For the second alumni reception in our series, we invite graduates of a Health Sciences or Community Service program over to our Notre Dame Campus for an evening of after-work networking and reminiscing.
Enjoy a complimentary glass of wine, snack delicious appetizers, and tour one of our incredible new labs: nursing, paramedicine, pharmaceutical, animal health technology, and community services.
Accidental entrepreneur Amanda Buhse found herself burning the candle at both ends after co-founding one of Winnipeg’s hottest startups two years ago.
When the 2006 Graphic Design – Advanced grad and her best friend Tom Jansen created their Coal and Canary Candle Company brand, they expected to sell a few hand-poured soy-and-vegetable wax candles to friends and family. A few months later, they were scrambling to fill Oscar and Grammy Awards swag bags and meet demand from their first retail clients.
“Coal and Canary kind of started as a hobby, just as an extra creative outlet and an excuse to hang out with my best friend Tom,” says Buhse.
“He had gotten into candle-making a couple of years prior and got really good at it and asked me if I wanted to join up, because I had the marketing and the graphic design backgrounds, so I could do the branding and the website and packaging and all that.”
Buhse, 31, was working full-time as senior web designer for fashion retailer Ricki’s and Jansen, 26, was in nursing school when they started making candles in Buhse’s kitchen. Before long, they were moonlighting in a rented 150-square-foot studio where they could make 24 candles each night. Next thing they knew, the business had taken on a life of its own. Read More →
Graduates of RRC technology programs got together for an evening of networking and reminiscing on October 12 at the College’s tech alumni reception. Guests interacted with some of RRC’s newest projects in the field, including our robot Baxter, solar car, and electric bike. They also checked out technology from days gone by, including vintage calculator collections, arcade games, and brain puzzles. Thanks to everyone who was able to come out – see you at next year’s reception or at another alumni event in the near future!
Stop by RRC’s Notre Dame Campus for some after-work networking and reminiscing. For one night only, we’re transforming the Voyageur into a fun and funky retro gaming lounge, showcasing how far technology has come over the decades. Mix and mingle with alumni from your industry and enjoy delicious drinks and appetizers. Play retro video games and check out exhibits like our robot Baxter, RRC’s solar car, and instructors’ vintage calculator collections.
Landing a job out of university was never a problem for Suzanne Gessler. Landing a job she truly enjoyed? Well, that was another story.
It wasn’t until the “lifelong student” graduated from Red River College’s Professional Baking and Patisserie program in 2014 that she was able to create her own personal recipe for success: The Pennyloaf Bakery.
Gessler opened the Corydon Avenue shop specializing in authentic sourdough-style breads in October 2015, a year after she graduated from RRC. It’s a far cry from her former jobs as a city planner, social worker and social policy writer – all government gigs that were well-paid and stable with regular hours and lengthy vacations.
In other words: They were everything owning your own bakery is not.
But that’s OK with Gessler, who’s learned that rolling the dough itself is a better fit for her than rolling it in under somebody else’s watch.
“My dad got sick and passed away, and I got burned out to no end,” says Gessler of the moment she felt she needed to switch career paths, after 13 challenging years working to improve the homeless population’s housing conditions.
“After so many years of trying to do whatever I could to help out on poverty issues in the city, I’d kind of had it. I’d seen so many rounds of government funding come through and not a lot of change. Maybe there was some change, but I was too mired in it.” Read More →
Paul Cantin doesn’t want to set the world on fire — quite the opposite, in fact. His work on New Flyer Industries’ battery-electric buses could help put the brakes on global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions throughout North America.
A 2004 graduate of RRC’s Mechanical Engineering Technology program, Cantin is a project leader in the New Product Development department at New Flyer, the continent’s leading manufacturer of transit buses, including increasingly lean-and-clean natural gas, hybrid and electric options.
The 35-year-old father of two says with 70,000 transit buses currently in operation in North America, converting the majority to more sustainable propulsion systems would have significant environmental implications for future generations.
“From our little corner of Winnipeg, we can make a fairly large impact on North American air quality,” says Cantin, whose team has collaborated on electric bus and charging systems with RRC’s Electric Vehicle and Technology Education Centre since 2011. More recently, his department began a new project with the College’s Transportation and Heavy Apprenticeship Trades program.
In April, Cantin was named to CBC Manitoba’s 2016 Future 40 list of “leaders and change-makers,” an honour that drew welcome attention to the home-grown expertise and ingenuity that’s driving the projects.
“Having these incubators of innovation being highlighted and shown to the general public is really valuable because it helps to inspire and show some of our youth … you don’t have to leave Winnipeg to make an impact,” he says.
“It’s really cool that we are able to acquire the knowledge [through] a post-secondary education here in Winnipeg — and to gain the experience, and be able to have a real tangible impact in North America.” Read More →
We’ve heard you loud and clear: you miss connecting with one another and with your alma mater. Guess what? We’ve missed you too!
To help us get reacquainted with one another and to showcase some of the innovative projects we’ve been working on, RRC will hold several after-work alumni receptions this fall. Hosted by participating schools, these events range from an evening of wine and cheese in a transformed downtown atrium to a retro video game lounge at our Notre Dame Campus.
Keep an eye out for an invitation to your special event that includes all of the fun details. If you want a jump on registration, please email Alumni Engagement and we’ll make sure you’re on the invite list. We look forward to seeing you in the weeks to come!
Don Fletcher will be the first to tell you he’s a workaholic. What else would you call someone who’s juggled several jobs at once for the past 45 years?
Thankfully, hard work pays off. And the Red River College grad is finally reaping the benefits – in a big way.
A builder and creator all his life, Fletcher’s latest invention, Nice Trim Fit, is taking the bathroom renovation world by storm – and sealing his fate as Winnipeg’s next big success story.
“I basically had to sell everything I had to get this all going, but it’s finally paid off,” says Fletcher, a self-described inventor who graduated from RRC’s Machine Shop Apprentice program in 1982.
Nice Trim Fit is a sealing system that’s easily installed on tubs, showers, backsplashes, baseboards and even toilets to protect them from mold, mildew and leaks.
Fletcher has obtained patents for the product in Canada and the U.S. (Australia is pending), and shares are sold out at $10,000 apiece. Nice Trim Fit is currently available at over 80 Home Hardware stores, and will soon be sold at Lowe’s, Ace Hardware and Rona.
RV companies and Manitoba Housing have also shown interest, and Fletcher has recently done demos for the Hilton, Canad Inns and Best Western hotel chains. He’s constantly taking the product on the road to trade shows, with another tour planned for this fall.
“It’s going haywire,” says Fletcher, who employs a staff of five. “The president of 3M came in to see my product,” he says of the multi-billion-dollar adhesives company. “He liked it so much, he said, ‘You’ve got a winner here. I’m going to endorse it.’ Now we’ve got their logo on our package.” Read More →
You asked, and we listened! Starting in the fall of 2016, Alumni Engagement at Red River College will be offering free life-long learning classes for our graduates. These events will be interest-based and offered throughout the year on a variety of topics. Wait…did we mention these events are FREE for RRC alumni?
First up this year is Rockin’ the Rainbow: Everything you ever wanted to know about LGBTT* but didn’t know who to ask. Do you know the recent movement regarding safe space programs or the roots of pride parades? Our world and the words we use shift and change all the time. Uncut and unfiltered, this two-hour event is your chance to delve into gender and sexual diversity and the complexity of the human state. Read More →
Jeremy Senaris took his main courses seriously as a Civil Engineering Technology student at Red River College. This summer, the 2010 grad aced appetizers and desserts too, as the runner-up on the third season of CTV series MasterChef Canada.
“I’m still pretty proud,” the 35-year-old self-taught chef says.
“I’ve always been a fan of the show. I’ve always watched the American one and then once the Canadian one started I tried out for the first season. I didn’t make it that season and at that point I was like, ‘OK I tried, I’ll never do it again.’”
Never say never. The show’s producers invited Senaris back to audition for the third season, and he wowed the judges through all 15 episodes up to the finale in June.
As a building plan examiner for the City of Winnipeg by day, Senaris works strictly by the book, making sure residential floor plans comply with building codes and checking the structural design of every house to ensure it’s safe and sound. After hours, he likes to colour outside the lines, concocting creative menus that might include anything from bison tataki to squid ink risotto and “ice cream” made with purple heirloom rice, whipped cream and candied bacon.
The key ingredient to success on both fronts is preparation.
“I’ve always been interested in structural design, which is why I took civil engineering,” he says, adding he chose RRC because he wanted to begin working in his field as soon as possible.
The three-year course met his need for speed, and the combination of classroom theory and hands-on co-op work experiences equipped him to hit the ground running after graduation. Read More →
RRC Polytech campuses are located on the lands of the Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak, Anishininwak, Dakota Oyate, and Denésuline, and the National Homeland of the Red River Métis.
We recognize and honour Treaty 3 Territory Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, the source of Winnipeg’s clean drinking water. In addition, we acknowledge Treaty Territories which provide us with access to electricity we use in both our personal and professional lives.