Purcell International Education (PIE) will be hosting a Community Information Session at McKim Theatre on Thursday, December 5 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM. The focus of the session will be Purcell Collegiate, PIE’s in-development international boarding school. Anyone interested in learning more about the project is encouraged to attend. The purpose of this session is to provide the community with project update before engaging directly with community members in a questions-and-answer format. If you won’t be able to attend, please feel free to submit a question in advance via email to info@piecanada.ca. We are planning to stream the session via Facebook Live on this page but recommend attending in person in case of technical difficulties and because our focus will be the community members in the theatre. We will not delay the session to address technical issues with the live stream.
Purcell Collegiate is one step closer to realization after Kimberley City Council gave its approval to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) and change the zoning on the lands proposed by PIE to host the campus for its world-class international boarding school. Tom Ristimaki, PIE's Vice President of Education and Engagement, spoke on behalf of the project and outlined the social, cultural, environmental, and economic benefits that Purcell Collegiate will bring to Kimberley. Ron Christensen, President of the Kimberley Golf Club, also spoke at the hearing and conveyed the club's support of Purcell Collegiate and its role in securing the future Kimberley's oldest golf course.
For more information on the public hearing and the Kimberley City Council vote in favour of the OCP amendment, click here. For more information on PIE's next steps for Purcell Collegiate, stay tuned for an announcement of a public information session. PIE President Duncan MacLeod recently returned from a 12-day trip to Europe on behalf of the Wolf Creek International Learning Program (WCILP). The trip started off with a week of travel throughout Germany and Spain to meet with education agencies that are already part of PIE's existing partnership network followed by three days at #ICEF19 in Berlin to cultivate new partnerships. Over the course of the trip, Duncan and Wolf Creek Public Schools' Assistant Superintendent, Mark McWhinnie, met with representatives of more than 40 agencies from 20+ countries around the world.
PIE would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mark and the WCILP team on the incredible work they have done to design and implement a truly unique study-abroad opportunity in Central Alberta. Agent response to the Wolf Creek International Learning Program exceeded expectations and has already resulted in requests for placements in 2020. PIE is proud to have been part of this transformative initiative that WCILP represents. Only 16 months have passed since WCILP was inaugurated with the arrival of its first short-term group program from China. Building on the foundation WCILP has established in support of its MOU-related programs and placements for students from Guangdong, host communities and schools in the Wolf Creek school division are now ready to welcome the world to Central Alberta. PIE looks forward to continuing its consulting and advising role with WCILP as Mark and his team move forward to expand the scope of their program in support of a learning opportunity that is truly global in nature with benefits to local students, their international classmates, and their host communities. PIE is live at #ICEF19 in Berlin! Stop by table KP23 to learn more about the Wolf Creek International Learning Program (#wcilp). Duncan MacLeod and Mark McWhinnie are meeting with agents from around the world in support of the new and very unique study-abroad opportunity afforded by Wolf Creek Public Schools. Find us at the event to learn why more and more students are choosing to #StudyInAlberta.
Purcell International Education (PIE) was on the agenda at a recent meeting of Kimberley's city council. As part of the development process for Purcell Collegiate, PIE had requested an amendment of the City of Kimberley’s Official Community Plan (OCP) for the purpose of creating a parcel of land for the school's campus. On October 28, council voted to proceed with the first, second and third readings of the amendment and confirmed a public hearing on the OCP amendment for Monday, November 25, 2019 at 7:00 PM at City Hall.
For more information, see the Kimberley Bulletin article linked here. |