Ontario Colleges’ 50th anniversary trailer stops at Loyalist

By Jenna Leslie

BELLEVILLE – Loyalist College was the 11th stop for the Ontario Colleges’ 50th anniversary trailer on Wednesday.

The 50th anniversary campus tour coordinator, Eleni Rouvas, said that Loyalist’s turnout for the tour was great. She estimated that over one hundred people had stopped by in the first hour of its opening.

Rouvas said that she hopes students who participate will learn how far their college has come in the last 50 years and that they really appreciate the level of education that they are getting.

“We’re celebrating its history and successes and we’re really focusing on where the colleges have been, where they are today and where they’re going tomorrow,” said Rouvas.

The 42-foot trailer is filled with different activities and interactive exhibits for visitors to try.

One of the displays is a timeline of some of Ontario Colleges’ greatest milestones as well as significant historical events and technological advancements that have taken place in the world over the past 50 years.

There is also display on the different environmental initiatives that each college has taken over the years. The interactive touch screen allows guests to tap on each of the 24 colleges in the province and see what steps it has taken towards environmental sustainability over the past 50 years.

The exhibit includes a description of Loyalist’s partnership with local conservation authorities and schools to preserve watersheds in the Quinte region. This year, over 1,000 trees and shrubs being planted, seven acres of land being reclaimed and native pollinators planted throughout garden beds around the campus.

The tour also involves an interactive display featuring some of the colleges’ most successful alumni. The exhibit features Loyalist College’s very own Joe Roberts. The business graduate went from a homeless, drug addicted youth in the streets of Vancouver to now being the CEO of Mindware Design Communications. Roberts was named one of Business in Vancouver’s Top 40 Under 40, one of McLean’s Magazine’s 10 Canadians Who Make a Difference, and recently received an honorary doctorate from Laurentian University.

To finish off the tour, visitors are able to go head-to-head in a gameshow style quiz. Questions revolve around pop culture and Ontario Colleges trivia.

Loyalist College President Ann Marie Vaughan stopped by to take the tour.

“I think the tour is amazing. It really opens up everyone’s eyes to the impact that colleges right across Ontario have made in the last 50 years,” she said.

“It allows us to think back to the last 50 years but it also allows us to think about how exciting it will be going forward. The world is changing and continues to change around us and college is uniquely positioned to respond to that,” said President Vaughan.

The trailer’s next stop is at Fleming College in Peterborough on Thursday.

The tour is travelling to each college across the province until its last stop at St. Lawrence College in Kingston on Nov. 3.

Map by Vanessa Stark, QNet News