Adult ed students build community ties

BY MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca



Community ties between a local adult-education career centre and the West Island Health and Social Services Network resulted in a big opportunity for a number of local interior design students last week in Pierrefonds.

Students in the interior-design program of the West Island Career Centre in Pierrefonds were vying for the chance to have their work adorn the Lakeshore General Hospital when they presented their ideas for a mural commemorating the hospital’s 40th anniversary to hospital spokesman Louis-Pascal Cyr.

The project, which had been on hold due to budget constraints, provided an ideal forum for students to work on an idea, develop the idea and present the idea to a potential client, said teacher Elise Zylinska.

“It’s a good opportunity for the students to present their ideas as if they were in the real world, because it is the real world,� she said.

Zylinska, herself a professional interior designer, suggested the idea to Cyr in October. He agreed, saying it was an ideal way to being parts of the community closer together.

“Elise Zylinska has designed projects for us in the past, but this project had to be put on hold, mainly for budget reasons, but Elise approached us with an idea where we could make it a class project, and that way, the hospital could look at nine different types of projects to decide which one we wanted to pick,� he said.

Cyr looked impressed by one project in particular last Wednesday, but was noncommittal and stressed a decision on the winning bid would only be made in a couple of weeks.

“Obviously, I have to run these past the board of directors and they must sign off on the project, but I was impressed with the efforts I saw, and I was impressed with the results of those efforts,� he said.

Cyr agreed the project was an excellent way to have the community more involved with the hospital.

“With the projects being designed by students from the West Island Career Centre, it was a plus, because these designs are coming from the community and represent the views of people in the community,� he said.

Student presenter Anne Vaillancourt had a hit with her rotating-mural design system, which would allow the artist to paint three different images on the triangles and change them to represent the hospital in the past, in the present and in the future — part of Cyr’s mandate to the class.

“That’s something you can change easily and it’s not expensive, it’s attractive to kids, and it’s durable, because the panels are made of Plexiglas,� she said.

Cyr expects the board to decide on a mural design by mid-December.

For more information on the West Island Career Centre, visit their website at www.pearsonskills.com/wicc2/.">www.pearsonskills.com