Mohawk College students have their first homework assignment: uploading their vaccination status

Mohawk College students have their first homework assignment: uploading their vaccination status before they arrive on campus next Wednesday.

Approximately 9,500 students are required to upload their information, or request an exemption, through the college’s app or website.

Chief operating officer Paul Armstrong says Mohawk is still waiting on about half of them.

“We’re starting to get worried that there will be some disappointed students next week, when they may not be able to enter the campus for their classes and labs,” Armstrong says. “We really just need them to get on to our app and on to our website and upload the information we need.”

Armstrong says it’s a “fairly simple” process, but one that needs to be done ahead of time to ensure no one is turned away.

“That would be unfortunate,” Armstrong says. “Ultimately, we don’t want people to be impacted, or people to not be able to make it to class.”

Mohawk College has also announced the creation of a new three-year strategic plan.

College president Ron McKerlie says there will be an increased focus on climate action, truth and reconciliation, and equity, diversity and inclusion.

He says the strategic plan, the result of a “wide-ranging consultation,” also places attention on recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, both for the college and for the community.

“A lot of it relates to making sure we’re training for the new jobs, the relevant jobs for tomorrow,” McKerlie says. “Part of it, though, is just helping people transition out of jobs that they’ve lost during the pandemic.”