April 16, 2015

Written by Mark Keller, director of college advancement
Featured in "On Campus" in the Medicine Hat News

On Saturday last week the class I attended on campus managed to annoy the people attending the class downstairs.

We were shuffling tables and chairs into a different configuration, all the better to practice some first aid techniques. The tables shuddered across the floor. The chairs grated like four large fingernails scraping across a linoleum chalkboard, a particularly revolting sound.

It wasn’t only my class that winced at the noise. We received a polite knock on the door asking if we might consider, please and thank you, actually lifting the tables and chair the next time the need arose.

It was all very friendly and respectful. And we did gently carry the furniture when we rearranged again early Sunday morning.

The observation to share – beyond the need to be polite to classroom neighbours – is that Medicine Hat College can be an active place on the weekends and after office hours. In fact, a quick scan of room bookings reveals many things beyond the perhaps-to-be-expected lectures and labs.     

MHC has hosted church services and weddings. The toastmasters meet here. I’ve walked through conventions hosted for comic and sci-fi fans, many of whom were costumed to match a favorite character.

Recently, college spaces played host to a ‘fescue forum’ which, I can only assume, brings rangeland experts together to talk about grass. Coaches meet here. Young athletes train here. Musicians compete here.

You could be here.

As the college looks to the future we’re planning to expand the use of our facilities and we’re hoping to see more and more groups and organizations on campus.

There are lots of advantages to consider. Campus spaces are often adaptable to a variety of purposes. There are lecture halls with tiered seating to serve large groups and small. We have large rooms with rounds tables, and small rooms with square tables.

The campus also offers Outdoor spaces like the Asia-themed Tea House that could host a wedding or a reception. I can picture, at this moment, a few readers puzzling about the Tea House. As in, where is that, exactly?

Just take a moment and drive onto campus. You’ll find the Tea House on the west side of campus, nestled beside the small pond between the trades facilities and B Wing, the only three-story building we have.  And to counter at least one urban myth, parking is indeed free and plentiful in the evening.

If you’d like to see what we have, please give me a shout. The college phone book is in the bottom banner of the web site.