It seems like only a short time ago the shovels hit the gravel for a sod-turning on a new student housing unit adjacent to St. Paul’s Portage College campus. On that blustery day in April, the college was the grounds of a big celebration, with politicians and community members rejoicing over the fact that finally, after years of pushing, a $3.2 million student housing unit would be built with the joint co-operation of the Town and County of St. Paul, the province of Alberta and the college itself.
In the nine months since, the housing unit has inched closer and closer to completion, a brand new structure to put the icing on the cake of the new Portage College at the renovated old Glen Avon School. While everyone recognized the benefit of having a college campus in town, housing is a major issue for students and non-students alike and college officials knew that offering students housing would have been a great incentive for people to choose St. Paul’s campus as a place to study, and hopefully, following graduation, a place where they could continue to live and work. Many looked forward to September, when the long-awaited project was expected to be complete and students were slated to move in.
However, it was not to be, and news of the early morning fire on Feb. 10 left those that had fought for and supported the project reeling. Town of ST. Paul Coun. Trevor Kotowich called it “devastating,” and local MLA Ray Danyluk said he couldn’t get over the fact of the fire, noting many people “worked so damn hard” on the project.
Hopefully, their efforts will not be in vain. As difficult as it seems to contemplate now, with the beautiful new structure perhaps having to be bulldozed, there is still hope that the college and the community can shake off this loss and begin anew. After all, the fire may have destroyed the building, but it hasn’t destroyed the need - student housing is still an important piece of the puzzle in making St. Paul’s Portage College campus a viable and attractive post-secondary option.
