A Cooperative Education Teacher at College Heights SS has won the 2025 George King Award of Excellence from the Ontario Cooperative Education Association (OCEA).
The award, named after former OCEA President George King, was given to Barbara Omland at the 2025 OCEA Awards Banquet on April 28. Omland has been with the UGDSB since 2004 and has been at College Heights since 2008. She began teaching co-op in 2010.
“This award is meaningful because it reminds me of how many co-op teachers I have been able to work with and support throughout the province and how that has positively effected the high school experience for not only my students, but thousands of others across Ontario,” Omland says. “It’s a legacy of which I am very proud.”
The OCEA says the award “may be presented annually to an individual who has distinguished himself or herself by making an outstanding local, regional and provincial contribution to Cooperative Education and Experiential Learning over a number of years.”
“George [King] was tireless in his quest to ensure that OCEA achieved the status of a professional organization that was dedicated to ensuring the best for Cooperative Education – the best resources, the best and most qualified teachers, the best experiences for all students. George believed that no other program in our educational system impacted so directly on the relationship of school to community than Cooperative Education,” a press release from the OCEA states.