Former SAIT student and industrial electricity instructor Clarence Hollingworth celebrated his 102nd birthday at SAIT Polytechnic Thursday.
Hollingworth outlived 11 of his doctors and when asked about his secret to longevity, he said it’s having “everything in moderation and lots of luck.”
In 1924, when he was in fourth grade, Hollingworth saw the very bricks of Heritage Hall being laid out.
Later, he became a student of industrial electricity in 1933 and roughly 20 years after that, he was an instructor at SAIT.
“It’s just like I never left it!” he said.
Hollingsworth noted that “this was the only building for miles around at one time,” and said he never thought SAIT would be as big as it is now.
During his youth, SAIT was known as the Provincial Institute of Technology and ART (PITA) and was renamed eight years into his career as an instructor.
When someone in the crowd asked what Hollingworth wished for when he blew out his birthday cake, he said: “Long life!”
Hollingworth isn’t afraid of his age; instead, he’s excited for the future and what more SAIT Polytechnic can do with their campus.
“Wait until I get to be 111, how about that for a start?”