About 200 hundred people celebrated the official grand opening of the new Collingwood campus of Georgian College on Monday.

It had been postponed because of the support staff strike.

The big announcement at the ceremony is the donation of just over a hundred thousand dollars from the Student Administrative Council -- which brings the college's fundraising campaign to 60 per cent of its 750 thousand dollar goal.

That's 450 thousand raised to date.

Drew Wright got the ceremony started by singing the national anthem.

There were twelve speakers during the ceremony including Collingwood Mayor Sandra Cooper and Mayor of Clearview Township, Ken Ferguson, along with Simcoe Grey MPP Jim Wilson and Georgian College President and CEO, Brian Tamblyn.

But it was current student, 29 year old Blair Fleming of Wasaga Beach, who got a standing ovation.

He talked about how he's happy he can now go to school in the area to train for his new career. He's enrolled in the pre health sciences course and will go on to take practical nursing.

He says it's a challenge juggling school and a wife and two kids, but it's worth it.