Purcell Collegiate is getting ready to welcome students this fall and Kimberley’s mayor is ready for the impact it will have on the community.
The plan is to have the school facilities built on the grounds of the Purcell golf course.
“This is a huge project and not only will it provide an awful lot of stimulus to the community while it’s being built, but having, at buildout, about 400 or 450 students is going to be an incredible impact on the community as well,” said mayor Don McCormick.
The school will be starting up this fall but not at the golf course location.
McCormick said that is still aways away.
“We expect there will be shovels in the ground on what was formerly the Purcell golf course area within the next two years. It’s important for the community to understand that it takes a long time for these things to get in place.”
In the meantime, the school will be operating in three locations. Students will stay at St. Eugene, go to classes at the College of the Rockies and do outdoor curriculum at the Kimberley ski hill.
At the start, Purcell Collegiate has a target of 60 students for September.
Eventually, the goal is to have everything run out of the Purcell golf location.
The mayor also believes attracting international students to Kimberley will be good for the growth of the community.
“We’re going to have cultural impacts because it is international students that are coming and finally we’re not as much a homogeneous community anymore, we’re becoming much more culturally heterogeneous which is awesome,” he added.
“I think the impacts we will see for this school are going to be significantly positive for the community.”
McCormick said this development has been in the works for around five years now.