
The Fanshawe College St. Thomas/Elgin Campus celebrated the official opening of the new Dorothy Fay Palmer Renewable Energies Lab and John W.F. Palmer Welding Lab at Fanshawe College St. Thomas on May 2nd.
The opening included a ribbon cutting by local representatives and an opportunity to visit the welding lab.
Above, (left) Heather Jackson, Mayor of St. Thomas and Christine Zimmerman, Program Coordinator; (right) ribbon cutting with Jeff Yurek, E-M-L MPP, Heather Jackson, Catherine Finlayson, Andrew Gunn, David Marr, Elgin County Warden, Ross Fair, St. Thomas Campus Chair.
In his comments, Ross Fair noted that the welding lab is the first in the county which has no emission of gases into the environment. Catherine Finlayson, Executive Director of the Fanshawe College Foundation said, “It is a dream come true to see these labs come to fruition.” She said that the journey which began more than two years ago shows “What a difference private investment can make.” Palmer Estate executor Andrew Gunn noted that a goal of investing funds from the Palmers was to make impacts in education and the new labs are significant for the community.