LAC LA BICHE – Nancy Broadbent, president and CEO of Portage College, has been awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal for her active role in the community. She received the medal the evening of March 1 during the dinner for the Lac La Biche Ice Festival in Lac La Biche.
For Broadbent, receiving this medal means the work she is doing both for Portage College and in the greater Lac La Biche area, is being seen and recognized.
“It’s certainly humbling to be recognized with such an honour here in front of the community and others tonight,” she said.
Broadbent had been contacted by Laila Goodridge, Member of Parliament for Fort McMurray-Cold Lake, letting her know she had been nominated for one of the medals.
According to information from the Government of Canada, the Coronation Medal, which commemorates the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III as King of Canada, is administered by the Chancellery of Honours at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.
There are national criteria for Canadians to receive the honour. This includes having made a significant contribution to Canada or to a particular province, territory, region or community.
Broadbent has worked at Portage College since 1990. She has spent the past six years in the role of president and CEO of the post-secondary institution, which has campuses in Lac La Biche, St. Paul and Cold Lake.
Broadbent has had achieved many accomplishments during her time as president.
“We’ve just about doubled our student enrollment in the last few years, and we have all kinds of new programs coming forward . . . We’ve got major renovations done . . . It’s kind of all-around growth for the college,” she explained.
Outside of her work at Portage College, Broadbent is also involved with various community volunteer initiatives.
During the Lac La Biche Ice Festival, which ran from Feb. 28 – March 2, she worked alongside other employees of Portage College to cook hamburgers for the pond hockey tournament.
She also helps at the annual Christmas festival in Lac La Biche and sits on various boards in the community.
“It’s fun to get out and be around the other people and it’s really nice to be able to give back to this community, because it’s a fantastic place to live and lots of really great people here,” she said.
According to Goodridge, each Member of Parliament was asked if they would like to help distribute the medals within their ridings.
“I’m very proud that Nancy was able to be recognized here today,” Goodridge said.
“We haven’t seen a coronation in a long time, and so, this is something that the governor general chose to do . . . and so they wanted to recognize people that had different levels of community service. I was very proud to participate.”
