Due to a significant reduction in international student enrolment and a decline in operational grant funding from the Alberta government, Olds College is suspending intake into three program areas for the fall 2025 term:

• Agriculture technology integration (post-diploma certificate)

• Craft beverage and brewery operations (diploma)

• Hospitality and tourism management (certificate, diploma, post-diploma certificate)

As well, intake into the business management diploma three-day cohort on campus and the business management diploma at Concordia University College (Edmonton) are also suspended.

“Olds College remains committed to providing high-quality education, experiences and support to our students,” Debbie Thompson, Olds College interim president, said in a news release Feb. 27.

“In order to navigate the growing demands and complex issues in the post-secondary system, we’ve been reviewing our program mix to ensure we align with industry needs, student demand and institutional priorities to ensure long-term stability for Olds College. The educational journey and success of our students remain our top priority.”

Olds College will continue with second-year courses for the affected programs for current students as they complete their studies.

IRCC announced in January 2024, that a cap would be set on international student permit applications for the next two years. In 2024, that cap was set at approximately 360,000 approved study permits, which was a decrease of 35 per cent from the previous year.

However, in reality that number ended up being around 280,000 approved permits. Only 91,000 of those were approved for new students in post-secondary institutions.

In January 2025, IRCC announced it expects a 10 per cent decrease in permit approvals from the previous year.

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Frank Robinson started at the U of A in 1986, specializing in poultry production and physiology. He’s a longtime believer in “experiential” learning.

To celebrate Robinson’s teaching style and legacy, a group of interested individuals came together to create Frank Robinson Youth Academy for Nature, Environment and Feeding the World (FRYA). The official opening was celebrated during a reception at the University of Alberta this spring.

“We’ve long been supporters of the programs that seize upon the opportunity to provide hands-on experiential learning so the students and teachers can relate to what is being taught in the classroom and bring it to the world of work,” said Eric Newell, chancellor emeritus (2004-2008), and a member of the Newell Family Foundation, a major donor to the program. Plans for FRYA have been in development since December 2022. Newell said he and his family see the value of internships and workshops, which can be a stepping stone to a rewarding career.

• RELATED: Ag resources for teachers released

“We can’t gloss over the work that Frank Robinson has been doing with the university programs like Heifer in your Tank and the very successful Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences (ALES) mini-internship programs. The outcome of all this is students getting a tangible work experience to put on their resumés, and in most cases, receive confirmation that their learning is relevant. A very high percentage of them get their start in careers because of it.”

Newell said Robinson is widely known and respected as an inspirational voice for youth and students. “These unique, inspirational people like Frank Robinson… can take interesting experiences and make them awesome. They just inspire a huge passion for learning. It is a huge factor in making for a good student experience.”

He said FRYA’s creation is a well-deserved recognition for Robinson. It will focus on education and building youth futures as well as supporting young Canadian leaders and engaging them in real-world issues.

In addition to the ALES mini-internship program, the academy will include activities for students from kindergarten to Grade 12. They will receive hands-on learning, not just in agriculture, but in forestry, agri-foods and environmental sciences.

The ‘spark moment’

Robinson took the podium at the event and talked about the “spark moment,” when things shift and people get a new understanding of their career opportunities.

“Do you think the next generation will have the same diversity of experiences that you have? COVID kind of messed things up. People did a lot more things online and there was a lot less human interaction. We’ve cut out a lot of opportunities for experiential learning due to budget cuts. I just worry that if we aren’t working hard to make more initiatives.”

Robinson noted the development of There’s a Heifer in Your Tank program, which was part of Animal Science 200. Students had to answer questions about agriculture and explain the answers to the public. Over 10 years, 1,000 students completed the program. Presentations for the There’s a Heifer in Your Tank were held at the University of Alberta, as well as at communities all over rural Alberta.

The mini-internship program began in 2016 when a student lamented that she could not get a summer job in agriculture because she had no experience. Robinson put together a three-day program that ran during fall and spring reading weeks. Two interns were placed at a farm, in government offices or in other places where they could gain experience.

Since the fall of 2016, 995 students have participated in the mini-internships. The program helped students gain confidence, gave them new contacts and experiences and helped them network and gain summer employment. The mini-internships are now being handled by two staff, Vicky Horn and Allie Dunlop. Horn is more knowledgeable about agriculture, while Dunlop has a background in environmental sciences.

Several goals

FRYA chair Susan Schafers, a former egg farmer, said the organization has several goals. One is promoting food security. The second is building connections with youth and nature.

“We want to make sure that we are supporting and enhancing cultural diversity in the agricultural and environmental sectors. And we want to have some of these hands-on experiential learning opportunities that have youth consider careers in agriculture and the environment.”

Schafers said the mini-internships will be the flagship of FRYA. Educational programs have been developed at the dairy unit and at the Pig Science Centre on the University of Alberta’s south campus farm. There are also plans to create an educational program for students to work with poultry. FRYA will interface between a university and science setting, and figure out the best practices to teach to students, teachers, resource people and industry people.

“We want to encourage teachers and help them if there are ideas about how to teach students creatively to develop a spark moment. That’s what we want to do and that’s what FRYA is going to be doing,” Schafers said, noting that Robinson is slowly transitioning to retirement.

“I think the organization was formed to really take and build on Frank’s legacy. How can we continue all the work he started, continue it on in a structured way, in a way that could be more sustainable financially?”

The group has several donors aside from the Newell Family Foundation, and plans to apply for federal funding. “We’re in the starting phase. We’re developing a work plan for the next two to three years, trying to figure out some programming that would happen in the spring and in the summer over at south campus,” Schafers said.

Since the organization is so new, there are also a lot of logistics to figure out. FRYA hopes to partner with organizations outside of animal agriculture.

“Having the breadth of industry, you’re not just focused on primary agriculture. We want to open the whole continuum that is about science, nature and feeding the world. There are so many facets to that. I think we’re just starting,” Schafers said.

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“My goal is to get them dirty, and I get them really dirty,” said Gorim, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta and the Western Grains Research Foundation chair in cropping systems.

Her field crop agronomy course was created to fill a gap in the university’s ag program.

“We had no core agronomy course and the industry had said the program did not have experiential learning attached to it,” said Gorim, noting the course begins with an extended one-week-long field trip.

“This is not a ‘fun’ field trip. This is a ‘getting dirty’ field trip. It’s a combination of teaching students hard core agronomy and exposure to field experience.”

Many students were taking courses without setting foot on farms, including those from other countries who came here to learn about Canadian farming methods, she said.

“Most of the students come from countries where they are seen as experts,” said Gorim. “They come from government scholarships from those countries. It is not fair for them to come and watch videos.”

Students can see farming activities on the U of A’s south campus in Edmonton, but that is not adequate, she added.

“They need to see what a combine does, what a farmer in Canada drives, and climb on the tractor and see it and see all the processes, how the combine cuts through the crop, and where does the crop go,” she said. “Those are the things that I want them to touch and see.”

That includes exercises in identifying issues such as nutrient deficiency and clubroot, learning about seed treatments, how different seeding depths affect plant development, and seeing production practices such as grain drying.

The field tour stops included research projects conducted by the Gateway Research Organization in Westlock and Battle River Research Group near Forestburg, as well as the university’s Breton Plots, the nearly century-old research facility in Brazeau County. The students also visited an irrigated operation and seed retailer near Bow Island.

Getting to various parts of the province is important, said Gorim.

“That’s really intentional. Students who grew up on farms in central Alberta have no clue that there are people who grow up on farms in the same province growing crops in irrigation systems,” she said.

“I am surprised that students will get degrees from the same province, and they don’t even know what is happening in the province.”

The course attracts students from both city and farm. In her first year of teaching the course, Gorim had five urban students and two rural, although in the second year, 12 of 14 students came from farms.

Although she brings in “quite a number of agronomists and farmers to the classroom,” she said nothing matches learning in the field. For example, looking at photos of insect damage in a textbook is far different than what is encountered in the field.

“In the field, it’s not that clear cut,” she said. “This makes them work and learn.”

Of course, students have a bit of help — from one of the top bug experts in the province. Boyd Mori, assistant professor in agricultural and ecological entomology, joins the field trip and shows the students how to sweep for insects and identify them.

Farmers are also big part of the curriculum. At a stop near Camrose, the students meet with a group of producers that Gorim has invited to participate.

When producers come to the classroom, they might talk about bookkeeping or how to track profitability or about what’s involved when moving from traditional conventional agriculture to regenerative farming or about technology that’s used on farms.

But hearing the personal experiences of farmers resonates, said Gorim.

“I’ve got a lot of encouraging feedback from the students, from the farmers, from the scientific community,” she said. “This is agronomy. It impacts the students and the farmers. These will be their future employers.

“I think getting this in the classroom puts them in a better position.”

The course has received grants from the Western Grains Research Foundation, Alberta Wheat and Barley and Alberta Canola because funding is needed to support the field trip portion of the course, said Gorim.

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“This school gives us the opportunity to do things that we never thought we would do,” said Jessica Vert, a recently graduated Grade 9 student who runs the Facebook page for the Altario Agriculture Academy.

“It put us on the map and improves our learning. More kids are coming to the school because of this, and more kids are learning about it and what we’re all about.”

The idea was born one day when Kevin Van Langen was talking to students who all planned to attend the same college to take an agriculture program. He is the principal of both Altario School near the Saskatchewan border and Consort School, 50 kilometres to the west.

“We realized that we needed to expand their understandings of opportunities in agriculture,” he said. “We talked about it for a while as staff. We came together as a community and said, ‘We do agriculture really well, let’s embrace it and let’s do something really special with it.’”

Along with the small garden, they planned agriculture theme days and eventually decided to raise some steers.

“That was kind of when things started to take off,” said Van Langen.

In spring 2019, the school auctioned one of its steers — nine times — and raised $39,585. The school division had purchased a barn for the school, so with the extra money, they built pastures and began to acquire animals.

“The farm started in an old outdoor skating rink, and it’s about triple the size of that now,” said Van Langen.

Since its founding, the project has transitioned into a student-led farm, and now there are students managing pigs, cows, chickens, quail, turkey and sheep. The Grade 7 to 12 students are in leadership roles, but every child is involved with the farm. Students can also take on other roles and learn business skills such as accounting.

“We’re giving kids an opportunity to do things at the junior and senior high level before they go to post-secondary and spend thousands and thousands on a program and realize they aren’t that interested in it,” said Van Langen.

This year the school acquired a Growcer — an indoor farm housed in a shipping container — that can supply fresh produce year-round for 150 families.

“We have grown lots of leafy plants like lettuce and kale, and some plants I had never heard of, like bok choy,” said Vert, who was in Grade 5 when the farm started and has served as sheep manager and worked in the barn.

She also works in The Hive, a store the school opened this year, which is (of course) run by the students. In addition to selling produce and eggs, The Hive has become a community hub.

“The Ukrainian ladies who have immigrated here, they sell baking,” said Vert. “There’s a group that makes perogies and cabbage rolls. They put them in the store and we sell them for them and they get their profits from it.”

The multiple initiatives that are part of the Altario Agriculture Academy have changed the dynamic in the school and community, said Van Langen.

“Students love the responsibility and love the interaction and love to do things a little differently at school. And love coming to school because they have this responsibility outside of the classroom,” he said. “The community loves the viability of the project and how exciting it is for the students, the school, and the community.”

And they’re not just watching from a distance.

“For every part of our farm, we have a community mentor who has expertise,” said Van Langen. “We have veterinarians and professors come in, and experts in seed and feed. The agriculture industry loves this kind of stuff, so they are extremely supportive.”

Prior to the farm initiative, it was projected the school’s enrolment would shrink to only 33 students by this year. Instead, it stands at twice that number, with new students coming from outside the immediate area.

The turnaround has not gone unnoticed.

“Over the years, a lot of our rural schools get smaller and smaller, so a small school turning things around and doing more and starting to grow is really great for the community,” said Van Langen.

“We probably give a tour every other week to schools in Alberta or Saskatchewan. There are several schools in Alberta that have kind of started doing what we are doing here.”

The list of schools with their own agriculture programs now includes the Irvine Agriculture Discovery Centre and the New Humble Community School in Calmar, as well as other schools in Round Hill and Mountain View County.

Van Langen has also revitalized the Consort School by starting a baseball program.

He has a few words of wisdom for people looking to revitalize rural schools.

“Embrace your local identity and lean on local expertise,” he said. “Don’t try to be something you’re not, because it’s not going to work.

“When you build a program based solely on staff, staff leave. The community doesn’t. You build the program based on the community.”

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The degree program, which is unique to Lethbridge College, begins in September 2021 and offers opportunities for career development, a path to further education and hands-on research opportunities, while focusing on the science of agriculture.

Lethbridge College’s Bachelor of Agriculture Science is a flexible program that ladders out of the current Agriculture Sciences diploma program. The program is the only of its kind in southern Alberta and is comparable to Bachelor of Science degree programs offered at the University of Alberta and University of Saskatchewan. The new Bachelor of Agriculture Science program is recognized by the Alberta Institute of Agrologists, meaning students will earn a Professional Agrologist designation following graduation. The program also prepares students to pursue further MSc and PhD training.

“When developing new programs, the needs of industry are at the forefront and the Bachelor of Agriculture Science will support the entire agriculture sector,” says Dr. Paula Burns, Lethbridge College President and CEO. “By focusing on the science of agriculture, this program supports sustainable, innovative and responsible agriculture and appeals to students from a wide variety of backgrounds who want to make a difference in feeding the world.”

Students studying Agriculture Science at Lethbridge College have flexibility when it comes to their educational path. Students in the two-year diploma program have a common first-year curriculum, before choosing to major in Agriculture Business, Agronomy or Animal Science in the second year. Students may then choose to earn an additional diploma with just one extra year of study, or they may choose to pursue a Bachelor of Agriculture Science degree with two more years of study.

In addition to theory and classroom-based learning opportunities, Agriculture Science students in both the diploma and degree programs have many applied learning opportunities as well, including working with the college-managed Alberta Irrigation Technology Centre and research collaborations with Farming Smarter.

Dr. Samantha Lenci, Lethbridge College Provost and Vice President, adds that this new degree option “supports the current and future direction of programming of the college that encompasses trades to degrees.”

“This new degree will link our academic program with our expanded agriculture research on special crops and irrigation that are specific to southern Alberta, creating an excellent learning opportunity for students,” adds Dr. Terry Kowalchuk, Dean of the Centre for Technology, Environment and Design. “We are also excited about the strong focus on business and communication skills, as well as the connection students will make with our community and industry partners as they work to complete the degree. We can’t wait to welcome students to this new program this fall.”

Students pursuing the Bachelor of Agriculture Science program will also have opportunities to be involved in hands-on applied research through the Centre for Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Integrated Agriculture Technology Centre. With leading researchers in irrigation, agricultural engineering technology and aquaponics, Lethbridge College students will be able to work closely with industry on real-world issues.

“Industry is asking for a new graduate,” says Byrne Cook, chair of the School of Agriculture. “There is a demand for fundamentals in plant and soil science combined with a strong understanding of data-driven agriculture. Every year there is new smart agriculture technology and opportunity.”

Cook adds: “Our students will have the scientific background to not only manage and adapt these geospatial tools and sensors to specific production settings, they will also determine return on investment. Using the latest interpretive tools graduates will prescribe solutions to soil, moisture, pest, fertility, topography and crop rotation variability. This combination of knowledge in agronomy and data analysis will create a graduate unique to Western Canada.”

Lethbridge College has offered agriculture education since 1965. Previous graduates of the college’s Agriculture Sciences programs are eligible to enrol in the Bachelor of Agriculture Science program for Fall 2021. To learn more, visit lethbridgecollege.ca/AgScienceDegree.

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The centre is used by more than 550 agricultural sciences students, as well as those in environmental sciences and human services programs.

The funding will be used for energy efficiency measures, collaborative student spaces and the addition of new classrooms.

Enrolment in the college’s agricultural sciences program has grown 100 per cent since 2010. — Lakeland College

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But with post-secondary institutions shuttered by the pandemic, graduation was a small family affair.

“My family has done a great job of trying to make it a big deal, but it feels like the school year should still be going — there was no real mark to end it,” said the Olds College grad. “It was pretty weird.”

That pretty much sums up the last two months for thousands of post-secondary students across Alberta — an anticlimactic end to a school year unlike any other.

The spring semester was already winding down when a provincial public health emergency was declared March 17, but Alberta’s ag colleges and universities wasted no time coming up with a plan to deliver programs and services online.

“The amazing part for me was how quickly we were able to transition on and how relatively few problems we had once we were online,” said Geoff Brown, associate dean of agriculture sciences at Lakeland College.

“The time of year was helpful because we had covered off most of the competencies — there was only about a month of classes left. It was really just a matter of wrapping up.”

For Dyck, finishing her two-year diploma, the shift was “a struggle, but it wasn’t unbearable.”

“It wasn’t that bad. It was just weird for everybody,” she said with a laugh. “Our teachers were really good at managing it, so honestly, it didn’t really change that much, other than having no more in-class time.”

Online learning challenges

For others, like Julia McCrae, the transition was a little harder.

“I’m definitely much more of an in-person learner — I learn better if I’m able to converse,” said McCrae, who is going into her final year of a post-diploma agribusiness program at the University of Lethbridge.

“I find that, when you go in and have a conversation with a professor, it’s easier to get help. You can explain it better. So I found it was harder to get help at times.”

Students whose programs rely on labs and hands-on learning also struggled with the change.

“It was pretty tough,” said Karson Gridley, who just finished her first year in Lakeland’s crop technology program.

“It’s hard to do things online when they’re meant to be hands on, so it was difficult for a while, but toward the end, it got easier. I definitely wouldn’t want to have that as my full-time schooling, but for a month or two, it was OK.”

And for a rare few, the move to online learning was a blessing in disguise thanks to open-book exams and reduced coursework.

“I was actually one of the very, very few students where going online actually made school for me easier,” said Emmett Sawyer, who is heading into his third year in the agricultural enterprise management program at the University of Lethbridge.

“Because school went online right at the end of the semester, I moved back home and pretty much started to work on the farm. Thank goodness most of my lectures were recorded, so I’d go work for the day and then when I’d get home in the evenings, I’d watch my lectures and take some notes.

“I would say I’m that one per cent where I was almost thankful for this for happening because it made schooling a little bit easier for me.”

Summer job hunting

Sawyer also had good luck with his summer job hunt. He was offered a summer sales position in November, so he had a job waiting for him at Corteva when the pandemic hit.

“I still had a job once all these COVID restrictions were put in place, so I was super thankful for that,” said Sawyer.

“Some of my friends weren’t so lucky. Some of the internships they had with more agriculture-based accounting firms, for instance, didn’t happen when they had finished off this year.”

But on the production side at least, students haven’t struggled to find positions as much as anticipated, given that the unemployment rate nationally has soared to 40 per cent among students.

“A lot of those jobs really didn’t go away,” said Brown. “I was expecting it to be a lot worse, but a lot of our students are working, whether back on the farm or for some of these companies.”

For Dyck, who comes from Calgary, finding a job as a newcomer to the industry was “a challenge.”

“I don’t come from a farm, so I didn’t have a job on the farm to go back to once school was over,” she said. “A lot of the students in our program were lucky that way — they could just go back to the farm and work with their parents.”

When the pandemic first hit, a lot of operations and businesses stopped posting jobs, and among those hiring, online interviews were the order of the day.

“One of my interviews was over Zoom, and that’s got to be the weirdest thing I’ve ever done — have a job interview over Zoom,” Dyck said with a laugh. “Their cameras weren’t working, so they could see me, but I couldn’t see them. It was super, super weird.”

Luckily, she was hired full time at an elk ranch at the end of May thanks to some successful networking.

“Through this, it’s definitely been all about who you know, not what you know, for finding jobs,” said Dyck. “That’s definitely been a struggle for students like me who don’t have a big foot in the door in the agriculture industry.”

But even for students who have grown up in the ag community, the pandemic is chipping away at their ability to meet people and build relationships.

“The biggest thing is that people want to network — they want to be connected, they want to be in the community,” said McCrae, who is president of the agriculture club at the University of Lethbridge. “I think that is going to be the key more than anything that students are missing. Finding a way to connect students with industry and with each other is going to be a new challenge.”

Michael Frankiw, who’s going back to Olds College in the fall to finish his agricultural management diploma, has already seen that shift in his second summer working with Richardson Pioneer.

“Last year when I was there, there was a lot more interaction with the farmers, and that’s one of the main things within the agricultural sector — that feeling of community and belonging with everybody else,” said Frankiw.

“Not being able to build relationships with farmers and the agricultural community really stunts your ability to grow within the industry right off the bat.”

More uncertainty ahead

And although Frankiw grew up on a farm, the pandemic has changed his view of what working in the industry will be like once he’s done school.

“Even if the world says it’s going to go back to normal, there is no going back to normal after this,” he said. “We’re going to live in a post-COVID era, and it’s going to be different.”

What that will look like is anyone’s guess, but ag colleges and universities are doing what they can to prepare for it.

“There’s a lot of concern about how the fall’s going to go this year,” said Brown. “If we’re able to do face to face, we’re fully prepared to deliver that way, but that doesn’t look very likely. We’re hoping fully online delivery doesn’t have to happen, but we’re prepared for that scenario.”

He said a blended model at Lakeland is more likely for the fall, although institutions like the University of Lethbridge have already announced that their fall semester will be primarily online.

“We’re such a hands-on school — that’s really why students come here — so the big worry is that the impact will be a lot bigger in the fall,” said Brown.

College officials are looking for ways to develop hands-on competencies.

“COVID is certainly a challenge, but I think agriculture is fraught with these kinds of challenges that can really impact and disrupt business,” he said. “It’s all just about being nimble and adaptable and flexible — figuring out how we can still get the job done with different restrictions in place.”

For Sawyer, this ‘get-’er-done’ approach to the pandemic is one of the reasons he’s excited about his future in the agriculture industry.

“This just further enriches my confidence in the industry — it’s really demonstrated how resilient agriculture is,” he said.

“We’ve seen so many different businesses and industries come to a complete and utter standstill because they haven’t been able to serve people. But agriculture is one of the industries where, despite having a worldwide pandemic, we still have to get the crop in the ground, we still have to feed cattle.

“It’s really proven to me how important it is to have a career in agriculture.”

Dyck agrees.

“There will always be hungry people,” she said. “This industry might face challenges, but people will always need to eat and farmers will always be working to feed them.

“And there’s nothing I would rather do.”

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“There are about 4,000 more that are expected to arrive shortly, so the process is starting to work,” Janice Tranberg, the association’s president and CEO, said during a telephone town hall Wednesday.

Ottawa has made a number of moves on the farm labour front, including offering a program that will pay $1,500 for each foreign worker arriving in Canada to help cover the costs of a mandatory two-week self-isolation period.

The federal government has also revamped its student summer job program, which will now pay all of the wages of students hired on farms and ranches.

“With respect to labour, we understand that there are a number of Canadians looking for employment in agriculture and this is a really good opportunity right now,” Tranberg said.

“But there’s also a need for employees who can be skilled and readily employed — a lot of these people enter Canada through the temporary foreign workers program.”

About 50,000 to 60,000 temporary foreign workers are hired for agriculture and agri-food jobs annually, and there are still about 15,000 vacant jobs, Tranberg said.

— Alexis Kienlen reports for Alberta Farmer from Edmonton.

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“Our student-led model has really been our big success at the college,” said Geoff Brown, associate dean of agricultural sciences.

“On our student-managed farms, we really try to mimic the industries we’re in. We’re not just teaching the competencies of the job — we’re also incorporating the culture of that industry into what we do.

“It changes the whole game.”

Since the first student-managed operation (for crop technology) opened nearly three decades ago, the college has expanded the program to include three beef units along with ones for sheep and dairy.

“In the first year, our students gain the confidence they need through typical hands-on training,” said Brown. “But in the second year, they actually manage one of our farm units on campus.”

Its newest venture — a student-managed animal health clinic — follows that hands-on learning tradition for students taking an animal health technology diploma and veterinary medical assistant certificate.

In September, the brand new 14,000-square-foot clinic replaced the college’s Small Animal Clinic, built in the 1960s. It’s been a hit with students and employers alike.

Part of the program is having the students interact with owners of animals.

“They’re learning how to deal with the public, which is a big part of their jobs when they get into the industry,” said Brown. “Employers want to know that we’re building the critical thinking and soft skills in our students, and the animal health technology program is no different.”

Prior to building the new clinic — four times larger than the old one — the animal health technology program had a wait-list of about 200 students, with only 80 spots available annually. There are now 30 more, and with 111 animal health technology students and 26 veterinary medical assistant students enrolled this past year.

“That, of course, is going to put more graduates out into the industry, which is also something the industry was looking for,” said Brown. “But even though we’re increasing our class sizes, we still really value the hands-on learning here.”

A sense of ownership

The clinic is modelled after a real vet clinic to give students a glimpse at what their work life will be like once they graduate.

“We really try to mimic what they’re going to be seeing out in the industry, so it made sense to build a real vet clinic for them,” said Brown.

In addition to the hands-on coursework, students form a retail and marketing team (and run a fully functioning store out of the clinic’s reception area); an organization team (which takes care of the clinic as a whole, including its medical-grade biosecurity protocols); and a public relations team (which puts on pet-friendly movie nights and canine therapy during exam season).

“This model really creates engagement,” said Brown. “Before this student-managed farm idea, there wasn’t much ownership. But now, you’re not just accountable to your instructor — you’re also responsible for your team.”

Students work on animals of all shapes and sizes that come from the college’s livestock programs, local animal shelters and college employees and students. The clinic does, among other things, elective surgeries, spays and neuters, dental work, X-rays, and vaccinations.

“You might think you know how to look after a dog or cat, but we look after them a little differently when they’re in the hospital. So we try to instil those skills in our students,” said Amy Cusack, an instructor at the clinic.

Giving them a chance to learn “soft skills” is key.

“Employers come back and say that students are lacking soft skills, whether because of a lack of confidence or a lack of knowledge,” said Cusack. “So that’s why we have students doing things like admitting patients and discharging patients.”

And while that’s good news for employers, it’s even better for the students.

“Students really appreciate the student-led model,” said Cusack. “It’s prepared them more for working in a clinic and interacting with clients.”

The post Student-managed farms at Lakeland College work to reflect the industries they serve appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

For more than 30 years, volunteers across Alberta have taught Grade 4 students about the importance of agriculture in their daily lives.

The program offers a free, one-hour-long, hands-on presentation about agriculture. About five hours are required for volunteers (which includes training, preparation, and the one hour in the classroom). The program provides students with an activity booklet and teachers with a resource kit.

Presentations occur between February and June of each year, depending on the volunteer’s schedule.

For more information and to register, go to the Classroom Agriculture Program website.

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