Holland College is hosting the 2008 fall Atlantic Association of Colleges and Universities Student Services workshop November 5th and 6th in the Charlottetown Centre and the Tourism and Culinary Centre.

The workshop, which is entitled Bridging, Learning, and Serving Together, offers Student Services staff from post-secondary educational institutions across the region the opportunity to attend concurrent sessions on a broad range of highly relevant topics, including how to educate and empower students to utilize their Facebook profiles in a positive context; how to identify and help troubled students get help; the emotional and social challenges of students who require academic support; empowering service-oriented working teams; supportive relationships – caring for self and others; establishing and maintaining meaningful research projects; the U.S. student aid system and its effects on students studying in Canada; and the importance of career counseling for post-secondary students.

The keynote presentation, to take place Thursday at the Tourism and Culinary Centre, will focus on SAFE, the School Action for Emergencies initiative. Schools and other educational institutions across the region have either developed or are in the process of developing their SAFE plans, which detail the steps that must be followed to respond to incidents such as school intruders. The presentation includes an overview of why the police have developed specialized training and how emergency planning has been adapted to respond these types of events, and a video analysis of the events that took place in Columbine in 1999.