THUNDER BAY -- Fifty years ago this September, Confederation College opened its doors in Thunder Bay.
It starting out as a one-room schoolhouse on May Street, and has now grown into a wide-ranging campus, with tens of thousands of alumni.
College officials kicked off their 50th anniversary celebrations Wednesday night.
Coun. Frank and alumni Frank Pullia has fond memories of the college and considers it a tremendous asset for the community.
"It’s very important because when I came to Thunder Bay I was seventeen. I came to the college first,” Pullia said.
“It has a special place for me because it was very welcoming and that tradition continues in welcoming indigenous students and international students."
Faculty and students from the past and present gathered in the Ryan Hall, among them was past president Pat Lang.
Lang says she is proud of her accomplishments during her time as President, for which she was named to the Order of Canada for and is happy to see the direction the college has taken since her retirement.
"Well you know if I have a regret, it’s that I didn't feel, under my leadership, we did enough to meet the needs of the aboriginal learners across Northwest Ontario,” Lang said.
“I really see that the new president and the board has taken that very seriously and are working very diligently to make an even greater difference."
Current president Jim Madder said when the college first opened there were nine programs and just over 200 students, that has since grown to 58 programs with 34,000 graduates.
"Colleges are known for their ability to respond to what community needs,” Madder said.
“One is growing that range of programming, and then within our programming, see we just talked about broadcasting. Doing the necessary changes to make it moving ahead and make it the front edge of what that industry looks like."
Madder added that they recently partnered with other colleges to allow Confederation to increase the amount of programs offered at the college and to expand he programs offered throughout the region.
More events are planned for September including a homecoming reunion and Madder is hoping that will coincide with the opening of the new Health and Wellness Centre that is being built on campus.
(TBT News)
