The Town of Okotoks along with select organizations will be taking an educational tour in Calgary to help promote the Town to possibly build and offer more post secondary programs locally.

Okotoks Town Councillor Carrie Fischer

Members of Town Council, the Chamber of Commerce and educational officials will meet with Bow Valley College and Mount Royal University on the matter June 23.

Councillor Carrie Fischer says she hopes the end result will be just that in bringing or campus like courses to the Foothills.

"That's the goal in the end, Bow Valley is able to deliver from all different institutions so really leveraging that and expanding the programs that we can offer out here," she says.

Fischer says bringing more high level educational programs will not only help out those starting their post-secondary education but also expand on those looking to upgrade or change fields of expertise.

 "We've got such a young population with over 33 percent of it being under the age of 18. They are all going to need to be educated at some point so keeping them here but even more than we're noticing right now with the transition and the lower economy that people are looking to get re-educated or re-certified or change or their career too."

With Okotoks' average age younger than most towns in the province, Fischer says it's a great avenue to explore.

"They're at an age where they have young kids, they don't want to go out of town or can't go out of town to be educated and then with the different commitments with their kids, so  being able to offer that in town and being able to give them as much of that re-training locally as possible really benefits them."

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