On Friday, September 1 at 11:44 a.m. Algonquin College’s Pembroke Campus made history. When second-year Practical Nursing student, Laura Edmonds, walked into the admissions office to enroll for her fall classes, she became the 1,000th student to register for the fall intake of students.
It was the first time in the fifty year history of the campus that the enrolment in full-time programs exceeded four digits. Edmonds was greeted by clapping and congratulations by the admissions staff who were on the watch for student number 1,000, knowing the historical significance for a campus that started with 16-full-time students when it opened its doors in 1968.
The record enrolment is continuing a trend that started several years ago when the campus began introducing several unique programs that have helped it attract students from outside of Renfrew County. Programs like Outdoor Adventure, Urban Forestry-Arboriculture, Applied Nuclear Science and Radiation Safety continue to pull out of town students, and have been the primary reason why developers have built three privately owned and operated student residences to house visiting students.
There are now more than 170 students living in residence and many more who are renting or boarding in other apartments and homes in the Pembroke area. The out-of-town student population has grown to be about 50 percent of the students enrolled in the campus.
The campus now offers 21 full-time programs leading to certificates, diplomas, and degrees. As Algonquin College’s largest regional campus, it is blossoming as it celebrates its fifth year of operation at its Waterfront Campus which has become an anchor for Pembroke’s downtown, igniting a renaissance of the city’s inner core. The best example is the new residences, but the energy that has been created has resulted in new stores, façade and building improvements and increased investment in infrastructure such as roads, sidewalks and bridges.
Rome was not built in a day, and it has taken a lot of work by the dedicated administration, faculty and support staff at the campus to bring about record enrolments. The college employees who worked so hard at the old campus to create an exceptional learning environment for students, while making do with inadequate facilities, paved the way for creating a caring culture on campus.
The new campus has taken that commitment to student success, excellent teaching and customer service to a new level. With a beautiful facility built along the picturesque shores of the Ottawa River, it has become a destination campus for both local and out of town students like Laura Edmonds of Cobden.
Not many people have the opportunity to make history. Edmonds did, by being in the right place at the right time. She is student number 1,000 at a campus that looks forward to four-digit enrolments being the norm, not the exception, as its plans for the next fifty years.
Posted by Jamie Bramburger, Manager of Community and Student Affairs at Algonquin College’s Pembroke Waterfront Campus
I remember the first time I asked my mentor to mentor me. I was quite nervous and afraid she would say no. I didn’t realize at the time that I was being silly. Why would she say no to my request – she was one of the most engaging, encouraging and respectful people I had ever met and these were the traits that inspired me to ask that awkward question, “would you mentor me?”
I came into formalized mentoring later in life, and only after an abundance of work experiences and mistakes. I have to admit when I think back, there were mentors but they often took on the guise of teachers and coaches, picked not by me but by the activities I participated in. It was only into my 30s that I started to actively look for mentors. I started to make a list of people whom I held in high regard in the community and that I believed I could learn from.
For all these reasons and more, mentoring and giving back to the community through mentoring is one of my core values, and I believe I am lucky to be able to guide and help students reach their own goals and achieve their dreams.
Have you ever walked into a room and felt out of place, like why am I here or how come no one is talking to me? Well that is a common thought and feeling we all experience when we reach out and start networking. Any time we go outside of our comfort zone, we feel uncomfortable. The thing to remember is that this very feeling is just a prelude to personal growth. Networking and meeting new people are all a part of life and the many experiences we have. It is also one of the best ways to find a job, create a partnership, find customers, and mentors.
Let’s start with former Prime Minister, 
A few days before the graduation ceremony, one of the Pembroke Campus’s most successful graduates was being celebrated. Country Music Artist, Jason Blaine, was honoured with a plaque on a computer lab at the campus for raising $100,000 towards the building costs of the Waterfront Campus, which opened in 2012. 
The month of May has arrived and we are saying goodbye to graduating students and getting ready to welcome a new group of incoming students. For those leaving us, we remind them that their graduation ceremony will be held on Friday, June 16th at 1 p.m. at the Pembroke Memorial Centre with Canada’s 21st Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Paul Martin, delivering the convocation address.
For our incoming students, we want them to join us at their Program Awareness Camp (PAC) on Saturday, May 13th, with the exception of the Outdoor Adventure applicants who have several choices to attend their 
Algonquin College is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017 and as part of the celebration a new bursary has been announced to help students in financial need. The Larry Scales Memorial Bursary will honour the memory of an originating Forestry Technician faculty member.
“On behalf of the College, I want to thank Algonquin College students and alumni for our strong report card, which once again ranks us above average for a college of our size,” said Cheryl Jensen, President, Algonquin College. “This strong graduate satisfaction result comes as no surprise to us, as our College has performed very well in student satisfaction for the past seven years. I want to congratulate our peers at Fanshawe College, who edged out our title as the top large Ontario college for student satisfaction this year with 77.7 per cent (to Algonquin’s 77.4).”
As Ontario’s college system celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, new research confirms college education continues to be an effective and swift route to employment.