Local college reflections on past year

Parkland College Year in Review 2016

Parkland College continued to grow and reached new milestones in 2016. From new ground in academic research and international education projects to a new strategic plan and being named one of Saskatchewan’s Top Employers, it was another successful year at the College.

January 2016

The Government of Canada awarded a two-year research grant to Parkland College to study bonding and attachment in school-age students. Through a partnership with Good Spirit School Division and Yorkton Tribal Council schools, Education and Social Work students at Parkland College are able to interact with children in grades 5 to 8 to find out what factors help children stay in school as they enter the teenage years.

February 2016

Parkland College was named one of Saskatchewan’s Top Employers for 2016 in an annual competition organized by Mediacorp Canada Inc. The contest recognizes the Saskatchewan employers that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work.

The College welcomed three new members to its Board of Governors: Don Bahrey of Canora, Brian Hicke of Melville, and Leonard Keshane of Yorkton. Bahrey would later step down as he moved out of the Parkland region.

March 2016

Nineteen lifelong learners graduated from a six-week computer training course. Through a partnership with New Horizons Senior Citizens of Yorkton, the students came to the College’s main campus each Friday to pick up the basics of computers, file management, email, the Internet, and social media, among other topics. According to New Horizons, this kind of computer training is in high demand.

The College awarded over $75,000 in Internal Scholarships to 68 students from across East Central Saskatchewan. It marked the second straight year that Parkland College awarded over $190,000 in scholarships in an academic year.

April 2016

Some Yorkton high school students visited the Trades and Technology Centre to get a firsthand glimpse of the education and training options that are available close to their homes. The students put a particular focus on the College’s state-of-the-art welding and fabrication shop, where they were introduced to some welding techniques with new technology that is not available at their high schools.

May 2016

Student representatives met in Kamsack for the College’s first ever Student Advisory Leadership Conference (SALC). The conference brought together about 30 Adult Basic Education Student Advisory members from the College’s locations in Yorkton, Melville, Fort Qu’Appelle, and Kamsack. The SALC is an effort to engage students and to encourage them to make positive changes to their learning experience.

Parkland College helped organize the Working Together Career Fair in Yorkton, an initiative of Yorkton Tribal Council. Hundreds of students attended to find out more about future career and education options available in the region and across Saskatchewan. Saskatoon rock band One Bad Son provided a live acoustic performance.

June 2016

Parkland College held its annual graduation ceremony June 10 in Yorkton to congratulate and celebrate 323 students who successfully completed one of more than 20 programs offered at the College in 2015-16. The graduates represented 58 communities, and included students from Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia.

The College completed a three-year international education partnership in Belize. The project developed a new Associate Degree in Applied Agriculture at the University of Belize. Parkland College assumed the lead role on gender mainstreaming strategies, developing training and materials for career guidance, and social marketing strategies and implementation.

The 11th annual Dollars for Scholars Golf Classic raised over $21,500 for scholarships at Parkland College. It was the fifth straight year that the event raised over $20,000.  About 115 golfers participated and dozens of sponsors contributed to the event’s success.

July 2016

Parkland College and East Central Research Foundation (ECRF) welcomed more than 50 farmers, agriculture professionals, and industry representatives to their fourth annual research farm field day near Yorkton. Numerous research trials were conducted over the summer on wheat, oats, canary seed, soybeans, fava beans, lentils, flax, and quinoa.

August 2016

Parkland College was granted up to $200,000 in government funding to further develop the College’s Emergency Services Training Site near Melville. The federal-provincial joint funding will help cover the cost of installing an electrical and pressurized water system at the training site to ensure the continued success of the College’s emergency services programming.

September 2016

The College awarded almost $89,000 in Entrance Scholarships to 18 students from across East Central Saskatchewan, putting the College on pace to award close to $200,000 in scholarships in the 2016-17 academic year.

Indigenous Education students travelled to Keeseekoose First Nation to participate in a culture camp. The four-day learning experience is one of the many cultural components of the teaching degree from First Nations University of Canada.

October 2016

Parkland College launched a new strategic plan to help guide its education and training efforts to 2020. The new plan hinges on embedding indigenization into the strategic framework and operations of the College to better serve the education and training needs of indigenous people. The strategic plan is the result of nearly a year of consultations with students, staff, stakeholders, and communities in the Parkland region.

About 40 Yorkton high school students visited the Trades and Technology Centre as part of the first ever Agriculture Career Crawl. The day-long event was hosted by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and included pub crawl-like stops at several businesses in Yorkton. The Trades and Technology Centre visit gave students information about the hands-on training opportunities and university study options available at the College.

November 2016

The second Student Advisory Leadership Conference (SALC) of the year took place in Yorkton. About 20 Student Advisory members from across the College took part in team building exercises and learning activities to bolster their leadership skills.

More than 2,000 high school students from the Parkland region attended Career Explorations 2016 at the Gallagher Centre in Yorkton. The seventh annual education and career fair attracted about 80 exhibitors from Saskatchewan, Western Canada, and North Dakota.

December 2016

Parkland College successfully concluded an 18-month international project in Jamaica. A youth skills development program gave over 600 Jamaican youth the skills to transition to further education or directly into employment. The project is a milestone for Parkland College. While the College has gained experience with several international projects over the past few years, this was the first time the College took a lead role in project execution.