Four years ago, she couldn’t even turn on a computer — let alone operate one properly — and she was only vaguely familiar with the tragic legacy of residential schools in Canada.

But these days, Red River College grad Sharon Fletcher is not only 100% computer-savvy, she’s helping to shine a light on one of the darkest periods of Aboriginal history through her work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC).

Fletcher, 34, has been working as a hairdresser since she was a teenager (she got her licence midway through Grade 12, and still does hair on the side), but in 2007 decided to broaden her horizons by enrolling in RRC’s Computer Applications for Business program.

“When I first took the course, I was completely computer-illiterate,” says Fletcher, who currently works as the Financial Officer at the TRC’s national headquarters on Main Street. “While everyone else was logging on their computers, I was the only one in class trying to figure out how to turn the thing on.”

Fletcher — who at the time was balancing her busy course load with her salon duties and her school-aged son — quickly got the hang of computers, not to mention countless other marketable skills. In addition to the computer-related courses — which covered business document writing, accounting, and basic office procedures and software — Fletcher also received a crash course in Aboriginal history, via the program’s Aboriginal Culture and Issues class.

“We learned a lot about residential schools and what happened to people there, which gives me a real advantage today, because that’s what the Commission is all about — getting those stories from the survivors of residential schools,” explains Fletcher, who took her Computer Applications for Business program through RRC’s School of Indigenous Education.

“I’d never really grown up in a ‘traditionally’ Native home, at least not culture-wise. It’s kind of divided — my dad is white, and my mom is Native — so being in the Aboriginal Cultures and Issues class, and having the chance to get to know my roots, I really enjoyed that.” Read More →

Matt Best always figured he had a future in marketing.

But it wasn’t until he took the lead role on a class project at Red River College that he knew for certain he could make a career of it.

“When I got to Red River College, I quickly realized that marketing was one of my passions,” says Best, 24, a former Winnipeg resident who now calls Calgary home. “After having the opportunity to work on the Entrepreneurship (program) practicum as the leader of my marketing group, I also realized that I was good at it.”

These days, Best works as Coordinator of Consumer Engagement for TrojanOne, a Canadian marketing agency with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. In addition to running the Calgary office, Best also contributes to marketing efforts for a roster of blue-chip clients, among them Canadian Tire, Mattel, Coca-Cola and Bank of Montreal.

“We’re pretty much your one-stop-shop for everything,” says Best of TrojanOne, a company he first became involved with through an internship with the University of Lethbridge (where he’s currently pursuing a degree in Marketing). “Our vision is to get our clients promoted, so that’s what we strive for in everything we do.”

Raised in Charleswood — where he was active in sports like hockey, golf and lacrosse — Best got his first taste of the marketing world through high school business classes he enrolled in as a teen. He spent a year in Vancouver after graduating Grade 12, but returned to Winnipeg in time to sign up for RRC’s Business Administration program in 2006. Read More →

There’s more than one way Red River College can help you get your wings. Just ask RRC alum Tim San Diego, who took a slightly different path to a career spent flying the friendly skies.

A former Winnipeg resident who now spends most of his time in Thompson, Man., San Diego graduated from RRC’s Aircraft Maintenance Engineer program in 2007. Though he’s always been mechanically-minded (his father was a hobby mechanic, and he spent his high school years studying robotics) he’s also harbored a lifelong fascination with flying, which he now gets to indulge as one of the few licensed pilots working in an engineering capacity at Perimeter Aviation.

“That’s pretty rare,” says San Diego, who managed to earn his pilot’s license while apprenticing at St. Andrews Airport, his first post-RRC place of employment.

“There are probably 100 people working at Perimeter right now, and only me and Mark (Wehrle, Perimeter’s President) can do both.”

To clarify again, San Diego did not undergo any  flight training at Red River (though RRC does offer an Aviation Management program in partnership with Harv’s Air and Winnipeg Aviation). In San Diego’s case, his AME course provided him with the skills required to service helicopters and large and small aircraft. And thanks to a rather generous co-worker — St. Andrews Airport staffer Al Hartwig — San Diego managed to rack up enough flight time to qualify for his private pilot’s license. Read More →

For a good chunk of each day, he’s alone with his thoughts — or at least, as alone as a guy can be when 50,000 people are listening in.

That’s the paradox faced daily by Red River College alum Casey Norman, who broadcasts his cultural musings to a devoted army of fans from the comfort of his studio at local rock station Power 97.

“I like interacting with the audience — it’s an immediate connection with the listeners,” says Norman, Power’s Music Director, Assistant Program Director and host of the Power Drive every weekday afternoon from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

“The great thing about Power 97 is that you can say something on the air, and before you’re even finished the sentence, someone’s on their cell phone calling you to talk about it.”

Norman, who graduated from RRC’s Creative Communications program in 2005, describes his current position as “the job I’ve always wanted,” so it’s no surprise that he’s been working up to it for the last 20 years or so.

Born and raised in St. James, he first discovered a love of music while rifling through his parents record collection (lucky for him, they were big fans of The Beatles and Leonard Cohen), but it wasn’t until junior high that he began seeking out more underground fare like the Dead Milkmen and They Might Be Giants.

His first radio gig was at the University of Winnipeg’s campus station while he was a student there in the late ‘90s, though — as with most origin stories — the position itself was about as entry-level as they come. Read More →

Heading back to the classroom as a mature student can be stressful enough for the best of us, especially when it comes to balancing schoolwork with familial obligations.

But Red River College alumna Anna Marie Prince had an even tougher time than most: Her husband was hospitalized with a life-threatening kidney disease just months after her program’s start date, requiring her to squeeze a risky organ transplant into her already hectic schedule.

“I remember we were going through our final tissue tests, and she was reading a textbook while we were doing it,” says Anna Marie’s husband, Edward Prince, for whom she bravely served as an organ donor in December 2008.

“I told the doctor, ‘Don’t mind her – she’s studying for a test!’”

A former resident of Peguis First Nation, Anna Marie entered RRC’s Dental Assisting – Level II program in the fall of 2008, having spent the bulk of her life raising a family and working managerial jobs at restaurants.

“I’d never chosen a career where I could concentrate my interests, so I told (my husband), ‘I’d like to go back to school,’” says Anna Marie. “He was a retired career counselor, so he said, ‘Well, why don’t you?’” Read More →

As part of their efforts to make composite manufacturing more economical, an instructor and a grad from RRC’s Mechanical Engineering Technology program have developed a new means of making dissolvable mandrels and patterns, otherwise known as “rapid prototype composite tooling (RPCT).”

Composite manufacturing currently has substantial overhead costs, partly due to the expense of tooling.

“To produce these tools, one typically requires expensive machines that are also very slow and costly to operate,” says Leon Fainstein, the instructor who led the development of the new RPCT. “By contrast, RPCT involves only one affordable machine — a 3D printer.”

The 3D printer will print virtually any shape of dissolvable mandrels and patterns in about four to eight hours, and even print multiple mandrels or patterns at once.

“Manufacturers require permanent composite molds for short production runs. RPCT can make them with dissolvable patterns,” says Serge Broeska (shown, above), the program grad who’s now working as a Research Technologist at RRC’s Centre for Applied Research in Sustainable Infrastructure  (CARSI). “These composite molds can be very complex, have smooth surfaces, and are comparable to metal molds, with the exception that they are much less expensive.”

While there are other methods of making dissolvable mandrels and patterns, RPCT is the only method whereby dissolvable mandrels and patterns can be made directly from CAD files.

“With the progressive development of RPCT, the possibilities for composite design and manufacturing are becoming endless,” says Broeska.

To learn more about this breakthrough, read Broeska’s article here.

Click here for more information about RRC’s Mechanical Engineering Technology program.

Recent Red River College graduate Blair Fraser has been recognized by the Manitoba arm of the Project Management Institute (PMI), having earned a $1,000 award from the organization at its annual conference last month.

Fraser was acknowledged just months after receiving his certificate in Project Management from RRC’s School of Continuing and Distance Education. The PMI Manitoba award recognizes his outstanding achievement as a student.

“We ask the instructors to think about the graduating class, and nominate the student that they would be most likely to refer to a colleague.  Naturally this nomination is partially based on student grades, however it also recognizes attitude, drive, determination, initiative and teamwork skills,” said Kirk Johnson (shown at left), the College’s Program Manager, Information, Technology and Professional Studies.

For the second year in a row, Red River College served as Title sponsor for the event, which drew upwards of 150 participants — many of them RRC graduates who were attending on behalf of corporate Manitoba. This year, the College was proud to show off its newly-earned PMI Registered Educational Provider (R.E.P.) status — a recognition that lets people know PMI has reviewed RRC’s material and recognizes it to be on par with their high standards of training. At present, R.E.P status is recognized in over 70 countries worldwide.

“Red River College is a massive influence on PMI, because they offer the Project Management accreditation process — where you receive the training required to qualify you to write your certification exam,” explained Yanik Sourisseau (shown, right), chair of communications for PMI Manitoba.

“Not only do those courses give you the tools to become a better project manager, they are recognized internationally as the certification steps toward being qualified to write your exam.” Read More →

Red River College graduate Krista Erickson (Creative Communications, 1999) has been tapped to host the Sun News Network’s Canada Live, a hard-hitting headline news show that debuted earlier this week.

The Gemini-nominated TV reporter and anchor joined the Sun News team after 12 years with the CBC, where she began her career as an entry-level researcher, and later worked as the local evening news anchor and national parliamentary bureau correspondent.

“If I had to describe (Canada Live), it’s a contrarian take on the news events of the day with unexpected angles and points of view that you might not hear anywhere else,” Erickson recently said of the show.

“Sun News has been an incredible fit, and I feel more at ease and comfortable here than any other professional experience.”

Red River College grad Chris Jericho trades the wrestling ring for the ballroom tonight, as one of the contestants on the latest season of TV’s Dancing with the Stars.

The WWE star, who graduated from RRC’s Creative Communications program in 1990 (before embarking on his successful wrestling career), joins a roster of fellow celebs for the 12th season of the popular dance contest, among them Kirstie Alley, Ralph Macchio, Wendy Williams and Sugar Ray Leonard.

Jericho, who in 2008 received one of RRC’ s inaugural Distinguished Alumni Awards, has plenty of show business experience outside the ring, including a part in the recent Saturday Night Live flick MacGruber and a side career as frontman for the heavy metal band Fozzy.

He’ll be paired with professional dance partner Cheryl Burke, who has twice won the DWTS title. The show’s season premiere airs tonight (Monday, March 21st) at 7 p.m. on ABC and CTV.