New and returning students celebrate the first day of school at Red Deer College

Over 7,500 students filled the hallways at Red Deer College today for the first day back to classes.

RDC Associate Vice President – Academic, Steve Lane, said the orientation also held this week saw over 1,200 new students entering the school eager to begin learning.

With the addition of two new programs this year, the Instrumentation Technology Diploma and the Human Resources Graduate Certificate, Red Deer College now boasts over 100 programs.

“Those two [programs] in particular are an attempt to respond to an industry trend on the instrumentation side and then what we think is a growth area for the human resources and other management certificates. We think this graduate certificate model is something we can exploit and perhaps roll out a number of varieties over the next couple of years,” said Lane.

Student Association President William Baliko said he’s excited to see the hallways bustling after a quiet summer and wants new and returning students to know there’s so much going on and to check their student handbooks for event dates and information.

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“[The Student’s Association has] a lot of different services ranging from things as simple as lockers… to more in depth like our student food bank we run. We also offer a number of mental health services, different training workshops, as well as we are tackling the fentanyl crisis,” said Baliko.

Baliko added that the fentanyl crisis is an issue not to be left untouched and that they’ve worked in conjunction with community members and Alberta Health Services as well as the centre on campus to get naloxone kits on campus. They’re also working to train some individuals on campus how to use them so they can be adequately prepared for any incidents.

Joel Ward, RDC President and CEO, said the college has seen significant growth over the last couple of years, saying, “The economy is now turning around and growth is back to normal.”

Ward added that the new maker space and new programs and facilities are providing great new opportunities for the learners at the college.

As usual, Ward said that certain programs have wait lists again this year including nursing, Bachelor of Education and the Business Administration.

The trades programs have finally leveled out after a dip in the economy and are seeing enrollment of almost 3,000 students this year.

Other exciting things on the college campus include the construction of the new Alternative Energy lab with an expected completion date for next school year. “It’s really an incredible piece of new addition to our institution.”

The impact of University and degree granting status would be felt not only in Red Deer, but also in the region, said Ward. He said the change would have a great impact economically, culturally and socially.

“I think what will happen is in our region our participation rates, and that means opportunities for students to come to post-secondary, are some of the lowest in the country. We believe the reason for that is lack of opportunity in certain programming, particularly in degrees. So we know once we get degree granting status and start that process that our enrollment will continue to grow dramatically.”

He added that the economy would be greatly impacted and it would open up possibilities for students in the region to attend post-secondary institutions.

“Students who can’t afford to go to Edmonton or Calgary or other places will be able to complete their education right here. It’s our time, it needs to happen, and we believe that it will happen this time.”