The Village of Delia is getting behind the dream of post-secondary education in the Drumheller Region.
Last Wednesday, March 6, Delia Mayor John Rogers presented a cheque for a $1,000 to Jon Ohlhauser, the President of Hope College.
“We are a small Village”, said Rogers, “but we are big supporters of post-secondary education close to home. “
The donation amounts to more than $5 from every man, woman and child in Delia. Statistics Canada reported in the last census that 187 people live within the Village limits.
These funds are part of a three year, $3,000 pledge over three years the Village made to the college. Ohlhauser is happy to see the support.
“Two years ago the community leadership in Delia saw the value of Hope College and pledged an amount of financial support,” said Ohlhauser. “Now that we are closing in on the launch of Hope College, we need the pledged support of all our supporters to begin to be transitioned into actual donations.”
Delia Mayor John Rogers, left presents a cheque for $1,000 to Dr. Jon Ohlhauser, president of Hope College.
He says the business model for the school anticipates needing about $600,000 to cover costs associated with the launch.
The Village of Delia sees their investment as an investment in their local students. Delia School has 11 teachers at the school who instruct 130 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12. However, once the students graduate, they are forced to leave home to pursue their studies.
“It is going to give them more chances,” says Acting School Principal, Allan Doel, “and increase the odds that kids who are graduating from our school are going to go to some sort of post-secondary, which is going to lead to them having better jobs, better careers, and hopefully, long term, a better province and a better community.”
Most of the students at Delia School come from farming backgrounds. They want to be able to help their parents run the family farm. That can make it difficult to go to a college hundreds of kilometers away. A fifty kilometer commute would mean, as Doel points out, “...more opportunities at less cost and more convenience for our graduates.”
“It’s a sense of balance” continues Doel, “their loyalty to the family combined with where they want to go as individuals, so to have something nearby that would allow them to balance that would be hugely valuable.”
Ohlhauser is grateful for the support from Delia.
“We are so thankful for the leadership of the community of Delia to stand behind this project. We know the value for students in this region will be tremendous if they are able to consider getting their college completed locally. That is one of our primary goals.
