Karen Dueck has gone from serving breakfast to serving the needs of children and youth in the community – and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Back in 2006, Dueck was working as a server in a restaurant to help support her family. She didn’t think going back to school was an option for her until a friend told her about the Youth Recreation Activity Worker certificate program at Red River College.

“When I first heard about it, I thought it was too good to be true,” says Dueck, whose two children were in their early teens when she entered the 10-month program, and who had experience doing respite work with a child with special needs.

“I had always enjoyed working with children and youth, but it wasn’t until I heard about this program that I really thought of it as a career. To that point I was just working to work, and to put food on the table.”

Designed to prepare young people to work with inner city children and youth to provide healthy recreational activities, the Youth Recreation Activity Worker program is offered at no cost to qualifying students aged 18 to 29. Dueck, who was 28 at the time, took the plunge and applied. At the end of the program she completed a summer work practicum as an Activity Worker with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Winnipeg, which partners with RRC to offer the program jointly. Read More →

There’s only one week left to sign up for Red River College’s 2015 billboard campaign, which affords our grads and their employers a unique opportunity for cross-organizational promotion.

Showcase your proud RRC connection — or that of an employee, mentor or industry colleague — by nominating yourself or someone you know for our high-profile brand of VIP treatment.

As always, we’re committed to celebrating the success of our alumni, and the diverse, innovative organizations that employ our grads. Building on the momentum of previous  campaigns, we’re inviting you to join us this year for a creative, co-operative new advertising opportunity.

You pick the grad, and we’ll handle the purchasing and production work. Then we’ll split the hard costs — and share in the campaign’s success!

Deadline for submissions is Jan. 14, 2015. Only a few spots remain — get in on the action before they’re all gone!

Learn more about the new campaign →

Old is new again when it comes to some counselling techniques.

Red River College grad Bill Thomas (Community-Centred Therapy, 1999) specializes in combining Western psychotherapy with traditional Aboriginal healing methods. Not only is he getting results, he’s also finding the two methods have a lot in common.

“[Clients] equated it to an internal vision quest,” Thomas says of the healing process. “The deep psychotherapeutic techniques in the Western world? [First Nations communities have] done that throughout the centuries from a spiritual point of view, so we had those embedded in our healing processes from our ancestors. It’s incredible.”

Thomas first developed the technique while completing his degree in social work at the University of Northern British Columbia in 2006. Today, he works as a clinical supervisor and mental health therapist for First Nations and Inuit Health while also running his own therapy practice.

Born and raised on Peguis First Nation, Thomas grew up in a less-than-ideal family environment.

“I went through a lot of trauma in my childhood years,” he says. “I saw my mom and dad go through some bloody battles and I just wanted to give up at four years old, and that’s when I had my first spiritual intervention with God. That helped a lot with living.”

Thomas, 50, has known he would help others since he watched his grandmother counsel her friends as a young boy.

“A long time ago, people used to go around visiting on the reserve and that’s how they did the traditional counselling. They’d counsel one another, help each other with chores and talk to each other about problems and stuff like that. I watched my grandma do that. She was my pillar.” Read More →

Amber Balcaen has her sights set on NASCAR. And to make it there, she needs your help.

The 22-year-old Red River College grad recently launched an IndieGoGo campaign to help raise funds for a test run at the end of December, where she’ll be driving an ARCA (Automobile Racing Club of America) asphalt car for HARE (Hassler and Associates Racing Enterprises) Motorsports, at Daytona International Raceway.

“If I showed you a picture of an ARCA car, you’d be like, ‘Oh that’s a NASCAR’ because it looks identical,” says Balcaen. “Essentially that’s what it is, it’s just another form of pavement racing, it just mirrors NASCAR. It’s another gateway into NASCAR.”

This test run is vitally important for Balcaen’s career – completing it ensures she receives her ARCA license, thereby allowing her to race in 2015. To get there, she needs to raise $6,000 by Dec. 24.

“It’s very hard to show proof of return on investment for a test, because it’s not a race. There aren’t thousands of fans in the stands; you’re just testing a car. So it’s hard to really show the numbers that sponsors want ­– that’s why I thought that crowdfunding was [a good way to raise] money for the test.”

Balcaen has been racing for 12 years, but this will be her first time doing so for ARCA, a minor but professional league of stock car racing that’s used as a feeder series for NASCAR. She had her first chance to drive for NASCAR in November of this year, when she was one of only 20 drivers invited to participate in Rev Racing and NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity. Read More →

Showcase your proud RRC connection — or that of an employee, mentor, or industry colleague — by taking part in our 2015 billboard campaign!

We want to celebrate the success of our alumni and the diverse, innovative organizations that employ our grads. Building on the momentum of our previous billboard campaigns, we invite you to join us in a creative, co-operative advertising opportunity.

You pick the grad, and we handle the purchasing and production work. Then we’ll split the hard costs — and share in the campaign’s success!

Deadline for submissions is Jan. 14, 2015.

Learn more about the new campaign →

“#InnovateOrDie,” reads the motto on the walls at Bold Innovation Group, and it’s a message the IT company takes to heart.

“We took an old motto and we renewed it for our generation,” explains Yvan Boisjoli (shown above, at left), one of Bold’s four founding partners. “[The original was], ‘If you’re not growing you’re dying.’ So what we did was just refresh it to #InnovateOrDie.”

Since Bold launched in March 2012, this mentality has helped the Île-des-Chênes-based company quickly become one of the leading third-party suppliers of apps for ecommerce behemoth Shopify.

Founded by brothers Yvan and Eric Boisjoli, Stefan Maynard and Jason Myers, Bold has already put 15 Shopify apps on the market and plans to launch another two per month for the foreseeable future. In its short time in existence, Bold has served almost 15,000 clients, including Microsoft, Time Life and Cirque du Soleil.

The Boisjoli brothers, both graduates of the Computer Analyst/Programmer (now called Business Information Technology) program at Red River College, are self-described ‘Code Pirates’ – meaning they build the apps – while Maynard is a ‘Design Ninja’ and Myers heads up Marketing. The fun job titles go hand-in-hand with the company’s ‘Work hard, play hard’ mentality; their office includes a foosball table and arcade games and the founders endeavor to ensure it’s a workplace with lots of perks.

The ‘Work hard’ part is also vitally important, as demonstrated by the company’s growth and success. Starting with just the four co-founders in 2012, Bold now has a staff of over 40. And they’re receiving accolades, winning the Young Enterprise category of the Entrepreneur Prizes handed out by the St. Boniface Chamber of Commerce, along with a national award for economic development and employability from Réseau de dévelopment économique et d’émployabilité (RDEE) Canada, the nation’s Francophone economic and employability network. Read More →

Kyle Goertzen has been sober for three and a half years. He attributes part of his recovery to helping others overcome the disease of addiction.

“Working in addictions, being able to give back in that capacity is huge for my recovery,” says the 29-year-old. “Being in recovery, for me, is about helping other people get well and eradicate the stigma associated with the disease of alcoholism and addiction.”

A graduate of the Applied Counselling program at Red River College, Goertzen now works for three addictions recovery organizations: Addictions Foundation of Manitoba and Tamarack Recovery Centre, where he’s a residential care worker, and 210 Recovery, where he’s a peer support worker. His own experience getting sober is a big help in his work.

“I can put myself in others people’s shoes. I’ve been in that same situation, so I think in that sense it’s an asset. I have a solid understanding of what the illness is all about and am able to approach it with compassion [and] non-judgment.” Read More →

Profile by Stacy Cardigan Smith (Creative Communications, 2006)

As a woman working in a male-dominated trade, Alicia Demare has faced her fair share of hardships. But if you ask her, it’s all been worth it.

“I was lucky enough to find something that I love to do,” says Demare of working as a cabinetmaker.

She’s loved woodworking since the age of 10, when she and her younger sister made picture frames and “bedazzled them out” with assorted gems and jewels.

She’s come a long way since then; at just 24-years-old, the Red River College Cabinetry and Woodworking grad is about to receive her Red Seal in Cabinetry.

Despite excelling in her trade, she’s come up against many who discredit her based on her gender. As the only female employee at her last job, every day she would leave work “upset with what someone had said.”

“I’m going to be honest with you, [it’s] very difficult,” says Demare. “One guy – he’s retirement age and he’s just set in his ways. He would get right in my face and tell me he [didn’t] want to babysit me and it’s very hard for me not to take that personally because it’s not me, it’s my gender.” Read More →

Casey Ludwick helps at-risk youth find a voice.

“Who’s there for these children when everyone they care about or look up to… is ignoring them or not there?” says Ludwick, a 24-year-old graduate of Red River College’s Applied Counselling program. “You can’t tell a child to ‘Just get over it,’ because a child takes what they’re experiencing and accommodates it into how they think and see the world.” 

According to Ludwick, the best way to help kids find their voices is to avoid labeling them.

“We’re so quick to label children in a certain way due to diagnoses or what we see presenting, and then we set the tone for them. How often do you think a child gets undivided attention to really speak and tell the world who they are without being told who they are first?”

Ludwick works as the girls coordinator and youth counsellor at Wahbung Abinoonjiiag Inc., a North End-based domestic violence support centre for children and families. The facility provides opportunities for holistic healing using culturally appropriate teachings.

“It is a safe, positive place where girls who live in the North End can come to have fun, relax, and learn more about themselves and their culture.”

Despite the challenging nature of the work, Ludwick loves her job; she utilizes a strength-based perspective and sees resiliency and positivity in all of her clients, who range in age from nine to 13. 

“Rather than seeing these kids [according to the negatives] – they could be involved with criminal activity, they’re lacking basic food and shelter, they’re involved in tons of maladaptive behaviours – you can either focus on that, or you can look at them for their strengths.” Read More →

Kirk Mann thrives on helping Aboriginal businesses realize their potential through effective marketing and communications.

“It’s good to see a business that’s Aboriginal come out and be successful,” says the entrepreneur from Peguis First Nation. “[Helping Aboriginal businesses flourish] has always been a goal of mine, and it makes me feel good when I help a business that’s Aboriginal get to the next level.”

According to Mann, many First Nations-led businesses don’t realize the importance of polished marketing and communications strategies, nor do they utilize the resources available.

“There’s a pretty big learning curve for Aboriginal businesses,” he says. “Simple things like logos: [Aboriginal business owners] just make one up and get it down, not realizing that if you think about it at first and get a good logo and have some meaning behind it, later on it evolves.”

Which is where Mann can help. The 2005 graduate of Red River College’s Business Administration program is a founding partner and client development director at Modern Clan Marketing Communications, a full-service marketing, design and digital technology firm with a strong focus in the values and traditions of First Nations communities.

“We bring an Aboriginal perspective, that’s the way we look at it,” he says. “When we meet a new client we let them know the issues and struggles they’re dealing with, we’ve dealt with through our company already.” Read More →