To reach class, Noah MacNeil must manoeuvre his wheelchair across bumpy or icy ground, then hope the building elevator is in service.
But that will soon be a thing of the past once the Nova Scotia Community College in Truro completes its "skywalk" linking McCarthy and Forrester halls. It will include a fully-covered walkway and two additional elevators, one at each end, allowing students like MacNeil easy access.
“I have cerebral palsy and I feel that a pedway could be very useful, particularly in weather like this,” said MacNeil, who is studying criminology at the NSCC’s Arthur Street campus.
Lech Krzywonos, principal of the Truro campus, said total cost for the skywalk is just under $1.9 million. The federal government funded 49 per cent of the project and the NSCC provided the remaining 51 per cent.
Ground was broken in December and Krzywonos expects the skywalk to be ready by Christmas of 2020. Once completed, it will connect the third floors of Forrester and McCarthy halls, high enough to let trucks and buses pass beneath.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Krzywonos. “This really was conceived by my predecessor Kevin Quinlan. It took a long time to gain traction and we’re the beneficiaries of it.”
Krzywonos said the NSCC’s ultimate goal is a system of pedway bridges linking all its main buildings. These include the McCarthy and Forrester halls, the student residence at Davis Hall and the college’s Sport and Wellness Centre.
Krzywonos said the skywalk linking McCarthy and Forrester halls will be the most important of those planned, allowing students to easily move between classes.
Krzywonos said most NSCC buildings first went up in the 1960s and 1970s and met the codes of that period.
But Krzywonos says building a campus accessible to all students, regardless or their ability, is key. This means more than simply installing a wheelchair ramp, for example.
“That’s the easy part,” said Krzywonos.
For him, accessibility means students like MacNeil and Sara Johnston can reach classes without difficulty and fully take part in all lessons and activities.
Johnston has not yet received a definite diagnosis for her disability, but her doctors say it is likely an auto-immune disorder. Her condition makes walking difficult and on some days she needs crutches or a cane to assist her.
When studying the English unit of her adult learning program, Johnston was unable to attend class and her instructor checked in on her as she worked remotely.
“I’ve had days where I cannot get to this building because of the weather outside,” said Johnston, inside the McCarthy Hall. “My disability is very affected by the outside environment and extreme cold.”
Johnston and McNeil’s classes are typically inside either Forrester Hall, where most of the classrooms are, or McCarthy Hall, which houses the NSCC’s student library.
