What you need to know about being a student at CBC!
Teaching Centre
Joined by a walkway to the Columbia Resource Centre is the Teaching Centre. It houses classrooms, music rooms, the chapel, the A/V room, the mailboxes, lockers, and some offices including Quest offices, Outdoor Leadership offices, Worship Arts offices, Early Childhood Education offices and Youthwork offices.
Bookstore
The bookstore will temporarily be housed on the lower level of the Resource Building, and it's hours will be 8:30am - 4:30pm for the first 2 weeks. (Check back for the revised bookstore hours on September 15th)
Music Practice Rooms:
The Teaching Centre, featuring the chapel, also houses the worship arts department. This includes classrooms for piano, voice and guitar lessons, as well as private practice rooms for those who wish to sing and play to their hearts’ content!
Mailboxes:
Each student is assigned a mailbox and provided the key upon arrival on campus. The mailboxes are located in the Teaching Centre across from the washrooms downstairs. These mailboxes are shared between two to three students. You can send a note to a friend by writing their name and mailbox number on the envelope and bringing the letter to the front office for distribution. Your friends and family can send you mail via the Columbia Bible College address and it will be delivered to your mailbox.
Resource Centre
The Resource Centre is the main administration building on campus. The first floor includes the main reception area and faculty/staff offices. The second floor is home to the library, and the third floor holds more offices and board rooms.
Library:
The CBC Library holdings currently include over 40,000 books, 1,200 video-recordings, 444 compact music discs, 185 DVDs, 1,072 audio-cassettes, 178 periodical subscriptions in print format, plus 230 online journal subscriptions.
The focus of the library collection is theological and biblical studies, with an emphasis on Anabaptist and Mennonite theology. In addition, the college library supports the various program majors such as outdoor leadership and early childhood education.
The Library’s sixteen computers provide access to the Catalogue and to several CD-ROM databases, as well as to information sources available on the Internet. Study space, a small groups computer lab, group study rooms, and a video room are available in the library. The Library provides quiet, well-lit study space for about 80 students and includes wireless access, and plug-in access for laptops.
The Columbia Library serves primarily the Columbia community and its constituency, and it is open to the public as well.
The library section of the website can be visited here.
Student Centre
Columbia's Student Centre features a health and wellness centre, career and counselling centre, commuter lounge, email kiosks, Student Development offices, Bearcat Rec. room, lounges and a state of the art kitchen and dining room.
Dining Room:
The dining room is located on the ground floor of the Student Services Centre just north of (across the lawn from) the Columbia Resource Centre. Gerald Thiessen and his crew work extra hard to provide nourishing and delicious meals. The dining hall is open Monday - Friday 7:30am - 6:00pm. Saturday & Sunday 8:30am-6:00pm during the academic year for your convenience. See here for more details on food services.
Student Lounge:
The student lounge is located on the second floor of the Student Centre. The lounge’s comfy couches are inviting! The lounge is open until midnight every night of the week, and is used for studying, playing games, fellowship and tends to be the “hub” of campus. The fire place is a great place to sit on rainy days and the email kiosks allow you to stay connected to family and friends!
Prayer Chapel:
Located off of the lounge, the prayer chapel provides space for individual or corporate prayer. The prayer chapel has also housed the “24/7 prayer” events and allowed for creative inspiration from our students.
Commuter Lounge:
See more info on the Commuter Lounge here.
Career Centre:
This important resource is designed to help students in all area of career/life planning and can help you by providing you with:
- Individual Career counseling and assessment
- On campus work opportunities
- Off campus work opportunities / Job Board
- Information about specific occupations and fields of work
- Information about specific training programs, and educational Institutions
- Help in writing a resume or cover letter
Be sure to stop by and talk to the Director of the Career Centre, Karin Gregory, or a Career Centre Intern. They will help connect you with the services and information you need. You will find them in the Career Centre on the upper level of the Student Centre. Check the Career Centre for hours of operation and spend some time investing in your future!
Columbia Place
Columbia Place, our Athletics Centre is home to our Bearcats. Featuring 2 full-size courts and seating for 1200, a state of the art Fitness Centre, Athletic Therapy Room, Team Room, Classroom and more!
See here for more information regarding Athletics and Columbia Place.
Extras
Email Kiosks:
Small computer labs in the Career Centre and Commuter Lounge also provide workspace for research and information services. Numerous LAN ports are available throughout the Library and Commuter lounge for those who would rather “plug in” then use our wireless option or workstations. E-mail kiosks are available in the Student Centre Building second floor lounge area. Printing is available at the Library, Career Centre and Commuter Lounge Labs.
Parking:
Bringing a car to campus? Check here to see what you need to do to arrange parking.
(Out-of-BC) Auto Insurance:
The laws of B.C. require out-of-province drivers to purchase BC Insurance within 30 days of arrival. However, students registered at a post secondary institution (such as Columbia) may apply for a Student Exemption Permit from ICBC.
Procedure: Call ICBC at 1-800-665-4336 in Canada and 1-800-661-1866 in the US, or 604-443-4624 ext 4624 in either country. Identify yourself as an out-of-province driver studying at Columbia Bible College and ask for a "Student Exemption Permit" application to be sent to you C/0 Columbia Bible College 2940 Clearbrook Road, Abbotsford BC V2T 2Z8. Upon arrival, pick up your form from your student mailbox, fill it out and submit it immediately.
NOTE: Failure to do so could invalidate your current insurance and may result in a charge being laid against you under the Motor Vehicle Act of B.C. Also be sure to check on the expiry date of your insurance and how you can renew it if it will expire while you are studying in Canada. There is a $30 Application Fee for this, which you must submit with the Application.
Service Learning:
Throughout your college year, you will be growing spiritually in many ways and the Service Learning Program is another way to experience growth through serving. A natural outgrowth of knowing God and His Word and of worship is self-giving service (Rom 12:1). Your service will be an active expression to your faith as well as a witness to God. This also gives you an opportunity to put into action what you are learning in the classroom as well as being involved 100% in ministries and community programs who NEED and WANT YOUR involvement. For many years several of these programs have sought Columbia students for involvement and leadership for their programs.
There are various opportunities available for your consideration. Pray now that God will direct you to the assignment he has chosen for you. Some of the opportunities are as follows: Children's and Youth Sunday School, Children's Mid-week Programs, Children's Church, Children's Outreach Programs - Community Based, Junior High - Churches, Senior High - Churches, Junior and Senior High Outreach Programs , Disabled Adults and Youth - Home and Day Programs, Adult Visitation - Senior Homes, Hospitals, Support Positions - these involve helping behind the scenes and various other opportunities.
You will have a chance to read details (job descriptions, date of assignment, time involvement, transportation, etc..) about all these positions after the initial meeting. Please attend the orientation meeting that applies to you during First Week. At these meetings you will receive your syllabus, assignment pages and time sheets.
See more here regarding Service Learning.
Committees and Student Council
Student committees and Student Council exist to enhance student life. (Go to STUCO) Student Committees are always looking for active members. Be sure to keep your eyes posted for various events around campus throughout the year. There is always plenty to be involved with on campus!
