Conestoga students aren’t sitting around

College will use provincial funding to buy standing-friendly furniture systems

KITCHENER — Conestoga College’s Waterloo campus, in the midst of a $43.5-million makeover, will naturally be getting some new furniture on University Avenue.

But it won’t all be the standard-issue sit-down variety of butt-resters.

In fact, standing-friendly furniture systems will be on order now that the province has given Conestoga $1.8 million to help enhance the chair-bound student experience.

“A lot of people now need to stand,” said Conestoga president John Tibbits during a standup address at Friday’s media conference on the Doon Campus.

“I’m told, by the way, I’d be a healthier person if I stood up more.”

The campaign www.getcanadastanding.org will tell you that growing research indicates prolonged sitting may be bad for your health, and a variety of studies warn sedentary lifestyles are likely to be causing as many deaths as smoking.

“They now claim that sitting and smoking are about the same,” said Tibbits during a media conference attended by Cambridge MPP Kathryn McGarry and Kitchener Centre MPP Daiene Vernile.

“I don’t quite accept that. I know as you get older, you start to fall apart as you sit. So I think we need more furniture where you can stand.”

Tibbits, an active tennis player, also wants more furniture you can move around at the Waterloo campus. That will also help in creating team and group work assignments, he said.

The $1.8 million from the Ontario government, part of $50 million the province is giving to community colleges to mark the 50th anniversary of the college system’s launch, is earmarked to go into the Waterloo campus.

It will pay for technology-supported writable surfaces throughout classrooms and a video conferencing system that provides connections with experts from other campuses and around the world.

As well, it will fund video, recording, playback and archiving in living lab spaces. Webcams, microphones, projectors/ video display screens and associated equipment will also be supported. And, there will be flexible, multi-functional furniture for the Library Resource Centre and student-focused innovation hub.

Meanwhile, Tibbits says Conestoga is hardly sitting still as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. A partnership with Wilfrid Laurier University for a new Milton campus seems a certainty. Tibbits believes it will happen, even if it still awaits final approval.

“We’re in the game now,” Tibbits said. “Who would have thought, 20 years ago, Conestoga and Laurier would be in a partnership and jointly training people?”