{"id":36823,"date":"2025-09-11T13:05:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=36823"},"modified":"2025-09-11T13:06:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:06:13","slug":"pickering-college-cuts-the-ribbon-on-50000-square-foot-west-lake-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/pickering-college-cuts-the-ribbon-on-50000-square-foot-west-lake-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Pickering College cuts the ribbon on 50,000 square foot West Lake House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It was a historic day for Pickering College last Tuesday as they formally opened West Lake House, a new 50,000 square foot facility that includes classrooms, labs, studios, a library, an assembly hall, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy and Newmarket Mayor John Taylor were among the dignitaries in attendance on September 2 as the Newmarket-based independent school began a brand-new chapter in its more than 180-year history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis building represents years of dreaming, planning and perseverance,\u201d said Head of School Dr. Cinde Lock, who said it was an \u201cextraordinary milestone\u201d for the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction of the new building has been a \u201croller coaster\u201d ride, she said, and while there are still a few finishing touches to complete on the inside, it is more than ready to welcome students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just classrooms, it\u2019s opportunities for learning,\u201d she told the assembled crowd ahead of the ribbon-cutting and site tour. \u201cYou\u2019re looking at ways that students will interact with each other, that the community will come together, and just imagine all this beautiful space can bring for our school and everyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mirella Morra, Chair of Pickering College\u2019s Board of Directors, said last week\u2019s event was not just the opening of a new space in West Lake House, it was \u201cbringing history forward\u201d as the name pays tribute to the school\u2019s earliest beginnings as West Lake Boarding School in Prince Edward County in 1842.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe celebrate how that legacy continues to shape our future here in Newmarket,\u201d she said. \u201cThis facility, home to music and art studios, a drama classroom, a grand assembly hall, science labs, CHOP-FM\u2014Newmarket\u2019s community radio station\u2014and junior school classrooms, is a place where imagination will take flight, where creativity and collaboration will thrive, and where future generations of students will discover their full potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, none of this would have happened or would have been possible without the vision, generosity, and patience of our donors. You truly have stood with us throughout this journey. You understood that building something extraordinary takes time, care and commitment. Today, we celebrate the results of that shared dedication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dedication was also celebrated by Mayor Taylor who said the new West Lake House will only further Pickering College\u2019s mission to prepare students for the challenges that lay ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are huge challenges in our world today and our students need to be prepared for that,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need to be given every opportunity to pick up those challenges, use collaboration, use creativity, use technology to help solve some of those great global challenges. If they are going to do that, we as schools, as parents, as communities, have to give them the tools to do it \u2013 and this is a big, big step forward for Pickering College in its efforts to not only be integrated and involved in the community, but to think and lead globally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing students, he added: \u201cThis is essentially four walls \u2013 four pretty amazing walls and there\u2019s lots of amazing stuff that\u2019s in there \u2013 but what\u2019s really going to happen in there is up to you. Use this incredible opportunity that\u2019s being given to you to collaborate with your fellow students, to think about the world globally, to think about the world locally, and to come together to make Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, and the world a better place. You have the tools, you have the ability, you have the support of an incredible school here behind you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driving home the point of student possibilities was a group of Pickering College students past and present, ranging from Roger Warren, a graduate of the class of 1951, whose mother was a Pickering College student at the turn of the twentieth century, to Arianna, who is set to be a member of the class of 2026, and middle school student Daisy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat excites me most is the possibility this space brings and the chance it gives students to discover new passions: Shiny new science labs that will allow us to explore, beautiful art studios to bring out our creativity, and gathering spaces where our school community can really connect,\u201d said Arianna. \u201cIt’s not about the spaces themselves, but the opportunities they open up. I feel so fortunate to have watched this transformation from start to finish, and as I head into my final year, I’m excited to make memories here myself with friends and classmates and to see the ones that generations of students will create for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a historic day for Pickering College last Tuesday as they formally opened West Lake House, a new 50,000 square foot facility that includes classrooms, labs, studios, a library, an assembly hall, and more. Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy and Newmarket Mayor John Taylor were among the dignitaries in attendance on September 2 as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2025-09-11-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9zV","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 01:58:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36825,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36823\/revisions\/36825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}