228873
222576
Kamloops  

School District 73 trustee candidate profile: Cole Hickson

Get to know Cole Hickson

Castanet Kamloops is going to help you get to know the candidates running for Kamloops school trustee seats over the next few weeks. Every morning starting today, we will be posting a Q&A from one of the candidates running for the board of education in the Oct. 15 local general election. All trustee candidates were asked the same questions, and their answers, submitted to Castanet by email, are published in full.

Castanet Kamloops: Why do you think you would be a good trustee for SD73? What unique perspective, skills or vision do you bring to the table?

Cole Hickson: As a 26-year-old graduate of our K-12 system and TRU, with a degree in political science & economics, I bring proven experience and a young, community-focused perspective.

I was a four-time elected TRU Students’ Union representative who led some of the most ambitious campaigns in our university’s history, sat on over a dozen institutional committees, and continually worked within our community to ensure our students, university, and region were looked after.

After university, I worked for the Kamloops and District Chamber of Commerce before moving on to my current role as the Communications and Engagement Coordinator at the Bob Gaglardi School of Business and Economics. These experiences gave me a better understanding of our regional labour needs and the necessity of hands-on, experiential education to better engage our students .

My peers recognize and respect me as a person who will do the work, speak the truth, and listen to their concerns. This is what I present to SD73.

Bringing an evidence-based, data-driven approach and working with students, parents/guardians, teachers, and the broader community is how we will achieve success.

What is your vision for the school district? If you are elected, what might look different four years from now?

Hickson: We need schools built, more hands-on opportunities for students, improved safety and student supports, increased community engagement, and effective political advocacy.

Funding was one of my top priorities when elected to the TRU Students’ Union in 2016. In the following years, my committee engaged our regional community on this issue. Stretching from Clearwater to Logan Lake and everywhere in between, we presented to every council, non-profit, NGO, and business that would have us.

Through tying economics with community engagement, we were able to succeed in communicating our efforts across political lines, with our work appearing in several provincial budget recommendations (2017, 2018, & 2019) by the Select Standing Committee of Finance and Government Relations.

The government has since committed to a full re-evaluation of post-secondary funding.

I will bring this focus and unparalleled community engagement to our school board and ensure that our region is funded fairly, and our students are safe, empowered, and engaged in their learning.

Aside from capital projects, how do you think the district should deal with growing enrolment?

Hickson: We need to evaluate how we are using our existing facilities and programming and where changes could be made. An example of this is the recent reopening of Ralph Bell Elementary that I was

privileged to attend. This is an existing facility that was updated and refurbished so it can meet the needs of a growing community without the full capital cost of a new school.

Doing more work like the Ralph Bell project requires effectively and meaningfully engaging SD73 administration, parents, and the broader community to find solutions that best reflect our schools and students' needs.

Overall, the non-capital options are limited. Families do not like increased busing and unforeseen catchment changes. The disadvantages of portables are well-known. We can’t educate our children on evenings and weekends to better utilize schools. Our city is growing at a steady pace; I don’t see how we can avoid full or partial capital expenditures to address this growth.

In your opinion, what are the top priorities right now for SD73?

Hickson: School overcapacity and limited funding, student safety, more experiential education, youth retention, and property utilization.

These are community problems that I want to solve with community solutions.

In my tenure at the students union, I was able to unite the faculty, staff, and students at TRU, engage our entire regional community, inspire a coalition of student unions from around BC, and receive bipartisan support on a number of simple, articulate, data-driven messages that benefited everyone.

Ultimately, we saw results.

This is how I want to address our SD73 priorities.

The SD73 area has felt the impacts of climate change in recent years. What steps do you think the board could take to foster climate resilience?

Hickson: Two points: 1) the board could ensure that our new buildings are built to higher environmental standards, and 2) we could better facilitate our students, teachers, and parents creativity towards solving global and community problems.

In high school, I was an avid participant in our Global Awareness Club. It was a group filled with bright and committed students. Yet we didn’t get anything done.

In university, I was president of the environmentalist Eco Club, and we completed three major campaigns in a single semester.

The latter group was simply given the respect, responsibility, and space they needed to create change.

My focus will be on empowering our students to create, join, and lead clubs/organizations within their schools. Because I believe they need the engage with these topics in a real-world scenario.

This could mean creating a simple, yet formalized system where students can better understand committee structures. Along with providing more incentives for teachers and parents to help facilitate topics and projects that students are passionate about.

We need to recognize that our students will become the leaders of our local and global community and ensure they have all the tools they need to succeed.

Visit Castanet's Kamloops Votes page to find profiles for Kamloops SD73 trustee candidates along with links to candidates' websites and social media accounts if available.



More Kamloops News

225429