Alumni & Friends Newsletter
Fall 2010
Land purchase secures alumni connection with future student benefits Lakeland College’s most significant land deal in its 97-year history has grounded the life’s work of a Lakeland alumnus and his family with the college’s future and its students. This spring, Lakeland College purchased 100 per cent of the shares of Barrhill Farms Ltd. of Vermilion. In the deal, the college acquired 10 quarters of land (1,449 acres) and a yard that borders the west side of the Vermilion campus. Features of the extensive yard include three houses, two shops, grain bins and various other buildings. The opportunity to purchase the shares was one the college had to act on, says Glenn Charlesworth, president and chief executive officer of Lakeland College. “The proximity of this parcel of land is ideal for our college. Much of it is adjacent to our Vermilion campus which ensures we will have the land base to expand the college as needed not only in the near future, but really for the next 100 years,” he says. Initially the land will be used mainly for student labs related to agricultural and environmental sciences programs. The yard will be the site of numerous applied research and renewable energy projects. The Barr family and Lakeland College have strong ties dating back to 1913. William Barr, the grandfather of Barrhill Farms owners Dean and Greg Barr, was a student in the college’s first class. Dean and Greg’s parents Jim and Alice met while attending the college in the early 1950s. Throughout the years the Barrs did custom seeding and silaging for the college, lent equipment as needed and toured hundreds of college students through their dairy barns. see Land purchase, continued on page 2
www.lakelandcollege.ca/alumni