Three students from the Business Administration - Operations and Materials Management program of Conestoga College are in San Diego this week as the result of winning scholarships to attend the annual conference of APICS - The Educational Society for Resources Management.
The three - Ashley Harrow of Palmerston, Karen Pattison of Guelph and Bonnie Donkersgoed of Bolton - each received a $350 (U.S.) award designating them as APICS Scholars. This marks the fifth consecutive year that students from the Conestoga program have received the distinction.
APICS Scholars attend conference presentations as well as personal and professional development sessions, meet with general session and educational session speakers, network with conference attendees and visit the APICS exposition. In addition, each performs work duties by serving as room monitors at assigned conference workshop sessions.
APICS (www.apics.org) has more than 80,000 individual and corporate members, and is dedicated to professional awareness, development and education for materials resource managers in business, industry and the public sector.
In Conestoga's Operations and Materials Management program, students gain the skills and knowledge required for careers in the highly specialized and expanding fields of production and inventory control, purchasing, traffic of goods and supplies for business and industry, logistics and value analysis. The program emphasizes all five of the basic management functions: planning, organization, staffing, coordination and control.
Harrow, Pattison and Donkersgoed are all in their final year of program studies. In addition to their academic excellence, they are active members of Conestoga's APICS student chapter, the largest student chapter in the world.
A 2004 program graduate, Mary Ann Groothuis of Kitchener, will be named at the conference as winner of the $500 (U.S.) APICS Student Voluntary Service Award. This honour recognizes an individual who, while a student, was an exemplary participant in student chapter and regional parent chapter activities, school organizations, and civic or community organizations.
Groothuis is currently a materials coordinator with Modatek Systems, an automotive parts and assemblies manufacturing business in Milton. Although she is unable to attend the San Diego conference, she will be named winner of the award at the event and presented with the honour subsequently.
CONTACT: Tracey Lopers, 519-748-5220, ext. 3887, tlopers@conestogac.on.ca