“Simple food made good.”

That’s the motto of Laneil Smith, manager of the newly-opened Marion Street Eatery. Smith, 28, a graduate of Red River College’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program (2006), runs the St. Boniface restaurant with chef Melissa Hryb, a graduate of RRC’s Culinary Arts program (2005).

Located in the Marion Hotel (393 Marion St.), Marion Street Eatery offers such comfort foods as chicken pot pie, meat loaf, and mac ’n’ cheese, reasonably priced dishes that reflect the working-class clientele of the bar and the community it serves.

“We both said we want to do something that’s not pretentious, that’s down to earth, like a small town restaurant but done in a nicer fashion. A greasy spoon minus the grease,” says Hryb (shown above, at left), 28, who grew up in Niverville, Man.

“That’s what we were going for and I think that’s what we achieved. It’s very basic, very down to earth, but at the same time it has a little kick.”

Marion Street Eatery opened its doors in mid-February. Smith’s family owns the hotel and eatery space, which was formerly leased out to a Polish restaurant for 18 years. Smith started working for the family business six years ago, and said she had her eye on the space right from day one.

“I said to my parents ‘Whenever that space comes open, tell me first,’”says  Smith (shown at right). “It’s a beautiful space and I knew it had potential and I know that my heart is 100 per cent in restaurants and food. I knew if I could twist her (Hryb’s) rubber arm I’d have a pretty good chance of making a go at it.” Read More →

When cheerful and outgoing Juanita Fraser decided to switch careers to pursue information technology (IT), her friends were thrown a bit off guard.

“They were surprised, because IT is typically more introverted, you know ­– they put their heads down,” she says.

Fraser is anything but introverted. (Though it’s actually a common misconception that all IT staff prefer a quiet work environment.) She had spent a number of years as an elementary school teacher before realizing she was in the wrong career.

“One day I realized I didn’t have job satisfaction … it’s hard to realize that I spent six, seven, eight years of my life teaching, [and now I wanted] to want to make a career change,” she says. “I was lost. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.”

A natural logician and problem solver, Fraser took a few aptitude tests to discover her options. The tests pointed her towards business analyst.

“It was funny because I was thinking back in Grade 9 or 10 you do [the aptitude tests], and I think business analyst came up, but no one knew what it meant so I never pursued it.”

She started researching programs, and when Red River College came up as the top result, she enrolled in the Computer Analyst program (now called Business Information Technology).

“I already had a degree and I spent four years doing that,” she says. “I didn’t want to take a Computer Science degree, so that was perfect.” Read More →

At 46, Barb Szpak decided it was time for a career change.

“I felt that things were getting too mundane, too monotonous. You need something just to challenge you, to keep your brain active and keep you wondering what’s out there.”

After spending 21 years working as a baker/cake decorator for the same company, deciding to give it all up wasn’t as difficult as you might think, especially since Szpak knew she’d be heading to Red River College.

“RRC was the only place that I wanted to attend, as I have always had great experiences in the past. I had been taking evening courses over many years, to challenge myself and keep my brain active.

“I decided to take some Accounting courses just to challenge myself because I hate math. So why not take the hardest thing, right?” she says with a laugh.

After deciding to head back to school full time, deciding what to take proved an easy choice.

“I went… looking through stuff and thought ‘[RRC’s] Administrative Assistant program has a bunch of different [courses] in there that I could use.’ And it was a shorter course so I knew that financially I wouldn’t be out of work for that long.”

She excitedly enrolled, but nonetheless started to doubt herself.

“I was nervous about making that change. I was nervous about my ability. Can I do it at my age? When you’re going into a classroom with a bunch of 20-year-olds – there might have been one 30-year-old in the whole class – and then me, the first day at orientation I was looking around the class thinking, ‘What did I get myself into?’”

But she soon formed great relationships with her classmates.

“They were wonderful. And they started looking to me for answers. It felt good that they were asking me for my opinion, asking me for help, even though I was learning just like they were. I became a mom figure for a few of them, I think,” she says with a laugh. Read More →

Photo credit: Dan Harper/Tourism Winnipeg

Congratulations to Red River College grad Karla Extence (Hospitality and Tourism Management, 2013), who was recently named Employee of the Year by Tourism Winnipeg.

Extence, a Hotel and Restaurant Management major now working at Hilton Winnipeg Airport Suites, was honoured at the 2014 Winnipeg Tourism Awards of Distinction, for going above and beyond to provide outstanding service that enhances visitors’ experiences for increased customer satisfaction.

According to Tourism Winnipeg, Extence is renowned for delivering a warm welcome and outstanding hospitality to hotel guests and staff.

“Her dedication to and interest in others make her an asset as she takes time to respond to individual guest requests, provides unexpected gifts to acknowledge a guest’s special occasion, and goes above and beyond to aid those who need additional assistance,” says Tourism Winnipeg.

“Karla is a mentor to the front desk associates, and was also recognized in 2013 as one of the hotel’s top performers at a corporate seminar held in Minneapolis. Karla is a “poster child” for the ideal guest services employee.”

Click here for more information on this year’s award winners.

Learning the language is part of every profession, with every new job featuring its own distinct jargon that takes time to absorb and acquire.

That process presents an even bigger challenge when English isn’t your first language.

To obtain job-specific vocabulary, as well as boost their English proficiency in general, recent immigrants Lei Wang and Balwinder Kaur Loomba, from China and India respectively, both studied at Red River College’s Language Training Centre (LTC) in the English for Health Care Aides (now called Communication for Health Professions) program. Both women moved on to RRC’s Health Care Aide program, graduating in January.

In February, both Wang and Loomba found positions as health care aides at St. Boniface Hospital.

“I remember Mona (Abu-Ghoush, an LTC instructor) gave us lots of articles about the healthcare field,” says Wang (shown above, at right) of the English for Health Care Aides program.

“She gave us different vocabulary. She wants us to get familiar with the sound. A lot of healthcare language comes from Latin, and she found lots of difficult words for us. I like that. When I take my Health Care Aide program, it does help. When I see the thick book, I didn’t get scared.”

In addition to the standard textbook/whiteboard teaching method, English for Health Care Aides also includes guest speakers, workshops, field trips and volunteer work experience. Wang says that hands-on approach to learning English was beneficial.

“We did lots of presentations to better communicate,” says Wang, who came to Canada in 2011. “We have the knowledge, but it’s quite scary to talk to people and communicate with each other. Every week we had presentations and all those presentations were related to health. It’s quite useful.” Read More →

The creation of art is not enough for Danika Bock. What inspires her is crafting pieces that serve a greater purpose.

“Realizing I could create something that was not only fun to make, but also looked good and was useful was the ultimate accomplishment,” she says.

This love of attractive yet practical things led her to take the Graphic Design program at Red River College.

“Studying graphic design was a great way to explore this integration of usefulness, beauty and communication,” says the 2011 grad.

And although it may not be the most outwardly linear connection, this same pragmatism led her to open a stationery and gift shop.

Twenty-seven year old Bock, along with her printmaker husband Drex Serduletz, opened Tiny Feast in the Exchange District in October 2013. The store features high-end paper products and office supplies, housewares and art prints, amongst other things.

“My husband and I have always been drawn to well-made, thoughtfully-designed products. As creatives and homebodies, we think that products one uses on a daily basis should be both a pleasure to use and nice to look at.”

Hence the store’s name – Tiny Feast – which is a phrase the couple coined years ago. To them, it refers to items that “feel celebratory, lavish, almost extravagant – yet are intrinsically simple and useful, and therefore justifiably attainable on a personal, everyday level.”  Read More →

By Stacy Cardigan Smith (Creative Communications, 2006)

Fancy gadgets are integrated into every part of our lives, but how much do you know about how they function?

“It’s really fascinating – we’ve got all these things around us that are electronic and we really don’t know how they work,” says John Chihonik, who decided to study Electronic Engineering Technology at Red River College for just that reason.

“Coming to College and taking an electronics program, you really get to understand these things.”

Today Chihonik, 32, works for Lewis Instruments, a Winnipeg-based surveying and engineering equipment supplier. Part of his job involves learning, integrating and marketing innovative products like 3D laser scanners, GPS reference station networks and even autonomous drones.

“Any kind of new product that we take on, I’ll spearhead learning how to use it and how we’re going to sell it to our customers,” he explains.

Although he didn’t study these specific devices prior to graduating from RRC in 2004, understanding new technologies comes easily for Chihonik.

“The technical background I got from taking an electronics course [at RRC] allows me to understand these things and work with them a little easier then some of the other guys. It’s not that the course material itself is specifically dealing with laser scanners, but having a technical background definitely helps whenever you’re trying to learn a new technology.” Read More →

Congratulations to the most recent recipients of Red River College’s Lieutenant-Governor’s Medals for Proficiency, awarded as part of our 2014 Spring Convocation ceremonies on June 3 and 4.

Each year, a maximum of four Lt-.Gov.’s Medals are awarded to RRC students who best combine good character, academic and technical achievement, and involvement in College and/or community activities. This year’s winners are:

Richard Grenier (Business Administration, 2014)

A graduate of RRC’s two-year Business Administration program, with a major in Banking and Financial Services, Richard Grenier joined the College community after serving with the Canadian Armed Forces for seven years.

Currently employed as a financial advisor with London Life, Richard is the 2014 winner of the College’s Academic Achievement Financial Services Award and its Outstanding Mentorship Award, as well as the Assiniboia Chamber of Commerce Award for community involvement.

While attending RRC, Richard served as a student member of the Business Administration Board, and also as a student mentor and tutor for fellow Business Administration students, a class representative for the Red River College Students’ Association, and a volunteer with the Red River College Food Bank.

He’s equally active in the community, where he’s served as a volunteer for the Canadian Air Force Run, Habitat for Humanity, Francofonds Inc., and the Winnipeg Cheer Board, and as a fundraiser for the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation.

Jorge Laba (Construction Management, 2014)


A graduate of RRC’s four-year Construction Management degree program, Jorge Laba has been heavily involved in both his industry and the College community over the years.

Currently employed as a Site Superintendent with Bockstael Construction, Jorge is the 2013 winner of the ACI Manitoba Chapter Red River College Scholarship, a 2011 winner of the College’s Paul Charette Award, and a four-time winner of the Winnipeg Construction Association Award from 2010 to 2013.

While attending RRC, Jorge served as a tutor for civil engineering and trades students, and as a student ambassador for Open House events, class representative for the Red River College Students’ Association, and Construction Management representative for the college at the Rotary Career Symposium.

Outside of classes, he’s been designated a Canada Green Building Council LEED Green Associate, and a member of the Project Management Institute, the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, the Certified Technicians and Technologists Association of Manitoba, the Chartered Institute of Building, and the ACI Manitoba Chapter.

Jorge served as a member of the board of directors for RRC’s Day Care program, and is currently a board director for the Manitoba Brain Injury Association.

Red River College awards a Red River College Honorary Diploma to an individual who demonstrates high standards of excellence in their personal and professional achievements, and whose involvement in the community is widely recognized.

Larry Vickar has been in the automobile industry for 44 years, serving in numerous capacities and working his way up from office, finance, credit and sales positions to partnership in one dealership.

He now heads up the Vickar Group of Automotive Dealerships, which consists of six operating companies representing four manufacturers – General Motors, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Isuzu – and employs over 300 Winnipeggers.

Vickar attributes the success of his businesses to the collaborative efforts of his staff, who work together to serve their mutual customers with respect and with the attitude that they wish to be the “places” where Customers Send Their Friends. That, as their mission statement reads, says it all!

Having been taught from an early age that sharing one’s time and resources was the right thing to do, Vickar has served – and continues to serve – his industry and the local and international general communities. He has previously served as President of the Manitoba Motor Dealers Association and the Transcona Rotary Club, to name a couple.

Vickar has worked at the local, provincial, national and international levels, championing worthwhile initiatives, some of which are focused in areas of great need. Currently, he sits on the Executive of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, The Jewish National Fund, St. Boniface Hospital Foundation and the Manitoba Hydro Electric Board. Read More →

Red River College awards a Red River College Honorary Diploma to an individual who demonstrates high standards of excellence in their personal and professional achievements, and whose involvement in the community is widely recognized.

Lisa Meeches is one of the most dynamic and respected producers in the film industry, who happens to be an Ojibway from Long Plain First Nation. One of her recent projects, four-time CSA nominee and two-time winner We Were Children, is widely praised by residential school survivors for its power to heal, while general audiences have been moved by this truth of Canada’s colonial past.

Meeches has produced numerous projects for critical acclaim, among them: 500-plus episodes of The Sharing Circle, Canada’s longest running Aboriginal television series; Tipi Tales, a Parent’s Choice award-winning children’s series; and Elijah, a Gemini Award-winning movie-of-the-week.

Meeches conducts her film industry work through her three companies: Eagle Vision Inc, Meeches Video Productions, and Century Street Distribution.

She also devotes considerable time to other causes. Since its inception eight years ago, Meeches has been critical to the success of the Manito Ahbee Festival, where she has acted in the capacity of board chair on a volunteer basis until recently stepping down to assume the role of executive director. She also sits on the national board of the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Meeches has been the recipient of many local, regional and national awards for her exemplary contributions in culture, media and entrepreneurship. Among her many accolades, she is a past recipient of a National Aboriginal Achievement Award.

True to her heritage, Meeches practices the customs of her faith and is a renowned champion fancy shawl dancer.