More than $70,000 raised to support students and community

College of the Rockies second-annual Giving Tuesday campaign received overwhelming community support, raising $70,150 for three featured initiatives and the creation of a new scholarship for Adventure Tourism Business Operations students.

“We are blown away by the response we received from the people and businesses in our region,” said Graham Knipfel, Director, Donor and Alumni Engagement. “This has been a challenging year for many and to have this year’s campaign do so well is a testament to the generosity and community-driven spirit of people in our area.”

This year’s Giving Tuesday campaign focused on three priority initiatives: the College of the Rockies Cranbrook Community Forest trail enhancement project, the Dean’s Equipment Fund for Environmental Science, and the Engineers Canada Indigenous Access to Engineering Bursary.

“People really rallied around the Community Forest trail project,” Knipfel said. “We received close to $20,000 for that initiative alone, with a top donation coming from the College of the Rockies’ Students’ Association ($5,000). With the college matching these donations, we have almost $40,000 to kick off this project. I’m excited to work with our partners as we move forward in the next few months.”

The Dean’s Equipment Fund for Environmental Science received total donations of over $11,000 with a top donation from Lotic Environmental ($5,000) while students in the college’s Engineering Certificate Program now have access to a permanent Engineers Canada Indigenous Access to Engineering Bursary, thanks in large part to a $10,000 contribution from CIBC.

These initiatives also received significant contributions from VAST Resource Solutions, Keefer Ecological Services, Paul Vogt, TerraLogic Exploration, Gerick Sports, Northstar Bicycle Co., Cranbrook & Region Tourism Society, CertainTeed Canada, and Chandos Construction.

In addition to the three featured initiatives, a new financial award – the Howard Scholarship – was established. This scholarship will be presented to a first-year Adventure Tourism Business Operations (ATBO) student planning to enrol in the second year of the diploma program held at the Golden campus.

This scholarship was made possible through a $7,000 donation from an anonymous ATBO alumnus who is passionate about adventure tourism in the Golden area and will continue to support students, and the program, through additional $7,000 donations in 2022 and 2023.

To learn more about the three featured initiatives, or to make a donation, go to cotr.ca/giving

Lead image: College of the Rockies second-annual Giving Tuesday campaign was a resounding success thanks to generous donations from the community. Mike and Corinna Robinson from Lotic Environmental contributed $5,000 to the Dean’s Equipment Fund for Environmental Science. COTR Photo

College of the Rockies

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