Spare the Lecture: Students Click to Learn about Safer Drinking
Wednesday January 11, 2012
Campus Living Centres' "Check Your Drinking: Residence Life" provides college and university residence students with anonymous, non-judgmental feedback.
Prior to the start of this academic year, Campus Living Centres, the largest owner and operator of student housing in Canada, launched a specialized online tool to help residence students make better decisions about their drinking.
Those 24 and under have nearly three times the rate of heavy frequent drinking compared to those 25 and over. Heavy drinking results in serious health consequences and increased emergency department admissions. However, there is strong evidence that certain interventions can help students stay healthy. Experts recommend interventions that combine cognitive-behavioral skills, normative comparisons and motivational feedback. Check Your Drinking based on these principles of Brief Intervention.
"Students spend a lot of their time online so the screener is an excellent way to reach those who may not have sought out information otherwise," says Tim Fricker, Director, Residence Life and the Student Experience at Campus Living Centres. "The instant feedback tells students the facts they need to know to make informed choices about their drinking."
Check Your Drinking Residence Life is anonymous and takes less than 10 minutes to complete. Students receive a personalized Final Report that helps them understand their drinking patterns, and how their drinking affects their health, finances and studies. Randomized Controlled Trials have repeatedly shown Check Your Drinking helps problem drinkers significantly reduce their alcohol consumption.
"Check Your Drinking is an excellent and technically relevant way to educate students about the reality of alcohol consumption without lecturing or nagging, which we all know doesn't work," says Trevor van Mierlo, CEO of Evolution Health, the company behind Check Your Drinking. "Students overestimate the amount that their peers are drinking, so our technology helps correct these misconceptions. Plus, it can be really eye opening for students to see how much money they on alcohol, how many calories they consume, and relatively easy tips on how to reduce their risk."
Evolution Health and Campus Living Centres are excited to partner on this project and produce new research on this topic. "The screener is a powerful platform to collect important data about residence student perceptions and habits related to alcohol across the country," says Mr. Fricker. "Very little of this type of data, if any, is available in Canada to describe the perceptions and habits of residence students from a cross section of institutions. This data will hopefully result in published research that may help residence administrators develop new educational programs and services for students that promote healthier choices."
About Evolution Health Systems Inc.
Evolution helps make life changes possible. With over 10 years of research, Evolution uses online communities, professional health coaches, peer support, mobile health and web-based education to help people reach their health goals. For more information about Evolution Health Systems, please contact Rachel Fournier: rfournier@evolutionhs.com or 416-644-8476 x222. Online: www.evolutionhs.com
About Campus Living Centres
Campus Living Centres is the largest owner and operator of student housing in Canada. The "Residence Life Program" offered to students embraces the unique academic mission and philosophy of each partner institution and the diverse needs of the residence community to create an environment that supports each student's academic and personal success. The "Check Your Drinking: Residence Life" online tool is available to over 8,000 students on 20 college and university campuses living in residences managed by Campus Living Centres. For more information about this initiative please contact Tim Fricker: tfricker@campuslivingcentres.com or 647-274-8108
New Canadore Residence Breaking Ground
July 4, 2011
http://www.canadorec.on.ca/NewsandEvents/NewResBreakingGround.cfm
Construction of Canadore College's new 200 bed residence is set to begin this week.
The ground at the College's lower field will be overturned to begin building the complex that will resemble the existing apartment residence.
Canadore is partnering with Campus Living Centres, Canada's largest owner and manager of student housing, to build the new six-floor, 100-unit, building to meet the expanding needs of the College's domestic and international students. Apartments will consist of two private bedrooms, as well as shared bathroom, kitchen and living space.
"It is exciting to be working with Campus Living Centres to be able to provide our students with quality facilities, dynamic services and an outstanding overall residence experience," said Shawn Chorney, Acting Vice President of Enrolment Management, Student Services and Recruitment. "The plans include a fabulous green space between buildings for recreational and social activities. CLC owns and manages over 12,000 student beds in the country, and will be incorporating best-in-class design elements that will enhance our student experience".
Approximately 20 per cent of full-time Canadore students live in residence. The addition of the new beds will increase overall residence capacity to 733 spots and provide more opportunity for out-of-town learners to access quality programs. The new residence complex is slated to open its doors for the Fall 2012 semester.
Canadore has over 65 full-time quality programs, outstanding faculty and student services, and boasts the highest graduation rate of all of Ontario's 24 public colleges.
Loyalist College Expands Student Housing Capacity Through Partnership with Campus Living Centres
February 14, 2011
Campus Living Centres is pleased to announce the opening of phase 1 of its 104 bed development at Loyalist College.
Prior to finalizing the deal with Campus Living Centres, the College provided residence space for 476 students. These additional beds will cater to upper year students, and will give students the opportunity to live on-campus until graduation. Campus Development Corp is the owner of these buildings that are constructed on College owned land.
The units are completely self contained 4-bedroom townhouses, located directly behind campus, and have been extremely well received by students. Although working against a very tight time line, 32 units were ready for occupancy September 1, 2010, with the balance of the units to be completed by July 1, 2011. With full occupancy, demand for these units has been extremely strong. Management of the complex is a joint effort between Campus Living Centres and Loyalist College, and the arrangement has achieved two primary objectives; provide superior living arrangements for upper year students who desire to remain on campus, and assist the College in student recruitment and retention efforts.
Cambrian College Announces Partnership with Campus Living Centres
May 12, 2010
Cambrian College President Sylvia Barnard announces details of a new initiative aimed at enhancing the student life experience for on-campus residents.
Starting in June 2010, Campus Living Centres of Canada – a residence management company specializing in developing dynamic, integrated living experiences for college and university students – will assume the management of Cambrian College’s residence properties.
Campus Living Centres has a lengthy track record of providing excellent customer service in the post secondary environment. They will be working with Cambrian staff and students to provide a variety of student-friendly services, including residence life programming, and will also be developing Cambrian’s summer residence and conference capacity.
“A supportive and enjoyable residence experience is a key component of student success and retention,” said Cambrian College President Sylvia Barnard. “Our students need and expect a living environment that is enriched by many student life activities when living on campus. By working with Campus Living Centres with their extensive experience and resources, Cambrian will be able to provide our students with a student life experience that meets and exceeds the expectations today’s students in a competitive market.”
“Campus Living Centres is very pleased to embark on this exciting partnership with Cambrian College,” said Campus Living Centres Director of Residence Life & The Student Experience, Tim Fricker. “Providing a safe, respectful, and enriching environment that supports students through their transition to college and residence life is our central purpose.”
Cambrian College currently provides on-campus accommodations for 680 students in both dormitory and townhouse facilities.
Campus Living Centres Continues to Expand
Campus Living Centres entered into long term management agreements with Collège Boréal, Confederation College and Canadore College in 2011, and completed construction on new residence developments at Georgian College, (Owen Sound campus), and Loyalist College in Belleville. In addition to assuming the management of Canadore’s residences, construction is underway on a new six-storey, 200-bed residence that Campus Living Centres will also own and manage on-campus.
This is indeed an exciting time for Campus Living Centres, as we have a solid customer base and strong testimonials from our existing clients, and as a result, this has created considerable interest with both Colleges and Universities seeking to enhance the student experience within existing Residence operations, or those that are looking at cost effective solutions that will create additional on-campus housing.
Since partnering with Campus Living Centres, we have realized significant financial gains, as well as a service delivery model that has had an immediate positive impact on students”, says Shawn Chorney, Vice- President Student Services, Canadore College…..the management of our residences is streamlined and efficient, allowing the college the ability to focus on core academic initiatives, with the confidence in knowing that this vital aspect of campus life is being managed by proven professionals.
Specifically, Campus Living Centres provides post secondary institutions with:
- Creative financing solutions for the creation of additional student housing on-campus;
- Management of existing Residence facilities;
- Summer marketing of accommodation and conference space;
- New Residence Construction;
- Creative strategies for continued financial growth and expansion.
ABOUT CAMPUS LIVING CENTRES
Campus Living Centres is the largest owner and operator of student housing in Canada. They work with Colleges and Universities to plan, design, finance, and ultimately, manage student housing and conference facilities. Their portfolio is comprised of over 13,000 student beds in buildings they either own or manage on behalf of Colleges and Universities.
CURRENT CLIENTS
Collège Boréal
Cambrian College
Canadore College
Centennial College
Conestoga College
Confederation College
Durham College
Georgian College
Loyalist College
Mohawk College
Niagara College
Nicola Valley Institute of Technology
Université Saint-Paul
Seneca College
Sheridan College
St. Clair College
Thompson Rivers University
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
CONTACT
Brian Freeman, Vice-President
Campus Living Centres Inc.
T: 416.738-5998
Seneca College Announces Long-Term Extension of Residence Management Agreement with Campus Living Centres
November 19, 2009
Campus Living Centres is pleased to announce the extension of the current residence management agreement with Seneca College through 2019.
CLC has managed the residences at Seneca's Newnham and King Campuses since 1998, with the current number of residents at both properties exceeding 1200 students.
Both Seneca and CLC have worked hard to ensure that the student's needs in residence are met, and at the same time providing a positive financial return to the College. According to Jim Hutton, Director of Ancillary Services, "While your team has focused on Residence Life and delivering top notch service to our students, your operations staff has also been mindful of achieving a positive financial return to the College and our stakeholders. You have consistently delivered solid financial results, which have allowed us to focus our resources on academic programming".
CLC looks forward to working with Seneca over the next number of years in delivering a positive student experience and building on our foundation of creating a "home away from home" for students.
Note to Reader: Jim Hutton has recently assumed the position of Vice-President, Finance and Administration at Cambrian College in Sudbury, Ontario.
