On May 28, Northern College hosted a public talk by Dr. Temple Grandin “Great Minds Are Not All The Same”.

Dr. Grandin is world renowned not only for her successful efforts in revolutionizing humane animal handling facilities, but also for her educational efforts in autism awareness. Non-verbal until age 4, Dr. Grandin has widely shared her struggles in changing perceptions of what many term a disability into an amazing gift.

She has received numerous honorary degrees, along with state, national, and international lifetime achievement awards. She has used her speaking fees to fund over 22 master’s and PhD students in the field of animal welfare. The movie of her inspirational life story has also won 7 Emmy awards and a Golden Globe.

This free event attracted over 400 people in person and over 100 online.

It was made possible by the combined efforts of the Northern College (the entire Haileybury campus team), the Ontario Association of Veterinary Technician Educators Conference, along with the support from a number of generous community and regional agricultural sponsors.

Included in this list are the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance, Cochrane Federation of Agriculture, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, City of Temiskaming Shores, Northern Producer Animal Health Network, Temiskaming Beef Producers, Temiskaming Dairy Producers, Cochrane-Timmins Dairy Producers, and the Temiskaming Federation of Agriculture.

Organizers hope that the collaboration between Northern College, community and government partners can serve as a template in attracting similarly accomplished speakers to our community in the future.