Photo Courtesy EverythingGP Staff

By Tanner Smith

Polytechnic

NWP updating the public on its direction and vision

Oct 14, 2022 | 5:13 PM

Northwestern Polytechnic held its external stakeholder update Friday.

Officials reflected on all the changes made over the past 11 months and thanked their stakeholders for their continuous support.

President and CEO Justin Kohlman says they want to keep growing NWP and offer more programs that show to the youth in the Peace that they don’t need to travel hours from home to get a post-secondary education.

“We want people to know that whatever they want, we can deliver it here and we want to change people’s frame of reference to this institution, that it is a spot where you can come here and finish a degree, it’s a place where you can come here and start and finish at any institution in the world.”

Kohlman adds they have already started the process of showcasing opportunities to youth

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Another thing NWP is committed to focusing on is mirroring industry in the Grande Prairie area. Hving one of the most entrepreneurial cities in Canada means they are looking to add a Centre for Entrepreneurial Excellence to keep growing local businesses.

With that in mind, NWP has added a large number of healthcare students, thanks to a grant from the provincial government, which Kohlman says was because of the need in the area.

“We definitely have increased the number of health students. The reason we’re doing that is to better support our region, as a polytech our alignment needs to be with our industry and the needs of our industry, and so healthcare is an important one of those. We’re definitely going to be delivering more healthcare professionals.”

He adds the school has begun to offer Health Care Aids at their Grande Prairie campus and the Fairview campus as well.

Kohlman says none of these changes or potential changes would be possible without the support from the Grande Prairie area since they announced becoming a Polytechnic back in March.

“It honestly is the most amazing community I’ve ever had the experience of living in. I’ve lived all over the world and people always say ‘ oh my community is special’ but this region is phenomenal. I’ve never had people just come to the plate that wants to help and support us in so many different ways.”

Kohlman says they want to start showcasing all the amazing opportunities available at NWP, and plan on having a student who’s studying abroad right now in Ireland, at Munster Technological University, which is widely known as the most entrepreneurial university in Europe, and plans on having him speak to high schools across the region about his experience and all the different course available at the Northwestern Polytechnic.