1ngela Guti\u00e9rrez Espinosa, Recruitment Manager for Latin American students at\u00a0Lifeducation. “My experience at NC also showed me the strength and warmth of a team working toward a shared goal. Beyond their\u00a0high level\u00a0of commitment, I truly value the College’s hands-on learning\u00a0approach.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>
At the Welland Campus, the group explored NC\u2019s state-of-the art facilities and participated in a services fair.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a><\/div>
<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

<\/h4>\n

Campus visits and\u00a0services\u00a0fair<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

As in previous years, the FAM Tour included visits to NC’s\u00a0state-of-the-art\u00a0facilities and innovative learning environments. The multi-day visit also featured presentations from academic schools and key departments, providing a comprehensive overview of programs and supports available to international students.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the Lake, recruitment partners experienced NC’s culinary, wine, hospitality, environmental, and business programs, gaining insights into the College’s experiential learning model through its on-campus enterprises.\u00a0At the\u00a0Welland\u00a0Campus, the group explored NC’s facilities for programs in\u00a0trades, technology, health, media, and more.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The visit also included a vibrant Student Services Fair, highlighting NC’s comprehensive support ecosystem and its role in empowering students throughout their journey.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Participating services included\u00a0Athletics\u00a0and\u00a0Student Engagement; Campus Safety; Career\u00a0and\u00a0Co-Op Services;\u00a0Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; Global Pathways; Health, Wellness and Accessibility Services;\u00a0the\u00a0Institute for Global Education\u00a0and\u00a0Training;\u00a0International Student Advising; International Student Housing and Settlement;\u00a0Libraries\u00a0and\u00a0Learning\u00a0Centres;\u00a0Research and Innovation; the\u00a0School of English Language Studies; and Student Rights\u00a0and\u00a0Responsibilities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The FAM Tour reinforced\u00a0NC’s position\u00a0among\u00a0Canada’s\u00a0leading global\u00a0colleges\u00a0while\u00a0strengthening\u00a0long-term\u00a0collaboration\u00a0with trusted\u00a0global\u00a0recruitment partners who play a key role in\u00a0inspiring\u00a0the next generation of learners.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>
At the Daniel J. Patterson Campus in Niagara-on-the Lake, partners explored NC\u2019s experiential learning model through its on-campus enterprises.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/a><\/div>
<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Niagara College welcomed more than 50 global recruitment partners from over 35 countries to its campuses from May 26 to 29 as part of the 2026 Study in Niagara Familiarization (FAM) Tour. The annual tour offers NC’s international recruitment partners an immersive introduction to the College’s academic programs, student services and campus culture. By experiencing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":1607707,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,241,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-update","category-global-engagement","category-international"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNC hosts immersive 2026 FAM Tour for global recruitment partners | InsideNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NC hosts immersive 2026 FAM Tour for global recruitment partners | InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Niagara College welcomed more than 50 global recruitment partners from over 35 countries to its campuses from May 26 to 29 as part of the 2026 Study in Niagara Familiarization (FAM) Tour. The annual tour offers NC’s international recruitment partners an immersive introduction to the College’s academic programs, student services and campus culture. By experiencing […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-07T20:04:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Photo-1_FAM_Tour_NOTL_Tour_NCC_2459.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"825\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fernanda Portugal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/\",\"name\":\"NC hosts immersive 2026 FAM Tour for global recruitment partners | InsideNC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Photo-1_FAM_Tour_NOTL_Tour_NCC_2459.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-07T20:04:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/906d756b6984977a2a72c0e8c9173189\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Photo-1_FAM_Tour_NOTL_Tour_NCC_2459.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Photo-1_FAM_Tour_NOTL_Tour_NCC_2459.webp\",\"width\":825,\"height\":550,\"caption\":\"As part of the 2026 FAM Tour, global recruitment partners from over 35 countries visited the Daniel J. Patterson Campus alongside the NC team.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NC hosts immersive 2026 FAM Tour for global recruitment partners\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\",\"name\":\"InsideNC\",\"description\":\"Staff news from Niagara College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/906d756b6984977a2a72c0e8c9173189\",\"name\":\"Fernanda Portugal\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NC hosts immersive 2026 FAM Tour for global recruitment partners | InsideNC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NC hosts immersive 2026 FAM Tour for global recruitment partners | InsideNC","og_description":"Niagara College welcomed more than 50 global recruitment partners from over 35 countries to its campuses from May 26 to 29 as part of the 2026 Study in Niagara Familiarization (FAM) Tour. The annual tour offers NC’s international recruitment partners an immersive introduction to the College’s academic programs, student services and campus culture. By experiencing […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/","og_site_name":"InsideNC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege","article_published_time":"2026-05-07T20:04:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":825,"height":550,"url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Photo-1_FAM_Tour_NOTL_Tour_NCC_2459.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Fernanda Portugal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@niagaracollege","twitter_site":"@niagaracollege","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/","name":"NC hosts immersive 2026 FAM Tour for global recruitment partners | InsideNC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Photo-1_FAM_Tour_NOTL_Tour_NCC_2459.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-07T20:04:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/906d756b6984977a2a72c0e8c9173189"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Photo-1_FAM_Tour_NOTL_Tour_NCC_2459.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Photo-1_FAM_Tour_NOTL_Tour_NCC_2459.webp","width":825,"height":550,"caption":"As part of the 2026 FAM Tour, global recruitment partners from over 35 countries visited the Daniel J. Patterson Campus alongside the NC team."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/nc-hosts-immersive-2026-fam-tour-for-global-recruitment-partners\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NC hosts immersive 2026 FAM Tour for global recruitment partners"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/","name":"InsideNC","description":"Staff news from Niagara College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/906d756b6984977a2a72c0e8c9173189","name":"Fernanda Portugal"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1607707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1607867,"date":"2026-05-07T15:59:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?p=1607867"},"modified":"2026-05-07T15:59:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:59:16","slug":"celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate the power of nurses during National Nursing Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From high-pressure precision in the emergency room, to gentle reassurance at a patient’s bedside, nurses are backbone and the heart of healthcare – and NC event is ready to shine a spotlight on the expertise and compassionate care they provide.<\/p>\n<p>On May 13 and 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Applied Health Institute foyer will transform into a hub of inspiration connection and professional pride with a two-day event to celebrate nurses during National Nursing Week.<\/p>\n<p>The event is being organized by Jackie Crawford and Jaymie Tyrer, Clinical Supervisors within NC’s Myhal School of Nursing, \u00a0who aim to celebrate the profession they describe a true calling\u00a0 while providing a morale boost for students poised to enter the field. \u00a0As veteran nurses who have spent years on the front lines, they aim to remind students, staff and the college community why nursing remains one of the\u00a0 world’s most essential vocations, while helping to ensure the next generation is ready to hit the ground running.<\/p>\n<p>“We want to highlight not only the big impact nurses have on the healthcare sector, but to continue to inspire our students to make those small impacts on people’s lives,” said Crawford. “Nursing is challenging. We want to create a positive influential culture right here, before their career starts.”<\/p>\n<p>The event will feature several interactive elements designed to engage the entire college community.<\/p>\n<p>A key highlight will be a collaborative banner titled, “Nurses impact lives by …” \u00a0They invite the College community to write in a word or phrase to complete the sentence – perhaps conveying how a nurse has made a difference in their lives. Following the event, they plan to display the massive three-by-six-foot banner within the Myhal School of Nursing as a visual testament to the profession’s reach.<\/p>\n<p>The event will include games such as “empowerment cornhole” – \u00a0a “play with purpose” game where participants discuss resilience strategies and what nurses need to feel empowered before taking a shot at winning prizes.<\/p>\n<p>Pop into room AH 146 to take in a video loop of inspiring nursing content, alongside a display of nursing memorabilia, contributed by staff, to showcase their professional journeys.<\/p>\n<p>On May 13, organizers plan to welcome guests from Niagara Health, Niagara Region Health and WeRPN for a tour of the Myhal School of Nursing.<\/p>\n<p>Crawford, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/nursing\/programs\/rpn-practical-nursing\/\">Practical Nursing<\/a> grad who worked as a nurse in Niagara before taking on a full-time role at NC,\u00a0 noted that the event will honour the multifaceted nature of nursing.<\/p>\n<p>“We are ‘Jacks of all trades,'” said Crawford. “I tell nursing students, they’re going to act as therapists, they’re going to help patients with the TV, their food, even their hair. It’s all those little things that make a big difference.”<\/p>\n<p>Tryer noted that the true power of a nurse lies in the lasting impression they leave on those in their care.<\/p>\n<p>“People might not always remember your name, but they’ll remember how you made them feel,” she said. “You make them feel safe during a really uncomfortable scary time.”<\/p>\n<p>For Crawford and Tryer, the event serves as a rewarding full-circle moment. They noted how\u00a0 NC grads make up a significant portion of the workforce at local hospitals and long-term care facilities. Tryer enjoys seeing the NC nursing graduates in action during her hospital work.<\/p>\n<p>“There’s one recent grad that I found myself working with at the hospital …and I’m going to her for advice now,” she said. “It’s pretty incredible.”<\/p>\n<p><strong>“<\/strong>Celebrating Nursing Week acknowledges the collective effort of honouring the profession’s history, upholding its standards, and shaping its future by preparing nurses who can adapt and respond in an evolving healthcare workforce while making a meaningful difference in the lives of those they serve,” said Sarah McGeown, Associate Director, International Nursing Graduate Studies and Clinical Education, Myhal School of Nursing.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Nursing at NC<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A leader in nursing education, NC has been delivering its two-year <a href=\"https:\/\/ncstudents-my.sharepoint.com\/personal\/jgreco_niagaracollege_ca\/Documents\/Desktop\/Spring%20term%202026\/nursing%20weeek%20event%20ahi\/advance.docx\">Practical Nursing<\/a> diploma program, which prepares students for career opportunities as registered practical nurse, since 2006.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, it introduced its four-year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/nursing\/programs\/bachelor-of-science-nursing\/\">Bachelor of Science in Nursing<\/a> (BScN) degree program, marking its return to RN education. The former Mack School of Nursing – the oldest nursing school in Canada, which became part of NC – closed during the nineties.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>National Nursing Week <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>National Nursing Week 2026 takes place from May 11- May 17 and celebrates the vital contributions of nurses across Canada. The CNA’s theme for National Nursing Week 2026 is “<strong>The Power of Nurses to Transform Health<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n<p>The week draws attention to nurses, increasing the awareness of the public, policy-makers and governments of the many contributions of nursing to the well-being of Canadians.<\/p>\n<p>In 1971,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.icn.ch\/what-we-do\/campaigns\/international-nurses-day\">ICN<\/a>\u00a0designated May 12, the birthday of nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, as International Nurses Day. In 1985, Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) members passed a resolution to begin negotiations with the federal government to have the week containing May 12 proclaimed as National Nurses Week annually. Soon after, the federal minister of health proclaimed the second week of May as National Nurses Week. In 1993, the name was changed to National Nursing Week to emphasize the profession’s accomplishments as a discipline.<\/p>\n<p>National Nursing Week is centred around\u00a0International Nurses Day, which takes place annually on May 12.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>National Nursing Week at the NC Libraries<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Staff from the NC Libraries and Learning Commons at the Welland Campus are also shining a spotlight on nurses in honour of National Nursing Week. Check out their display dedicated to nursing in the library near the service desk.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1607875 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/library.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"413\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/library.webp 413w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/library-225x300.webp 225w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/library-270x360.webp 270w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/library-169x225.webp 169w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/library-101x135.webp 101w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/library-405x540.webp 405w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From high-pressure precision in the emergency room, to gentle reassurance at a patient’s bedside, nurses are backbone and the heart of healthcare – and NC event is ready to shine a spotlight on the expertise and compassionate care they provide. On May 13 and 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Applied Health Institute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":1607876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,296,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-update","category-myhal-school-of-nursing","category-school-of-nursing-and-psw"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Celebrate the power of nurses during National Nursing Week | InsideNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Celebrate the power of nurses during National Nursing Week | InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From high-pressure precision in the emergency room, to gentle reassurance at a patient’s bedside, nurses are backbone and the heart of healthcare – and NC event is ready to shine a spotlight on the expertise and compassionate care they provide. On May 13 and 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Applied Health Institute […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-07T19:59:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Nursing-Week-Banner.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"733\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julie Greco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/\",\"name\":\"Celebrate the power of nurses during National Nursing Week | InsideNC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Nursing-Week-Banner.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-07T19:59:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/92839760d4929546e9b9863cd714eaef\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Nursing-Week-Banner.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Nursing-Week-Banner.webp\",\"width\":733,\"height\":550,\"caption\":\"Clinical Supervisors Jaymie Tyrer and Jackie Crawford invite the NC community to share how nurses change lives, as part of a National Nursing Week event, to be held May 13-14 in the AHI foyer.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Celebrate the power of nurses during National Nursing Week\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\",\"name\":\"InsideNC\",\"description\":\"Staff news from Niagara College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/92839760d4929546e9b9863cd714eaef\",\"name\":\"Julie Greco\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Celebrate the power of nurses during National Nursing Week | InsideNC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Celebrate the power of nurses during National Nursing Week | InsideNC","og_description":"From high-pressure precision in the emergency room, to gentle reassurance at a patient’s bedside, nurses are backbone and the heart of healthcare – and NC event is ready to shine a spotlight on the expertise and compassionate care they provide. On May 13 and 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Applied Health Institute […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/","og_site_name":"InsideNC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege","article_published_time":"2026-05-07T19:59:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":733,"height":550,"url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Nursing-Week-Banner.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Julie Greco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@niagaracollege","twitter_site":"@niagaracollege","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/","name":"Celebrate the power of nurses during National Nursing Week | InsideNC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Nursing-Week-Banner.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-07T19:59:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/92839760d4929546e9b9863cd714eaef"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Nursing-Week-Banner.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Nursing-Week-Banner.webp","width":733,"height":550,"caption":"Clinical Supervisors Jaymie Tyrer and Jackie Crawford invite the NC community to share how nurses change lives, as part of a National Nursing Week event, to be held May 13-14 in the AHI foyer."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/07\/celebrate-the-power-of-nurses-during-national-nursing-week\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Celebrate the power of nurses during National Nursing Week"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/","name":"InsideNC","description":"Staff news from Niagara College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/92839760d4929546e9b9863cd714eaef","name":"Julie Greco"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1607876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1607307,"date":"2026-05-06T14:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?p=1607307"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:23:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:23:30","slug":"notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/","title":{"rendered":"NOTL Local: Niagara Health Research Day at NC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0<em>NOTL Local\u00a0<\/em>shared Niagara Health’s release announcing the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute is hosting its annual Research Day on May 7, bringing together researchers from southern Ontario at Niagara College’s Daniel J. Patterson Campus.<\/p>\n<p>Read the May 6 article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.notllocal.com\/local-news\/workshops-posters-and-keynote-panel-set-for-niagara-health-research-day-12236953\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0NOTL Local\u00a0shared Niagara Health’s release announcing the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute is hosting its annual Research Day on May 7, bringing together researchers from southern Ontario at Niagara College’s Daniel J. Patterson Campus. Read the May 6 article here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":1555935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-coverage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NOTL Local: Niagara Health Research Day at NC | InsideNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NOTL Local: Niagara Health Research Day at NC | InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The\u00a0NOTL Local\u00a0shared Niagara Health’s release announcing the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute is hosting its annual Research Day on May 7, bringing together researchers from southern Ontario at Niagara College’s Daniel J. Patterson Campus. Read the May 6 article here.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T18:22:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T18:23:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"256\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alyssa Milana\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/\",\"name\":\"NOTL Local: Niagara Health Research Day at NC | InsideNC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-06T18:22:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-06T18:23:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":256},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NOTL Local: Niagara Health Research Day at NC\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\",\"name\":\"InsideNC\",\"description\":\"Staff news from Niagara College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866\",\"name\":\"Alyssa Milana\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NOTL Local: Niagara Health Research Day at NC | InsideNC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NOTL Local: Niagara Health Research Day at NC | InsideNC","og_description":"The\u00a0NOTL Local\u00a0shared Niagara Health’s release announcing the Niagara Health Knowledge Institute is hosting its annual Research Day on May 7, bringing together researchers from southern Ontario at Niagara College’s Daniel J. Patterson Campus. Read the May 6 article here.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/","og_site_name":"InsideNC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege","article_published_time":"2026-05-06T18:22:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-06T18:23:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":256,"url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alyssa Milana","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@niagaracollege","twitter_site":"@niagaracollege","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/","name":"NOTL Local: Niagara Health Research Day at NC | InsideNC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-06T18:22:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-06T18:23:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg","width":640,"height":256},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-niagara-health-research-day-at-nc\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NOTL Local: Niagara Health Research Day at NC"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/","name":"InsideNC","description":"Staff news from Niagara College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866","name":"Alyssa Milana"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1555935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1607201,"date":"2026-05-06T10:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?p=1607201"},"modified":"2026-05-06T11:35:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:35:45","slug":"nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/","title":{"rendered":"NC Awards of Excellence recipient spotlight: Marissa Ditto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From student to dedicated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/enrolmentservices\/\">Enrolment Services<\/a> team member, Marissa Ditto’s NC story spans more than two decades with consistent contributions that have helped students achieve their educational goals.<\/p>\n<p>Marissa is an alumna from the College’s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/business\/program\/office-administration-executive\/\">Office Administration – Executive (Co-op) program<\/a> (2006). As a student, she completed her co-op at NC’s Info Centre, which led to a part-time position in the Admissions office, a temporary role with the Recruitment department, and in 2007, she was hired full-time in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/enrolmentservices\/financialaid\/\">Financial Aid<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In her current role as Financial Aid Advisor, Marissa guides domestic students through various funding sources, providing assistance and support on the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), scholarships and bursaries, faculty awards, and other external financial aid resources.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, she contributed to the <a href=\"https:\/\/ess.niagaracollege.ca\/NCAwardPortal\/\">Student Scholarships and Bursaries Online Portal Project<\/a> – a modernization of how NC collects and awards student funding opportunities. Working collaboratively with the Donor Stewardship and Development and ITS teams, she balanced big-picture thinking with attention to detail to ensure the project’s success.<\/p>\n<p>Whether helping students navigate complex policies or contributing to college projects that enhance the student experience, Marissa is driven by an unwavering commitment to compassion, fairness and representation, making her an exceptional advocate for students.<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, Marissa has supported Student Awards ceremonies and banquets to celebrate student success and has volunteered at NC’s annual Golf Classic, a fundraiser supporting scholarships and bursaries for Knights student-athletes.<\/p>\n<p>She is also a current member of NC’s Advisory College Council and contributes to the larger postsecondary sector as the Western Regional Representative for the Ontario Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.<\/p>\n<p>Marissa was honoured last December for her outstanding contributions to the College, receiving NC’s 2025 Support Staff Award of Excellence. Learn more about her below.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What does it mean to you to be recognized by your colleagues and the College with this award?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>MD: This award has been a truly humbling experience. I work with such an amazing team in Financial Aid and Enrolment Services and would not be able to do my job or complete the Scholarship and Bursary project without their support, as well as the support of other colleagues like the Systems Business Analysts in ITS and the Development team.<\/p>\n<p>The teamwork and collaboration that occurs every day is remarkable and I do want to thank them all for their encouragement and assistance over the years. This recognition is meaningful to me because it acknowledges all the hard work, the effort, and care I put in, to not only assist students, but to continually try to improve processes and the student experience.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Your contributions to the College help ensure students have equitable access to the resources they need throughout their academic journey. What do you enjoy most about the work you do?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>MD: Financing a post-secondary education can be a struggle for some students and they confide in and trust our team to help. I love connecting with students, whether it is when I am speaking at their high school, meeting with them in the office, or running into them in the halls. Being able to help make a difference and see those students meet their goals and graduate is the ultimate win.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What approach do you take when supporting students?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>MD: Every student’s story or situation is unique, so I find it very important to listen first and understand their struggles, goals, or questions. I always then like to explain or provide background information so that they can better understand, especially if it involves complex policy. Finally, I like to work with the students to determine the best solution to assist them and review what options are available for their situation. This ensures the student has a potential resolution and improved financial literacy.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>You have worked at the College for nearly 20 years. Would you like to share any memorable moments from your time here?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>MD: It is truly unbelievable how quickly time passes. Over the years, what stands out are the people. Those who have retired but made an impression or passed down wisdom, those who I have built great friendships with, those I can laugh with, and those whole feel like a second family. I have grown professionally and personally, and my NC family has been there for all my big life moments.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Do you have a personal philosophy or motto that you live by?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>MD: Although I don’t have a personal philosophy, I have been working on slowing down, being present, and enjoying the little moments each day. Life can get busy and chaotic for our family, especially when adding activities for our two kids. I am trying to take advantage of the time we have together and letting go of things that don’t matter as much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From student to dedicated Enrolment Services team member, Marissa Ditto’s NC story spans more than two decades with consistent contributions that have helped students achieve their educational goals. Marissa is an alumna from the College’s Office Administration – Executive (Co-op) program (2006). As a student, she completed her co-op at NC’s Info Centre, which led […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":1607196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[284,36,37,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-relations","category-foundation-and-alumni-relations","category-enrolmentservices-services","category-my-people"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NC Awards of Excellence recipient spotlight: Marissa Ditto | InsideNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NC Awards of Excellence recipient spotlight: Marissa Ditto | InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From student to dedicated Enrolment Services team member, Marissa Ditto’s NC story spans more than two decades with consistent contributions that have helped students achieve their educational goals. Marissa is an alumna from the College’s Office Administration – Executive (Co-op) program (2006). As a student, she completed her co-op at NC’s Info Centre, which led […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T14:41:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T15:35:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/20251217_Niagara_Day_NCC_9654_Marissa-Ditto_scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1334\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elyse Howarth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/\",\"name\":\"NC Awards of Excellence recipient spotlight: Marissa Ditto | InsideNC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/20251217_Niagara_Day_NCC_9654_Marissa-Ditto_scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-06T14:41:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-06T15:35:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/6826686fd2423b53a39eda011725c037\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/20251217_Niagara_Day_NCC_9654_Marissa-Ditto_scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/20251217_Niagara_Day_NCC_9654_Marissa-Ditto_scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1334,\"caption\":\"NC's 2025 Support Staff Award of Excellence recipient Marissa Ditto (centre) is pictured with President Sean Kennedy (left) and Vice President, International Sean Coote (right) at the College's hybrid Niagara Day and Holiday Celebration event in December 2025.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NC Awards of Excellence recipient spotlight: Marissa Ditto\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\",\"name\":\"InsideNC\",\"description\":\"Staff news from Niagara College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/6826686fd2423b53a39eda011725c037\",\"name\":\"Elyse Howarth\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NC Awards of Excellence recipient spotlight: Marissa Ditto | InsideNC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NC Awards of Excellence recipient spotlight: Marissa Ditto | InsideNC","og_description":"From student to dedicated Enrolment Services team member, Marissa Ditto’s NC story spans more than two decades with consistent contributions that have helped students achieve their educational goals. Marissa is an alumna from the College’s Office Administration – Executive (Co-op) program (2006). As a student, she completed her co-op at NC’s Info Centre, which led […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/","og_site_name":"InsideNC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege","article_published_time":"2026-05-06T14:41:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-06T15:35:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1334,"url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/20251217_Niagara_Day_NCC_9654_Marissa-Ditto_scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elyse Howarth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@niagaracollege","twitter_site":"@niagaracollege","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/","name":"NC Awards of Excellence recipient spotlight: Marissa Ditto | InsideNC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/20251217_Niagara_Day_NCC_9654_Marissa-Ditto_scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-06T14:41:13+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-06T15:35:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/6826686fd2423b53a39eda011725c037"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/20251217_Niagara_Day_NCC_9654_Marissa-Ditto_scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/20251217_Niagara_Day_NCC_9654_Marissa-Ditto_scaled.jpg","width":2000,"height":1334,"caption":"NC's 2025 Support Staff Award of Excellence recipient Marissa Ditto (centre) is pictured with President Sean Kennedy (left) and Vice President, International Sean Coote (right) at the College's hybrid Niagara Day and Holiday Celebration event in December 2025."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/nc-awards-of-excellence-recipient-spotlight-marissa-ditto\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NC Awards of Excellence recipient spotlight: Marissa Ditto"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/","name":"InsideNC","description":"Staff news from Niagara College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/6826686fd2423b53a39eda011725c037","name":"Elyse Howarth"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1607196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1607200,"date":"2026-05-06T10:25:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?p=1607200"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:19:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:19:17","slug":"notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/","title":{"rendered":"NOTL Local: NC study aims to help staff use robotic animals to support seniors with dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0<em>NOTL Local\u00a0<\/em>shared NC’s release announcing a recent study conducted by <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Niagara College<\/span><\/span> students aimed at refining how robotic pets are used in long-term care settings.<\/p>\n<div class=\"byline-area\">\n<p data-end=\"1331\" data-start=\"706\">Read the May 4 re-release <a href=\"https:\/\/www.notllocal.com\/local-news\/niagara-college-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia-12232073#google_vignette\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0NOTL Local\u00a0shared NC’s release announcing a recent study conducted by Niagara College students aimed at refining how robotic pets are used in long-term care settings. Read the May 4 re-release here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":1555935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-coverage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NOTL Local: NC study aims to help staff use robotic animals to support seniors with dementia | InsideNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NOTL Local: NC study aims to help staff use robotic animals to support seniors with dementia | InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The\u00a0NOTL Local\u00a0shared NC’s release announcing a recent study conducted by Niagara College students aimed at refining how robotic pets are used in long-term care settings. Read the May 4 re-release here.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T14:25:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T18:19:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"256\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alyssa Milana\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/\",\"name\":\"NOTL Local: NC study aims to help staff use robotic animals to support seniors with dementia | InsideNC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-06T14:25:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-06T18:19:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":256},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NOTL Local: NC study aims to help staff use robotic animals to support seniors with dementia\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\",\"name\":\"InsideNC\",\"description\":\"Staff news from Niagara College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866\",\"name\":\"Alyssa Milana\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NOTL Local: NC study aims to help staff use robotic animals to support seniors with dementia | InsideNC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NOTL Local: NC study aims to help staff use robotic animals to support seniors with dementia | InsideNC","og_description":"The\u00a0NOTL Local\u00a0shared NC’s release announcing a recent study conducted by Niagara College students aimed at refining how robotic pets are used in long-term care settings. Read the May 4 re-release here.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/","og_site_name":"InsideNC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege","article_published_time":"2026-05-06T14:25:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-06T18:19:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":256,"url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alyssa Milana","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@niagaracollege","twitter_site":"@niagaracollege","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/","name":"NOTL Local: NC study aims to help staff use robotic animals to support seniors with dementia | InsideNC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-06T14:25:04+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-06T18:19:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/NOTL-Local.jpg","width":640,"height":256},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/notl-local-nc-study-aims-to-help-staff-use-robotic-animals-to-support-seniors-with-dementia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NOTL Local: NC study aims to help staff use robotic animals to support seniors with dementia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/","name":"InsideNC","description":"Staff news from Niagara College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866","name":"Alyssa Milana"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1555935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1607199,"date":"2026-05-06T10:21:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?p=1607199"},"modified":"2026-05-06T10:21:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:21:48","slug":"university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/","title":{"rendered":"University Magazine: NC ranked among top Ontario Colleges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>University Magazine released a list of the 24 top colleges in Ontario, ranking Niagara College at the 11th spot.<\/p>\n<p>Read the May 5 article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.universitymagazine.ca\/best-colleges-in-ontario\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University Magazine released a list of the 24 top colleges in Ontario, ranking Niagara College at the 11th spot. Read the May 5 article here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":1058757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-coverage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>University Magazine: NC ranked among top Ontario Colleges | InsideNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"University Magazine: NC ranked among top Ontario Colleges | InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"University Magazine released a list of the 24 top colleges in Ontario, ranking Niagara College at the 11th spot. Read the May 5 article here.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T14:21:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-392.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"229\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"66\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alyssa Milana\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/\",\"name\":\"University Magazine: NC ranked among top Ontario Colleges | InsideNC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-392.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-06T14:21:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-392.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-392.png\",\"width\":229,\"height\":66},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"University Magazine: NC ranked among top Ontario Colleges\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\",\"name\":\"InsideNC\",\"description\":\"Staff news from Niagara College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866\",\"name\":\"Alyssa Milana\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"University Magazine: NC ranked among top Ontario Colleges | InsideNC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"University Magazine: NC ranked among top Ontario Colleges | InsideNC","og_description":"University Magazine released a list of the 24 top colleges in Ontario, ranking Niagara College at the 11th spot. Read the May 5 article here.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/","og_site_name":"InsideNC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege","article_published_time":"2026-05-06T14:21:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":229,"height":66,"url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-392.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Alyssa Milana","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@niagaracollege","twitter_site":"@niagaracollege","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/","name":"University Magazine: NC ranked among top Ontario Colleges | InsideNC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-392.png","datePublished":"2026-05-06T14:21:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-392.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-392.png","width":229,"height":66},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/university-magazine-nc-ranked-among-top-ontario-colleges\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"University Magazine: NC ranked among top Ontario Colleges"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/","name":"InsideNC","description":"Staff news from Niagara College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866","name":"Alyssa Milana"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1058757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1607198,"date":"2026-05-06T10:19:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:19:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?p=1607198"},"modified":"2026-05-06T10:19:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:19:18","slug":"cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/","title":{"rendered":"CBC Radio: Paul Zammit on Garden-inspired gifts for Moms."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>CBC Radio’s\u00a0<\/em>Ontario Today featured a segment with NC professor Paul Zammit from the School of Environment and Horticulture. During the segment, Zammit shares garden-inspired gifts for green thumb moms.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to the May 4 segment <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/listen\/live-radio\/1-45-ontario-today\/clip\/16212556-ontario-todays-gardening-show-garden-inspired-gifts-moms.\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CBC Radio’s\u00a0Ontario Today featured a segment with NC professor Paul Zammit from the School of Environment and Horticulture. During the segment, Zammit shares garden-inspired gifts for green thumb moms. Listen to the May 4 segment here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":186212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-coverage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CBC Radio: Paul Zammit on Garden-inspired gifts for Moms. | InsideNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CBC Radio: Paul Zammit on Garden-inspired gifts for Moms. | InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CBC Radio’s\u00a0Ontario Today featured a segment with NC professor Paul Zammit from the School of Environment and Horticulture. During the segment, Zammit shares garden-inspired gifts for green thumb moms. Listen to the May 4 segment here.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T14:19:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2018\/10\/cbc-radio.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"639\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"359\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alyssa Milana\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/\",\"name\":\"CBC Radio: Paul Zammit on Garden-inspired gifts for Moms. | InsideNC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2018\/10\/cbc-radio.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-06T14:19:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2018\/10\/cbc-radio.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2018\/10\/cbc-radio.jpg\",\"width\":639,\"height\":359,\"caption\":\"a graphic of the cbc radio logo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CBC Radio: Paul Zammit on Garden-inspired gifts for Moms.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\",\"name\":\"InsideNC\",\"description\":\"Staff news from Niagara College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866\",\"name\":\"Alyssa Milana\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CBC Radio: Paul Zammit on Garden-inspired gifts for Moms. | InsideNC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CBC Radio: Paul Zammit on Garden-inspired gifts for Moms. | InsideNC","og_description":"CBC Radio’s\u00a0Ontario Today featured a segment with NC professor Paul Zammit from the School of Environment and Horticulture. During the segment, Zammit shares garden-inspired gifts for green thumb moms. Listen to the May 4 segment here.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/","og_site_name":"InsideNC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege","article_published_time":"2026-05-06T14:19:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":639,"height":359,"url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2018\/10\/cbc-radio.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alyssa Milana","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@niagaracollege","twitter_site":"@niagaracollege","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/","name":"CBC Radio: Paul Zammit on Garden-inspired gifts for Moms. | InsideNC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2018\/10\/cbc-radio.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-06T14:19:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2018\/10\/cbc-radio.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2018\/10\/cbc-radio.jpg","width":639,"height":359,"caption":"a graphic of the cbc radio logo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/cbc-radio-paul-zammit-on-garden-inspired-gifts-for-moms\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CBC Radio: Paul Zammit on Garden-inspired gifts for Moms."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/","name":"InsideNC","description":"Staff news from Niagara College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866","name":"Alyssa Milana"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1607189,"date":"2026-05-06T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?p=1607189"},"modified":"2026-05-06T10:00:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:00:55","slug":"call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for volunteers: Welland Girls Sports Day returns June 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Niagara College, in partnership with the City of Welland, is seeking volunteers for this year’s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2025\/06\/19\/nc-helps-strengthen-community-through-sport-at-welland-girls-sports-day\/\">Welland Girls Sports Day.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The annual event introduces girls aged 6 to 12 to a variety of sports in a supportive, hands-on environment led by athletes, coaches, and community partners. Volunteers play a key role in supporting activities, welcoming participants, and ensuring the day runs smoothly.<\/p>\n<p>This is a great opportunity to help young girls stay active, try new sports, and build confidence in a supportive environment. Join us for a fun-filled day and make a meaningful impact in your community.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Event details<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Date:<\/strong> Saturday, June 6<\/li>\n<li><strong>Time:<\/strong> 10:15 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Location:<\/strong> Empire Sportsplex<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Volunteer info<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Whether you’re leading activities or supporting behind the scenes, your role will directly contribute to a positive and memorable day supporting girls in sport.<\/p>\n<p>All volunteers are required to attend an in-person training session on <strong>June 2 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.<\/strong> <strong>at the Welland Campus Wellness Lounge<\/strong> to review roles and event logistics.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers can expect a fast-paced and fun, outdoor environment. A volunteer t-shirt will be provided. Participants are encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather and bring a reusable water bottle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Volunteer roles may include:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Activity and sport station support<\/li>\n<li>Registration and information desk<\/li>\n<li>Equipment distribution<\/li>\n<li>Parent Hub support<\/li>\n<li>Floaters and general event support<\/li>\n<li>Set-up and clean-up<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>No previous experience is required.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NC Students: Co-Curricular Record (CCR) Credit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NC students may be eligible to submit their volunteer hours toward Co-Curricular Record (CCR) credit, offering an opportunity to gain experience while supporting a community-focused initiative.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Registration<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Registration is open until <strong>Wednesday, May 27. <\/strong>Spots fill quickly so be sure to sign up using the following link: <a href=\"https:\/\/ca.cglink.me\/2y7\/s165\">ca.cglink.me\/2y7\/s165<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For any questions, contact Abby Silver, nc-TRAC Program Manager at <a href=\"mailto:asilver@niagaracollege.ca\">asilver@niagaracollege.ca<\/a><u>.<\/u><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Niagara College, in partnership with the City of Welland, is seeking volunteers for this year’s Welland Girls Sports Day. The annual event introduces girls aged 6 to 12 to a variety of sports in a supportive, hands-on environment led by athletes, coaches, and community partners. Volunteers play a key role in supporting activities, welcoming participants, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":1607190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[225,165,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1607189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics-and-student-engagement","category-community","category-my-college"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Call for volunteers: Welland Girls Sports Day returns June 6 | InsideNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Call for volunteers: Welland Girls Sports Day returns June 6 | InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Niagara College, in partnership with the City of Welland, is seeking volunteers for this year’s Welland Girls Sports Day. The annual event introduces girls aged 6 to 12 to a variety of sports in a supportive, hands-on environment led by athletes, coaches, and community partners. Volunteers play a key role in supporting activities, welcoming participants, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T14:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/WGSD-2025.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"810\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alyssa Milana\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/\",\"name\":\"Call for volunteers: Welland Girls Sports Day returns June 6 | InsideNC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/WGSD-2025.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-06T14:00:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/WGSD-2025.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/WGSD-2025.webp\",\"width\":810,\"height\":540},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Call for volunteers: Welland Girls Sports Day returns June 6\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\",\"name\":\"InsideNC\",\"description\":\"Staff news from Niagara College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866\",\"name\":\"Alyssa Milana\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Call for volunteers: Welland Girls Sports Day returns June 6 | InsideNC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Call for volunteers: Welland Girls Sports Day returns June 6 | InsideNC","og_description":"Niagara College, in partnership with the City of Welland, is seeking volunteers for this year’s Welland Girls Sports Day. The annual event introduces girls aged 6 to 12 to a variety of sports in a supportive, hands-on environment led by athletes, coaches, and community partners. Volunteers play a key role in supporting activities, welcoming participants, […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/","og_site_name":"InsideNC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege","article_published_time":"2026-05-06T14:00:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":810,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/WGSD-2025.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Alyssa Milana","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@niagaracollege","twitter_site":"@niagaracollege","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/","name":"Call for volunteers: Welland Girls Sports Day returns June 6 | InsideNC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/WGSD-2025.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-06T14:00:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/WGSD-2025.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/WGSD-2025.webp","width":810,"height":540},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/06\/call-for-volunteers-welland-girls-sports-day-returns-june-6\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Call for volunteers: Welland Girls Sports Day returns June 6"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/","name":"InsideNC","description":"Staff news from Niagara College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/35cef87c8fc078be88637e73bedee866","name":"Alyssa Milana"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1607190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1606697,"date":"2026-05-05T09:32:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:32:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?p=1606697"},"modified":"2026-05-05T09:40:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:40:28","slug":"whats-new-to-the-employee-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s new to the Employee Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past few months, enhancements have been made to ensure the <a href=\"https:\/\/ncstudents.sharepoint.com\/sites\/EmployeeHub\/SitePages\/What%E2%80%99s-New-on-the-Employee-Hub-%E2%80%93-May-Highlights!.aspx\">Employee Hub<\/a> remains a reliable, user-friendly space to access tools, resources, and important updates.<\/p>\n<p><em>Here’s what’s new:<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Retirement resources<\/li>\n<li>Wellbeing Article<\/li>\n<li>Upcoming learning opportunities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Stay tuned for more updates!<\/p>\n<p>Read the latest update:<a href=\"https:\/\/ncstudents.sharepoint.com\/sites\/EmployeeHub\/SitePages\/What%E2%80%99s-New-on-the-Employee-Hub-%E2%80%93-May-Highlights!.aspx\">\u00a0What’s-New-on-the-Employee-Hub—May-Highlights!.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1606699\" src=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/eh1.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"509\" height=\"256\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past few months, enhancements have been made to ensure the Employee Hub remains a reliable, user-friendly space to access tools, resources, and important updates. Here’s what’s new: Retirement resources Wellbeing Article Upcoming learning opportunities Stay tuned for more updates! Read the latest update:\u00a0What’s-New-on-the-Employee-Hub—May-Highlights!.aspx<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":1540675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,134,32,131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1606697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-update","category-coe","category-human-resources","category-staff-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What's new to the Employee Hub | InsideNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What's new to the Employee Hub | InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the past few months, enhancements have been made to ensure the Employee Hub remains a reliable, user-friendly space to access tools, resources, and important updates. Here’s what’s new: Retirement resources Wellbeing Article Upcoming learning opportunities Stay tuned for more updates! Read the latest update:\u00a0What’s-New-on-the-Employee-Hub—May-Highlights!.aspx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T13:32:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T13:40:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/employeehub.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1847\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"880\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jessica Torok\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/\",\"name\":\"What's new to the Employee Hub | InsideNC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/employeehub.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-05T13:32:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-05T13:40:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/caeb94ab08b059c08bb049373f01419d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/employeehub.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/employeehub.png\",\"width\":1847,\"height\":880},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What’s new to the Employee Hub\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\",\"name\":\"InsideNC\",\"description\":\"Staff news from Niagara College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/caeb94ab08b059c08bb049373f01419d\",\"name\":\"Jessica Torok\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What's new to the Employee Hub | InsideNC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What's new to the Employee Hub | InsideNC","og_description":"Over the past few months, enhancements have been made to ensure the Employee Hub remains a reliable, user-friendly space to access tools, resources, and important updates. Here’s what’s new: Retirement resources Wellbeing Article Upcoming learning opportunities Stay tuned for more updates! Read the latest update:\u00a0What’s-New-on-the-Employee-Hub—May-Highlights!.aspx","og_url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/","og_site_name":"InsideNC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege","article_published_time":"2026-05-05T13:32:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-05T13:40:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1847,"height":880,"url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/employeehub.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jessica Torok","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@niagaracollege","twitter_site":"@niagaracollege","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/","name":"What's new to the Employee Hub | InsideNC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/employeehub.png","datePublished":"2026-05-05T13:32:12+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-05T13:40:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/caeb94ab08b059c08bb049373f01419d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/employeehub.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/01\/employeehub.png","width":1847,"height":880},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/05\/whats-new-to-the-employee-hub\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What’s new to the Employee Hub"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/","name":"InsideNC","description":"Staff news from Niagara College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/caeb94ab08b059c08bb049373f01419d","name":"Jessica Torok"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1606697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1540675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1606697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1606697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1606697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":1606211,"date":"2026-05-04T11:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/?p=62767"},"modified":"2026-05-06T10:31:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:31:47","slug":"robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotic companions, real connection: NC’s Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Coco the seal, Charlie the cardinal, and Sam the bluebird may be robotic, but their positive therapeutic benefits could not be more real – and research underway at Niagara College is helping to harness their full potential.<\/p>\n<p>The heartwarming breakthroughs that robotic animals offer seniors with dementia are the driving force behind NC’s “Fins, Feathers and Fur” project. This initiative has become the cornerstone for the College’s new Healthy Aging and Wellness Innovation Centre (HAWIC), the latest focus for its trailblazing Research and Innovation division.<\/p>\n<p>Research Lead Christine Wilkinson, a longtime Recreation Therapy Professor with expertise in dementia care, began her initial study on robotic animals two years ago. Her longtime interest in robotic animals led to the purchase of NC’s first robotic seal for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/communityservices\/program\/recreation-therapy\/\">Recreation Therapy<\/a> program in 2018. While the therapeutic benefits of these devices were well documented, Wilkinson observed a critical gap: despite their high cost – a single robotic seal can run $9,000 – they arrive without clinical guidance. She noted that staff often lacked the instructions or information needed to achieve the greatest therapeutic outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>“What I kept seeing over and over again, was that staff members didn’t necessarily know how to use the robotic animals in the most effective way with the residents,” said Wilkinson. “The manual explains how to charge them, clean their fur and troubleshoot the technology, but it doesn’t explain how to use the robotic animal to engage with the residents.”<\/p>\n<p>In January 2025, Wilkinson transitioned from recently retired faculty to HAWIC Research Lead. Supported by an investment by the federal government, she set out to bridge this training gap. Her team, with the help of students and staff from local long-term care residences, developed and piloted a three-hour Fins and Feathers training program and custom toolkits, which include intervention planning tools, large-print fact books about the animals, conversation prompts, activity resources, and visual memory supports to help residents remember their robotic visitors.<\/p>\n<p>The project has now entered its “Fins, Feathers and Fur” phase, as the College recently acquired a suite of yet-to-be named robotic cats and dogs to add to its collection of robotic animals. She noted that the robotic cats and dogs offer a lower-priced, more familiar alternative to the AI-driven seals and singing birds and they are often used as pet replacements, triggering deep-seated instincts among former pet owners. The team will soon be enhancing the toolkits and training to include robotic cats and dogs.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1606219\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1606219\" class=\"wp-image-1606219 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Charlie-300x225.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Charlie-300x225.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Charlie-480x360.webp 480w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Charlie-128x96.webp 128w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Charlie-180x135.webp 180w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Charlie-720x540.webp 720w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Charlie.webp 733w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1606219\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christine Maleta, Responsive Behaviour Therapeutic Advisor for Niagara Region Senior Servicesn uses Charlie the cardinal to interact with a resident at Linhaven.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>While it’s a departure after decades in the classroom, Wilkinson is finding fulfillment in her new research role poised to have an impact on the long-term care sector. Her project offers students firsthand experience with implementing the robotic animals at long-term care homes, as well as valuable applied research experience along the way.<\/p>\n<p>“It’s so rewarding. I’ve seen staff members moved to tears because they’ve heard more words from a resident in one session with a robotic animal than they had in the previous month,” said Wilkinson. “This reinforces the belief that the work we’re doing at NC can have a broad, positive impact not only here in Niagara but across the country and perhaps around the world.”<\/p>\n<p>She is excited that the project is gaining national momentum. She has presented her findings at industry conferences from Halifax to Montreal to Vancouver – including the International Society for Gerontechnology Conference in March.<\/p>\n<p>In the weeks ahead, Wilkinson and her team will be taking new and older models of robotic cats and dogs to severa<\/p>\n<p>l long-term care homes across Niagara to gather feedback from residents and staff. They will be asking questions about the features and functionality of the different animals, while also observing resident responses. They hope to generate some name ideas for the animals during the process.<\/p>\n<p>HAWIC has also applied for a new funding grant to continue the study nationally, with an interest in expanding its scope to more geographically and culturally diverse populations.<\/p>\n<p>Involvement in the project has been rewarding for students involved.<\/p>\n<p>Amanda Reid, who recently completed the Recreation Therapy program late last year, has been applying her Fins and Feathers training as a part-time Recreation Therapist at Heidehof in St. Catharines. She recalled participating in Fins and Feathers training at Linhaven as a student, witnessing how robotic birds singing recognizable tunes such as “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” could transform an environment.<\/p>\n<p>“As a student, this training program opened up a door to a whole new therapeutic world that I can bring with me for when I create my own programs as a recreation therapist,” said Reid. “I believe that this research is valuable to both seniors and staff a<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1606221\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1606221\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1606221\" src=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Training-300x246.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Training-300x246.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Training-440x360.webp 440w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Training-275x225.webp 275w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Training-165x135.webp 165w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Training-660x540.webp 660w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/Training.webp 672w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1606221\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lakshmi Sivan Pillai, Recreationist at Linhaven and an NC Recreation Therapy grad, participates in a Fins and Feathers training session.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>s it offers additional therapeutic tools that can be incorporated into daily care and programming.”<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Bosnich, who completed the Recreation Therapy program late last year, has since joined HAWIC staff as a full-time Research Associate. He recently accompanied Wilkinson to the 2026 International Gerontechnology Conference in Vancouver to promote the project. Bosnich has been instrumental in developing the toolkits and supporting the filming of training videos that capture the heartwarming reactions of residents.<\/p>\n<p>“It’s incredibly rewarding knowing that what I am working on goes back to actually making a difference in people’s lives. That motivates me to put my best work forward,” said Bosnich. “With these tools, the robotic animals become more than just a cute, and comfortable distraction. They can now be used as a way to stir deep conversations with residents, such as reminiscing about a beloved pet from their childhood, which helps fulfill that soci<\/p>\n<p>al and emotional need that is so important for older adults in long-term care.”<\/p>\n<p>Staff at long-term care residences are applauding the project. Jeannette Beauregard, Behaviour Supports Program Manager, Niagara Region Senior Services, noted that the training has been valuable for staff at Linhaven where experienced recreation staff gained valuable hands-on learning and practical strategies they could use right away. She said it helped strengthen their understanding of how robotic animals can support meaningful engagement with residents, especially those living with dementia.<\/p>\n<p>“We saw the impact almost immediately. Residents connected with the robotic animals in ways that were comforting, calming, and emotionally meaningful. These interactions often opened the door to greater connection between residents and staff, helping staff engage in a more personal and responsive way,” said Beauregard. “The tools and strategies learned through HAWIC have strengthened our team’s ability to create positive therapeutic experiences for residents and has shown the value of bringing innovative tools into dementia care.”<\/p>\n<p>Heather Vokey, Director of Life Enrichment at Heidehof, sees the broader impact of the collaboration as the Fins, Feathers and Fur project prepares to visit their facility in May. “Overall, I see that this research plays an important role in improving seniors’ overall well-being, advancing scientific knowledge, and creating a tool that helps staff connect more purposefully and effectively with residents through meaningful therapeutic visits with robotic animals,” said Vokey.<\/p>\n<p>HAWIC’s applied research projects are made possible by an investment from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through the Mobilize program.<\/p>\n<p>“The Fins, Feathers and Fur project embodies HAWIC’s mandate perfectly.\u00a0 By developing toolkits and training to maximize the therapeutic potential of robotic animals, we ensure that innovation is actively improving the lives of older adults, while creating opportunities for our students,” said Rachel Brown, \u00a0Acting Program Manager, HAWIC. “We look forward to continuing to partner with community and industry as we address the complex challenges of aging through applied research.”<\/p>\n<p>NC’s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncinnovation.ca\/innovation-centres\/healthy-aging-and-wellness\">Healthy Aging and Wellness Innovation Centre<\/a> is dedicated to applied research that improves the quality of life for Niagara’s older adults. Beyond robotic companions, HAWIC leads projects ranging from driving simulators for memory clinic patients to identifying programming gaps for the fifty-plus population.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1606222\" style=\"width: 860px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1606222\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1606222\" src=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/2025-trainees.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"850\" height=\"496\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/2025-trainees.webp 850w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/2025-trainees-300x175.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/2025-trainees-768x448.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/2025-trainees-800x467.webp 800w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/2025-trainees-617x360.webp 617w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/2025-trainees-386x225.webp 386w, https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/2025-trainees-180x105.webp 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1606222\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NC Recreation Therapy students stand with Niagara Region recreation staff stand after completing the training in Fall 2025, along with Niagara Region Responsive Therapeutic Advisors who helped facilitate the training.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coco the seal, Charlie the cardinal, and Sam the bluebird may be robotic, but their positive therapeutic benefits could not be more real \u2013 and research underway at Niagara College…<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/blog\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/\">Robotic companions, real connection: NC\u2019s Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/\">Niagara College<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":1606224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,165,52,28,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1606211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-update","category-community","category-news-releases","category-research-and-innovation","category-school-of-community-services"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Robotic companions, real connection: NC's Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight | InsideNC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Robotic companions, real connection: NC's Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight | InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Coco the seal, Charlie the cardinal, and Sam the bluebird may be robotic, but their positive therapeutic benefits could not be more real \u2013 and research underway at Niagara College... The post Robotic companions, real connection: NC\u2019s Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight appeared first on Niagara College.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideNC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-04T15:18:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T14:31:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/HAWIC-trio.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"825\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Julie Greco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@niagaracollege\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/\",\"name\":\"Robotic companions, real connection: NC's Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight | InsideNC\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/HAWIC-trio.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-04T15:18:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-06T14:31:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/92839760d4929546e9b9863cd714eaef\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/HAWIC-trio.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/HAWIC-trio.webp\",\"width\":825,\"height\":550,\"caption\":\"HAWIC Research Lead Christine Wilkinson (middle) stands with HAWIC Research Associate Matthew Bosnich (right) and HAWIC Student Research Assistant Emma Makiling (left) holding up some of their favourite robotic animals.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Robotic companions, real connection: NC’s Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/\",\"name\":\"InsideNC\",\"description\":\"Staff news from Niagara College\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/92839760d4929546e9b9863cd714eaef\",\"name\":\"Julie Greco\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Robotic companions, real connection: NC's Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight | InsideNC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Robotic companions, real connection: NC's Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight | InsideNC","og_description":"Coco the seal, Charlie the cardinal, and Sam the bluebird may be robotic, but their positive therapeutic benefits could not be more real \u2013 and research underway at Niagara College... The post Robotic companions, real connection: NC\u2019s Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight appeared first on Niagara College.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/","og_site_name":"InsideNC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/niagaracollege","article_published_time":"2026-05-04T15:18:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-06T14:31:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":825,"height":550,"url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/HAWIC-trio.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Julie Greco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@niagaracollege","twitter_site":"@niagaracollege","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/","name":"Robotic companions, real connection: NC's Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight | InsideNC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/HAWIC-trio.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-04T15:18:17+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-06T14:31:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/92839760d4929546e9b9863cd714eaef"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/HAWIC-trio.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/53\/2026\/05\/HAWIC-trio.webp","width":825,"height":550,"caption":"HAWIC Research Lead Christine Wilkinson (middle) stands with HAWIC Research Associate Matthew Bosnich (right) and HAWIC Student Research Assistant Emma Makiling (left) holding up some of their favourite robotic animals."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/2026\/05\/04\/robotic-companions-real-connection-ncs-fins-feathers-and-fur-project-takes-flight\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Robotic companions, real connection: NC’s Fins, Feathers and Fur project takes flight"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/","name":"InsideNC","description":"Staff news from Niagara College","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/#\/schema\/person\/92839760d4929546e9b9863cd714eaef","name":"Julie Greco"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1606211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1606224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1606211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1606211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.niagaracollege.ca\/insidenc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1606211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]