Lethbridge College hosts in-person open house for first time in almost two years

By Herald on October 28, 2021.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Prospective students take part in the in-person portion of the Lethbridge College Fall Open House on Thursday.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman – Lethbridge Herald

Lethbridge College Fall Open House took place Thursday in a hybrid manner, for the first time in almost two years. This year representatives of all program areas were at the Val Matteotti Gymnasium to answer the questions of those able to attend in person, and also had live interviews for those attending virtually. 

“This is the first time that we have been able to welcome future students to campus in almost two years, and we are here in the college gymnasium with representation from all of our program areas, we are offering tours, we have our LCSA available with clubs and there is our services for students fair offered as well for prospective students,” said Lindsay Workman, associate dean of student affairs at Lethbridge College. 

Workman added that people were on campus to experience what Lethbridge College might be like for them. 

“For those who are unable to be here in person we are also very pleased to be offering our open house virtual edition where we have a line up of live interviews with our program areas so that future students are able to ask questions from our expert faculty members and get all the information that they need to decide to become a Lethbridge College student,” said Workman

Application costs were half price during the open house, and students who applied to the college during the open house time frame paid 50 per cent of the application fee. The college was also offering three $500 tuition credits to students who applied by means of a draw. 

“The college has done an amazing job of moving our events and activities online as a result of the pandemic but we are so pleased and excited to be able to welcome students to campus. There is just such a great vibrant energy happening and it is just a great way to build that connection and maybe meet other people that are interested in what you are interested in, have a face to face contact and ask those questions, those individual questions that you may have to the experts in whatever you are interested in,” said Workman.

 Workman also mentioned that even though the college has experienced some challenges over the last couple of years as a result of the pandemic, it has done an incredible job of continuing to offer educational experiences to students, last year mostly virtually and now they are able to offer most classes in person. 

“As a result of the pandemic there was a slight decrease in our enrolment but less than a difference of a hundred students, from the previous year and then off course because now we are into our second year of the pandemic there is a slight difference in enrolment as a result of that, so a few less students that are going to that second year of study as a result and especially in terms of the international enrolment, there was travel restrictions and additional things that prevented many international students from attending,” said Workman.

She added that some international students were able to attend virtually but for those who needed to be on campus, the travel restrictions have had an impact, but now that many of those restrictions have been eased they are already seeing the results of that by having more of those students applying to return.

“And just based on what we are seeing here today, the buzz of all activity and the application numbers that are rolling in for both January and September, I feel like students are really excited to get back into learning and coming to college,” said Workman.

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