Re: Letter to the editor “Too many questions hanging over cuts to KSA” March 23, 2012.
May I begin by commenting that if the students in the Kootenay School of the Arts diploma program are of the calibre of Kate Enewold, then the administration of Selkirk College should listen and implement her suggestions. Only by partaking of a program as a mature student can one fully appreciate the value in the program.
As a mature student, I took the then one-year certificate Graphic Communications (writing) program at the Castlegar campus. Upon completing the course, I was asked in a survey for my opinion of the program. My only suggestion was that it be expanded into a two-year program with the second year consisting of mentored-writing so the students would graduate having already submitted, and hopefully successfully published, articles, photographs, graphics, in papers or magazines. These students would then be fully qualified for the real world.
This is what I am hearing from Ms. Enewold. Obviously, she has given much thought to ways that the administration of Selkirk College can be more than a store-house for students on their way to university. It can continue its function of graduating students with a valuable skill which will allow them to become productive members of society. The KSA graduates have the added bonus of adding beauty wherever they go.
The Kootenay School of the Arts has a distinguished past. Please, do not allow it to be watered down, for that will only sign its death knell.
Marilyn Johnstone
Nelson