A Big Class At The Vermilion School Of Agriculture

The largest class in the history of the Vermilion School of Agriculture, to that point, graduated in the spring of 1932. It was a major victory for the school, which had been doing well as The Great Depression raged throughout the country.

A class of 101 students had entered the school and by 1932 99 were graduating.

Due to the huge amount of students graduating, H.A. Craig, the deputy minister of agriculture was on-hand to address the students and present diplomas to the students. Of the 99 students graduating, 49 were receiving diplomas for completing their specified degrees.

Of those receiving diplomas, 32 were men and 17 were women. The men were receiving agricultural diplomas while the women were receiving diplomas in household science.

Edith Hutchinson had the highest grades of any female student at the school and received a medal to acknowledge her accomplishment. Thomas Hall received a similar medal for having the highest grades among the boys, while Roy Lent had the highest general proficiency of all the students in the school.

Several students also received scholarships to for their second year of study including Grace Wishart, Helen Gunderson, Bordan McNeight, P. Burns and William Schmidt.

Many of these students were not from Vermilion, but had come from across Alberta to attend the prestigious school. Grace Wishart for example had come from Grande Prairie.

Overall, it was a very good year for the school and the many students who attended. More difficult days were coming with The Great Depression but for a brief time, there was some hope among the students and teachers that those graduating would help bring better crops to the area with their knowledge.

Contact Craig at craig@canadaehx.com

Support Craig by donating at www.canadaehx.com (Click Donate)

Listen to his podcast Canadian History Ehx on all podcast platforms.