Parkland College welcomed friends of the Trades and Technology Centre to a donor recognition event Thursday at the Painted Hand Casino Parkland Room. The event, sponsored by Key Chevrolet Cadillac Buick GMC and Yorkton Toyota, was organized so that Parkland College could say thank you to the dozens of businesses, organizations, and community groups that have given to the Trades and Technology Centre capital campaign in the past 18 months.
"We have made this journey with so many wonderful partners. It has shown us that, truly, colleges build communities and communities build colleges," said Parkland College President Dr. Fay Myers.
Parkland College is 96 per cent of the way to reaching its goal of raising $5 million in the community. The event also acknowledged the Government of Saskatchewan's $10 million commitment to the project, which was officially announced in October.
The Trades and Technology Centre is designed to bring new programs and services to the Parkland Region to help sustain the economic growth of East Central Saskatchewan. The facility provides the space to train more than 350 skilled graduates per year and upgrade the skills of 2,000 workers annually.
The facility's tendering process is nearing completion. Construction is scheduled to begin early in 2014, with an opening target of September 2015. The Trades and Technology Centre will be located on the west side of Highway 9 North, between Darlington Street and York Road. The City of Yorkton generously donated the land, which is valued at upwards of $3.5 million.
New scholarships were awarded Thursday to a pair of current high school students who are planning to train at the new facility in 2015. Tate Baron of Canora Composite School and Campbell Strongquill of Sacred Heart High School in Yorkton were presented with the inaugural Trades and Technology Saskatchewan Innovation and Opportunity Scholarships. Both students are interested in pursuing careers in welding. Their $1,000 awards are conditional on their enrollment in a program to be offered at the Trades and Technology Centre (i.e. Welding, Power Engineering, Machining).
"I am pleased that Tate and Campbell want to get their training at Parkland College," Dr. Myers said. "We know that people are more likely to stay and build a life here if they can learn here - and this is a fantastic accomplishment for all of us to mark."
About Parkland College:
Since its inception in 1973, Parkland College has worked to expand the philosophy of life-long learning in East Central Saskatchewan. Among the seven basic principles upon which the community college system was founded is the idea that programs are to be developed in response to the needs of the community. Today, Parkland College offers a broad spectrum of educational services from trades training and high school upgrading to the province's most diverse off-campus university offerings.
