Joshua Langill, Class of 2020, came to Lakeland College hoping to find opportunities to excel in a dynamic industry: real estate appraisal and assessment (REAA).

After his father-in-law shared stories of his own career in the field, Langill applied to the same program Petrunik graduated from in 1990 - the business administration program's real estate appraisal and assessment major at Lakeland.

Last semester, that inspiration came full circle when Petrunik, an assessor with the city of Lethbridge, visited Langill's classroom to share his experience in the assessor industry with Langill and his classmates.

“I learned about the assessment profession through him,” Langill explains. “He always had positive things to say about his experience and it had a huge influence on me coming here. He was very happy when I decided to apply to Lakeland.”

Langill says he was inspired to pursue a career in appraisal work when he learned how important it was to public service.

“When I learned how all of the services we enjoy are actually connected with the assessment profession, I got really excited,” Langill says. “There's so much opportunity to pursue getting involved in public service this way, and coming to Lakeland is a good opportunity to realize those goals.”

His classmates also benefited from Petrunik sharing his experiences, Langill says.

“He was able to give us more of his day-to-day experience and was very honest about the positives he experiences as well as the challenges. The class really appreciated his level of honesty and clarity.”

As for beginning his own appraisal education at Lakeland, Langill has no regrets.

“It's been great,” he says. “The instruction here is just top notch. It's such a challenging program, but instructor Ken Rutherford is really in the trenches with us. He always goes the extra mile for us and we all appreciate his service towards us. The program is so in-depth, we really come out of it with the ability to pursue so many different aspects of the assessment and appraisal profession. We gain a very good foundation to go out into the world.”

Photo: Joshua Langill and his father-in-law, Gordon Petrunik, together on the Lloydminster campus.