The West Kootenay Teacher Education Program celebrated its grand opening at its new Baker St. location on Thursday evening. The community gathered to welcome the post-secondary institution, which will also offer the creative writing course Writing from the Ground Up with writer-in-residence Sonnet L’Abbé, who was in attendance.
“I can’t tell you how pleased I am that UBC now has a physical presence in Nelson,” said UBC’s dean of education Frank Blye. He was joined by associate dean Wendy Carr and flanked by Kristi Crowe and Geoff Burns of the West Kootenay Teacher Education Program in officially cutting the ribbon.
Some of the local figures present included Nelson cultural ambassador Bessie Wapp, as well as Tom Wayman, editor Verna Relkoff and SD8 director Ben Eaton. Former SD8 and SD20 superintendent Pat Dooley celebrated with the buildings owners’ Tim Pearkes and Ahna Fernandez.
