The recent ‘official’ opening of Parkland College’s new Trades and Technology Centre was an opportunity to pause for a moment and appreciate just what years of effort finally created.
It took a lot of time behind the scenes planning the new centre, working with the Province to get the green light, and core funding, then more time and effort to raise the local share of dollars, all of which finally fell into place allowing the build to go forward.
Dr. Fay Myers, past-president of the College noted planning began six years ago, and she said much of the very early planning involved talking to people and finding out what they needed for their industry.
The result is a $19 million facility which allows the college to better meet the needs of students from through the Parkland region and beyond.
The facility has actually been in use for several weeks now, with about 100 students taking classes, with plans for 300 training spaces, as programming comes on stream.
The importance of the new Centre is obvious, it will allow Parkland College to offer more programs, as well as offering more in-depth programming and allowing students more time to get practical experience with equipment. As an example, while the Power Engineering lab, one of the cornerstones of the new college, is not completely finished, Dwayne Reeve, president of the college noted at the opening it will be one of the best facilities in the province. The lab is expected to open Feb. 1, 2016.
While local area students gain access to more educational opportunities, industry also benefits from the new centre.
Minister of Advanced Education Scott Moe said regional colleges like Parkland fill demands across the province for skilled workers for industry.
In a province which is seeing a growing diversity in industry it is critical there is an adaptive education facility which can move to help educate people to fill new jobs as they are created.
But as much as the recent official opening was a time to shake hands on a job well-done, it should not be looked at as the end of the journey, but truly more of a first step, albeit a giant one.
There has always been mention of the current expansion being a Phase I, and that more is needed.
The needs are clearly two-fold.
On the one hand there is a need to add more space for yet more educational opportunities. The larger the college base becomes, the better for students in the region.
And then there is an identified need for student housing, an area the province is not likely to fund at all, meaning the College will need to forge new and unique partnerships to go down that road. Still, once affordable student housing is part of the college it will open the doors to students attending from further afield and create a more complete post-secondary education experience.
Considering it took years to take the germ of an idea of the current centre through the funding, build and opening stage, the work on Phase II, III and beyond needs to be ongoing for the betterment of the city, region and province.
