Red River College has legacy of being employer-driven and future-focused. Since our early days responding to a post-depression and post-war world in the 1930s and 40s, to our new reality adapting to a pandemic, we’ve always been an institution where learning mirrors the market.

Today, we’re embracing a new model that fully represents who we’ve always been, who we are today, and who we’re growing into: Red River College Polytechnic.

The term polytechnic is used around the world to identify institutions focused on strategic workforce development. As Manitoba’s polytechnic, our top priority is preparing students to thrive in a rapidly changing world of work. We’re embracing a bold approach that shows our community and industry partners we’re not only ready to meet rapidly shifting demands, but also ready to lead the way forward.

With a new season comes change. Even though we don’t know exactly what’s ahead for Manitoba, we do know that the RRC community is resilient and ready to help our province recover. Let’s show up for one another, support local businesses, and help our community thrive.

Giveaway Now Closed

Thank you to everyone who entered to win one of five $25 gift cards to GoodLocal, an online shop featuring Manitoba makers and sellers, including RRC alumni makers!

We have more exciting contests planned – simply update your contact information so you can stay in the loop. We have an exciting fall ahead and RRC’s next chapter is going to be bold and unlike anything you’ve seen from us before – you won’t want to miss our announcements!

The draw for winners was held on Monday, September 13, 2021. Winners were contacted via email.

See contest rules and regulations >

The Red River College Students’ Association (RRCSA) is seeking applications to fill one ex-officio board member position. All interested alumni members are encouraged to apply!

The alumni representative to the RRCSA board brings industry knowledge and experience to the student leadership on the board, providing insight, direction, and mentorship. The SA board oversees a $3 million budget for projects, initiatives, trust funds, and donation requests, and decisions made by the board impacts the RRC student body, the entire RRC ecosystem, and the wider community. The alumni representative also sits on the trust fund committee, which oversees capital projects.

The successful candidate will serve on the board as a volunteer for a one-year term from September 2021 to October 2022, with the opportunity to extend per interest and approval. Meetings are held monthly during the evening via video conferencing.

Deadline to apply is September 8, 2021. For more information, visit rrcsa.ca.

Join alumni across the country for tips on how to maximize Ten Thousand Coffees in a free Office Hour event on Tuesday, August 24 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. CT.

The Red River College Café, powered by Ten Thousand Coffees (10KC), is RRC’s free online networking and mentorship platform that connects Red River College students and alumni through virtual ‘coffee chats’ and exclusive nation-wide events with career development experts.

The Red River College Café, powered by Ten Thousand Coffees, is RRC’s free online networking and mentorship platform that connects Red River College students and alumni through virtual ‘coffee chats’ and exclusive nation-wide events with career development experts.

More than 2,100 current students and alumni members have already joined the Café, and more than 12,200 connections have been made so far since launching in 2020!

Learn more about how Ten Thousand Coffees works >

You’re invited! Ten Thousand Coffees is hosting a panel discussion on July 15, 2021 at 12:30 p.m. CT to answer the age-old question so many of us have asked ourselves: should I get a job or start my own business?

Let the great debate begin! Join Ten Thousand Coffees for an exciting discussion to help you decide if you should go out on your own or accept that job offer. Whether you’re navigating your next steps as a fresh graduate, or you’ve always wondered if starting a business and being your own boss is the right move, you’ll get a chance to hear from a group of experts who will weigh in on the benefits and challenges of either option.

Ten Thousand Coffees CEO Dave Wilkin will chat with an entrepreneur, a venture capitalist, and an early career leader for their take on this debate. The event is free and open to all Red River College students and alumni. Whether you’re already a member of the Red River College Café or new to our mentoring and networking platform, you’re invited to listen in and ask questions!

Almost immediately after graduating from Red River College’s Computer Analyst/Programmer diploma program in 1998, Gillian Bresch-Giesbrecht accepted a job as a programmer with Richardson International.

Now, more than 20 years later, she’s still there.

It’s not a common career trajectory by today’s standards (only 30 per cent of people stay in any one job for over four years, according to a Workopolis report) but it is an impressive one. Today, Bresch-Giesbrecht works as a Senior Project Manager, where she is part of a fast-growing department of approximately 80 other IT professionals within the company.

And when it comes to the experience of working, growing, and succeeding with the same company throughout her entire career, she only has one thing to say: opportunity is aplenty.

“I have been from Vancouver, all the way to Sorel-Tracy. I’ve been almost all across Canada, and had an opportunity to visit many people across the country. It is a great industry to be in: there is demand, room to grow, and you can make some decent money compared to other industries,” she says.

“You’re able to choose the type of career path you want. It might be quite technical, with lots of coding or building, or maybe you’re somebody who doesn’t necessarily want to hang out at your desk. You can go out and talk to people and help them find solutions to improve their systems.”

When Bresch-Giesbrecht began studying at Red River College in 1996, the Internet was still a relatively new concept for most. She was halfway through her first year of an arts degree at the University of Manitoba when she says she decided to switch over to a more technical program with plenty of career prospects.

Her father, Geoff Bresch, was an instructor in the Computer Analyst/Programmer (CAP) diploma program in the 1980s at Red River College, and later in his career became an instructor in the Business Information Technology program. He suggested she apply to CAP at RRC.

Joe Froese’s career is all about the hustle.

From his first day as an apprenticeship student, Froese made sure nobody ever outworked him. Now, at 27, as a journeyman carpenter he co-owns two businesses with his father, George – the man who instilled in him a strong work ethic.

In 2002, the elder Froese founded Access Framing Inc. (@accessframinginc) in the family’s home community of Grunthal, in southeastern Manitoba. The company puts up wood frames for residential and commercial buildings. George is also known in the area as a pastor at Bothwell Christian Fellowship, in New Bothwell.

Joe joined his father at Access Framing as an apprentice carpenter in 2012, and he bought into the company two years later. After completing high school at that time, he transitioned into the Carpentry program at Red River College and graduated in 2017.

There’s value in the program for students who want to take the incentive and further themselves, says Froese, adding his own education at the College helped him to hone his problem-solving skills. “I think Red River College put me far ahead of where I would have been, if I had just worked hard in the trade and ‘worked my way up,’ kind of deal. It definitely helped me get ahead,” he says.

In 2019, with backing from his father, Froese started a second company, Access Building Ent. (@accessbuildingent), to work on start-to-finish new home builds and general contracting.

“I had an opportunity that presented itself to me,” he says. “I had it in the back of my mind that I’d like to do start-to-finish home builds. A buddy of mine had a house that needed repair, and he could not afford to fix it up. So, I bought the house and the land from him. I tore the house down, subdivided the land, and we built a few new homes.”

Froese describes carpentry as “a hard, physical, demanding career path,” and he says a person’s attitude plays a big role in their success.

“My instructors at Red River College were helpful; especially if you showed an interest in carpentry, which I did,” he says. “I wanted to become the best at it that I could be when I started, and they helped me to achieve that.”

Froese still works closely with George. Not every day working with his father is perfect, he admits. “Some days, we just don’t get along,” he laughs. “But for the most part, we get along and have a good relationship that way.”

His advice to students who want to break into the framing and construction business is to pay attention, learn how to use the tools, and understand the basics first. “Once you are in the trade, hopefully you will apprentice with a crew that will teach you, and not just expect you to know everything. Listen to what they tell you and grasp the concepts. Then they will start giving you more responsibilities. You can work your way up quickly, actually, if you show that initiative.”

In response to Manitoba’s growing game development industry, which has seen tremendous growth over the past five years, Red River College is launching a new two-year program geared toward video game design and programming.

“We previously had some classes at the College that covered some aspects of game development,” said Thomas Lepp, RRC Instructor and program coordinator for Game Development.

“Through consultation with industry, we designed a two-year program that focuses on video game development, with two distinct streams.”

The “Design” stream focuses on visual design and technical art production, while the “Programming” stream focuses on the implementation of game mechanics and design tools to optimize game production, as well as applied game mathematics and coding to support the creation of interactive gaming experiences.

While the Design stream is a perfect match for technical artists, the Programming stream is geared toward people who like to engineer solutions and solve technical programs using code and math. The best part? Students from both streams in this two-year, five-term program will collaborate on projects. Working in teams, students will create prototype games to explore and develop design and programming tools.

“Communication with teammates and instructors is a key skill we hope to develop as students explore and implement loop theory, which is the process of producing game design within a set of given requirements or constraints,” said Lepp. “To learn about games, we make games.”

You’re invited! Ten Thousand Coffees is hosting a free webinar on May 20, 2021 at 12:30 p.m. CT to help you build essential skills for career success.

We focus a lot on building technical skills for the workplace – school is where we match theory with hands-on, practical learning so grads are set up to meet industry needs (which is awesome!). But we could all use a little extra work on foundational skills: the skills that set us up for long-term career success. These are often called ‘soft skills’ but there’s nothing soft about them – the ability to work effectively in teams, resolve conflicts, solve problems, have empathy, and think critically are all human skills that are not just nice-to-haves in today’s market, they’re need-to-haves.

In a study conducted by LinkedIn, 91 per cent of companies responded that it’s a struggle to find candidates in the marketplace that not only meet education and experience requirements, but also have well-developed soft skills.

Join Ten Thousand Coffees co-founder and CEO Dave Wilkin and Harpal Sekhon, Head of HR for Johnson & Johnson Consumer Canada, for this Office Hour to find out which foundational skills are the most in demand in Canadian workplaces. This session will cover why these essential human skills are necessary for career success and how you can grow your own skillset to become a superstar in the office (and in life).

The event is free and open to all Red River College students and alumni. Whether you’re already a member of the Red River College Café or new to our mentoring platform, you’re invited to enhance your networking skills at this workshop event.