Students trickle into Medicine Hat College on Tuesday for new student orientation.--NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
Fall is one of the most exciting times to be on campus at Medicine Hat College. It’s a big deal for everybody – students, faculty, staff and administration.
“Last year, I brought everyone together and celebrated the start of a new year. We talked about who we are as a college and what we are looking forward to in the upcoming year,” stated president and CEO Kevin Shufflebotham. “Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet with a whole bunch of our student athletes and welcome them to the institution. This year is especially positive as well because our applications are up and our enrolment is up so it’s a good-news story.”
Exact numbers won’t be known until students arrive, but trends over the past few years show MHC turning a corner.
“It speaks to the relevancy of our programs,” he said.
Before the pandemic, numbers were stable then declined for a few years and are now trending up.
“We are trending in the right direction, which is related to relevancy so I’m super excited about that. When I think about relevancy and the year ahead, I think it will be about more community connections and to grow to create more opportunities, both inside and outside classrooms.”
Last year, MHC started three new programs: Service Dog and Canine Studies, Sport and Event Marketing and Management and Sustainable Innovation.
“Those first-year students are now going into their second year,” said Shufflebotham. “This year I am so looking forward to seeing them cross the stage at convocation. It will be the first time so I’m exceptionally positive about that.
“The demand for those programs is still high. I think, again, when we speak about relevancy, we are offering programs that students in the region want, and I think that is so important.”
Great things are happening in the athletics department at MHC, the president says. This is the first year they have a Rattlers women’s hockey team that are part of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
“The puck will drop on Oct. 7 (for the first home game) and I know that because that’s my anniversary. This is really important,” said Shufflebotham. “There were women athletes leaving the community to play hockey in other communities and we provided an opportunity for them. I am so looking forward to watching all our athletes, but especially this one. This is a first for MHC and it is really exciting.”
Connecting students, faculty and employers together and allowing them to work collaboratively on solutions that matter to this region is important to MHC.
“This is a real important piece for a comprehensive community college and I think it focuses around regional vitality,” he said.
Studies such as the Living Labs Urban Tree Study and Myco-Remediation are only two of the C4i projects currently being undertaken at the Centre for Innovation at MHC.
“What I really love about this is these are community problems and we connect faculty and students to work on them together. It benefits the community, it benefits the students’ learning experience and it benefits the faculty members. It’s a real win-win for all.”
Shufflebotham added that MHC is proud to be a comprehensive community college and remains learner focused and regionally aligned.
“I firmly believe we are stronger when we work with the region.”
Tuesday was new student orientation, with a morning and afternoon session. All students will be back on campus today for the start of classes.
