BY NATALIA NAHON
On Oct. 12, Sheridan’s co-curricular record celebrated its fourth birthday at an event in B-Wing. The program’s coordinator, Christina Wiggins, says the event will grab newcomers’ attention in and change their perspective on co-curricular activities.
The co-curricular record is an official online document where students can register their out-of-class activities on campus. It can be a club or a volunteer work. Students have the opportunity to add activities where learning is attached to them.
“If you are trying to apply to grad schools or jobs or anything like that, it makes you look better than other people, it makes you stand out,” says Eve Krogman, a volunteer at the event. Abbey Barton, another volunteer, agrees. “I did it with Sheridan last year and it was good, I did 10 hours. I work on a club linked to my program.”
The celebration that took place at B-Wing at Trafalgar Campus was filled with curious people. “Having a cake drives people’s attention,” add Krogman laughing, “but it is a really great program, and we thought this celebration was a really great opportunity to try to promote it within the college.”
Both women, who are in the Film and Television program, believe it is a great opportunity to make an out-of-class activity part of your portfolio. “Students have wonderful experiences getting involved. The challenge is to get more students to know it exists and that they can access it,” says Wiggins.
Every year, new students come to Sheridan and they’re not aware that some of the activities they’re involved in can be helpful for future job opportunities. Most of them have the high-school experience of co-curricular activities, that in Wiggins’ words, can be “very limiting.”
If a student wants an activity to be recognized for a co-curricular record, they have to go to the website, and “if it achieves the learning outcomes and complete the minimum number of participation hours, the request will be accepted and then a CCR document is generated,” says Wiggins. These steps are only to be followed if the activity doesn’t appear on the CCR’s Opportunities Directory listed on the website.
Co-curricular activities can build students’ personal growth and professional development and most employers will consider these type of activities as valuable as academic achievements. “Employers will view that activity as part of the employability. What you were involved with, and what competencies do you develop- students can use CCR activities to fill in these blanks,” said Wiggins.
To learn more about the co-curricular record and the eligible activities visit their site.