campus news
More than $16 million in funding announced for Laurier Brantford-YMCA athletics complex Laurier Brantford ATHLETICS
The Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure announced more than $16 million in funding for a new community athletics and recreation centre to be shared by Laurier Brantford and the YMCA. The investment is a significant contribution toward the development of a 115,000-square-foot facility to be used by Laurier students and the broader Brantford community. In addition to Laurier Brantford and the YMCA, project partners include the City of Brantford, Six Nations, Nipissing University and Mohawk College. By partnering on the project, Laurier Brantford and the YMCA will create an athletic and recreation centre with a range of programming that will far exceed what either organization could provide independently. The facility will offer traditional YMCA programming and support the programming goals of the Six Nations partners.
Laurier President Max Blouw, back right, helps celebrate the funding announcement.
History is both potent and personal. Memories of our history hold us together as individuals, as families and as communities. When we forget who we have been, we remain unaware of who we are. Opening line from Helen Waldstein Wilkes’ Letters from the Lost: A Memoir of Discovery, winner of the 2011 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction.
Soaring for a Century
Laurier community celebrates centennial Homecoming A record-breaking number of Laurier Golden Hawks came back to the Waterloo campus Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 to celebrate Laurier’s centennial at Homecoming 2011. Laurier’s Waterloo campus welcomed reunion class celebrations, enthusiastic students, alumni and football fans for the largest event of its kind in the university’s history. Saturday kicked off with the free pancake breakfast. Highlights of the day included campus tours, numerous faculty open houses and the Legends of Laurier Lecture Series featuring Professor Emeritus Tupper Cawsey. On Saturday afternoon, the Golden Hawks football team defeated the Ottawa Gee-Gees, 51-16. The traditional football game and tailgate party had a number of centennial twists, including a fireworks display, a live hawk and the President’s Choice Superdogs performing at half-time. The Centennial Alumni Celebration, held Saturday evening, honored Laurier’s 100 Alumni of Achievement and all centennial reunion classes. More than 700 distinguished
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LAURIER CAMPUS Winter 2011-12
alumni, reunion class graduates and members of the Laurier community attended. On Sunday, 520 people laced up for the fourth annual Laurier Loop run, which together with matched donations from alumni raised $9,000 for the Sun Life Financial Movement Disorders Research & Rehabilitation Centre (MDRC). Also on Sunday, the Founders’ Luncheon welcomed alumni from the classes of 1945 to 1961, who together raised more than $36,000 for their alma mater. Laurier Brantford also celebrated its third-annual Homecoming Sept. 24 with a varsity baseball double-header against the Guelph Gryphons (with the Hawks dropping both matches), a comedy festival and pub night.