Red River College's Aircraft Maintenance Engineer program has been recognized by the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces (DND/CF), for enhancing the career opportunities available to graduates who may be considering a career in the military.

According to the notification that accompanied the recognition, RRC's Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) program has "accelerated the career opportunities for graduates of (the) program who may be considering a career in the Canadian Forces by providing them with advanced standing as an Aviation Systems Technician."

The notification also points out that AME students who may be considering a career in the military are eligible to receive a salary (with benefits) and support to offset tuition and materials if they're enrolled through the Canadian Forces Non-Commissioned Member — Subsidized Education Plan.

"This means that students wishing to join the DND can enroll or be currently enrolled in RRC's AME program, and tuition and related expenses will be paid by the DND," explains Dennis Doersam, Director of RCC's Stevenson Campus. "As well, they will receive a salary and benefits while attending the program. Upon graduating, they receive credit for the training and time spent in the AME program."

Once enlisted, students will receive basic DND training (as well as military-specific technical training), and will start at a salary substantially greater than the minimum enlisted salary. The accreditation provides students with better access to jobs within the military, Doersam says, while the training qualifies them for Civilian AME training certification, should they wish to apply.

Click here to learn more about the Subsidized Education Plan; for more details, contact Master Warrant Officer Paul Lucas (at the Canadian Forces Recruitment Centre in Winnipeg) at paul.lucas@forces.gc.ca or 983-3680 (ext. 246).

Click here for more information about RRC's Aircraft Maintenance Engineer program.

Jennifer Roblin speaking at the naming ceremony for The Roblin Centre.

Red River College’s facility at 160 Princess Street will now be known as The Roblin Centre, in honour of former Manitoba premier Duff Roblin, who played a crucial role in the College’s development.

The renaming was made official during a ceremony held at RRC’s downtown campus last Monday, during which Roblin was celebrated for helping to revitalize Manitoba’s education system — by building schools, introducing the current system of school boards, and helping to establish the community college model.

“We feel it’s important to recognize the critical role Premier Roblin played in the development of Red River College as one of Canada’s leading institute of applied learning,” said RRC’s President, Stephanie Forsyth.

The Roblin Centre is part of the College’s growing Exchange District campus, which also includes the nearby Massey Building on William Avenue, and the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, opening in the old Union Bank Tower this September.

In an interview with the Winnipeg Free Press, Roblin’s daughter, Jennifer Roblin, conveyed her family’s approval of the renaming, calling it “a huge honour and a tremendous tribute.”

“Education was Dad’s focal point in 1958 (when he became premier). It remained so throughout the premiership,” she told the paper. “He would be thrilled and humbled to know that this incredibly beautiful building is named after him.”

Manitoba’s 14^th Premier, Roblin oversaw construction of the Red River Floodway (or “Duff's Ditch"), which has since saved Manitoba billions of dollars in estimated flood damages.
 
He was also a strong champion of education: establishing the current system of school divisions in Manitoba, promoting French language learning, and leading the drive to create a community college system. It was under his leadership, that RRC’s Notre Dame Campus was built in 1963.

Roblin was "a leader who had a vision for Manitoba’s future and took action to make his dreams a reality,” said the Honourable Rosann Wowchuk, Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance.
 
Roblin's advocacy for community colleges in later years contributed to the creation of the College Expansion Initiative and the construction of RRC's Exchange District Campus.

Roblin passed away in May 2010.

In the realm of early childhood education, it’s estimated it currently takes 15 years for newly-discovered knowledge to be put into practice — in other words, the same length of time it takes for a baby to grow into a teenager.

But thanks to an ongoing partnership between Red River College and researchers from around the world — and the resulting multimedia resource, called The Science of Early Child Development (SECD) — kids might not have to wait that long to benefit from discoveries made in the field.

“There’s typically a 15-year gap between new knowledge and practice,” says Janet Jamieson, Academic Chair for Community Services at Red River College.

“This project aims to narrow that gap.”

The SECD project dates back about a decade, and was inspired by the work of Canadian researcher Dr. J. Fraser Mustard, an expert on the socioeconomic determinants of human development and health and others with the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Working in partnership with Mustard and the University of Toronto’s Atkinson Centre — with funding from the Lawson Foundation, the World Bank, the Winnipeg Foundation and, most recently, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Geneva — the College collates research involving early brain development and population health, then translates it to an accessible online format that students and frontline workers can easily understand.

Read More →

RRC grad Bryan Ursell (right), with Culinary Arts instructor Tim Appleton (left) and Sysco's Marketing Associate Sarah Anseeuw, at the Canadian Culinary Federation's 2011 Provincial Junior Culinary Challenge. (Photo courtesy 100 Acre Woods Photography.)

A recent Red River College grad will advance to the Canadian Culinary Federation’s national championships this summer, after serving up a smorgasbord of award-winning fare at a provincial competition last week.

Bryan Ursell, a recent Culinary Arts grad now working at Bergmann’s on Lombard, earned the gold medal at the CCFCC’s 2011 Provincial Junior Culinary challenge, held Thu., Feb. 24 at RRC’s Notre Dame campus.

Current RRC students Tasia Antoine and Claire Snowball earned silver and bronze medals, respectively.

In total, nine students took part in the annual contest, which requires entrants to prepare a three-course meal for eight, using ingredients from a list provided a month in advance.

Winners were selected by Kitchen Judges Melissa Hryb and Rain Ragalado — both RRC grads who’ve taken part in the Culinary Challenge in the past — and by Tasting Judges Ron Dobrinsky, President of the CCFCC in Winnipeg, Jon Hochman, Chef at the Lobby on York, and Luc Jean, a new RRC instructor who joins us from the Fairmont Hotel.

“It gives students a chance to improve their skills, first and foremost,” says event Chair (and Culinary Arts instructor) Tim Appleton. “They’ve got to think about menu design, they’ve got to think about work plans, and about the practical skills they’ll be utilizing. So it’s a very competitive thing.But really, you’re competing with yourself and your own abilities. That’s what excites them the most.”

Ursell moves on to the CCFCC National Junior Chefs Challenge, which will be held June 15, 2011, as part of the CCFCC National Convention in Vancouver.

A partnership between Red River College and the provincial arm of the Frontiers Foundation is helping residents of Northern Manitoba communities address a critical housing shortage in the region.

Through a recent enhancement and expansion of Frontier Foundation's Standing Tree to Standing Home program, First Nation residents in Manitoba are being provided with the skills and equipment required to fell trees, set up sawmills in their communities, and eventually construct their own houses.

The project was borne out of an observed need for improved housing on provincial reserves, and was developed through a partnership between Frontiers Foundation Manitoba (the local arm of an Ontario-based charitable organization that builds homes in Aboriginal communities), Red River College's Gimli Campus and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The College, for its part, was tasked with converting Frontiers Foundation's undocumented curriculum into five modules — including course outlines, skill checklists and tests — designed to help Northern residents get their own building program underway, using resources found in their own backyards.

Read More →

Volunteers unload bikes from a pre-makeover version of "The Dinosaur," during Habitat for Humanity's 2010 Cycle of Hope. (Photo courtesy Habitat for Humanity.)

Students and staff in Red River College’s Transportation program have helped ensure a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser remains road-worthy — just the latest example of how the College builds community ties through its partnerships with not-for-profit groups.

In recent weeks, students and staff from RRC’s Body Shop and the Heavy Equipment Transportation Centre (HETC) — under the supervision of Transportation Chair Neil Cooke — repaired, refurbished and repainted the bicycle-hauling trailer used in Habitat for Humanity’s annual Cycle of Hope fundraiser.

In addition to the new paint job, the trailer (affectionately known as “The Dinosaur” by Habitat insiders) also boasts new lights, new reflectors and a number of mechanical repairs — all courtesy of Red River College, with contributions from project partners Imperial Paint & Supplies and Derrick’s Sandblasting & Painting.

“It’s Habitat for Humanity — they do so much for the community, and they do so much for groups of people who really need the help,” says Cooke. “It’s really great that our staff and students had the opportunity to help them out.”

Click here for more information about RRC’s Transportation programs.

Click here for more information about Habitat for Humanity.

Above: Habitat for Humanity's new and improved hauling trailer.

(Above: Career Trek participant Sara Mensah, a student at Arthur E. Wright School in Winnipeg, takes part in a Career Trek session at Red River College.)

Still not sure what you want to be when you grow up? Don’t worry, kids – you’re not alone.

According to the founder of Career Trek, a local not-for-profit organization that helps young people explore their post-secondary educational options, a staggering number of high school students still don’t have any clue what to do with the rest of their lives

“You’ve got kids making critical life decisions that are going to completely affect their future, and we’ve done nothing to position them to make intelligent choices,” says Career Trek’s Executive Director, Darrell Cole.

“But imagine if we could construct a system where people actually tried things before they committed to them.”

That’s where Career Trek can help: Now in its 15^th year, the initiative was launched to help young people understand the value a post-secondary education can bring to their lives, and to equip them with the knowledge required to tap into their full potential, while making informed decisions about their futures.

After being nominated by their schools, participants aged 10 and up spend an academic year’s worth of Saturdays visiting the major post-secondary institutions in Manitoba, where they’re exposed to a wide variety of courses and career options. Here at Red River College (on the Notre Dame, Exchange District and Stevenson Aviation campuses), Career Trek participants receive hands-on training in a range of vocations, including journalism, carpentry, culinary arts and electrical engineering.

By explaining which high school courses typically serve as pre-requisites for those same fields of study or training, Cole and his Career Trek colleagues help to demystify a process that has for decades left many students struggling.

“We get to these kids early, so that by the time they get to high school, they’ve had some significant exposures to their future,” says Cole. “They’re gaining something we don’t usually have until we’re adults, which is hindsight.”

For more information on Career Trek, see www.careertrek.ca.

Instructor Bob Chamberlain (left), accepts the School of C+DE's first-ever Teaching Excellence Award, as Raeann Thibeault, Dean of the School of C+DE, looks on.

Red River College shone a spotlight on some of its most important contributors last week, during the School of Continuing + Distance Education’s annual Instructor Appreciation Reception.

The event, which drew close to 200 attendees, gave staff members at the College a chance to pay tribute to C+DE’s pool of instructors, many of whom balance their teaching responsibilities with real-world industry jobs during the day.

“Tonight is our opportunity to say thank-you and to show appreciation for everything that our instructors do throughout the year,” said Raeann Thibeault, Dean of the School of C+DE.

“You help our students achieve their goals, and you help our students to be successful.”

Thibeault was joined at the speaker’s podium by David Leis, Vice-President of Business Development at RRC, and Stephanie Forsyth, the College’s President and CEO. Both spoke of the significant impacts that RRC instructors have on the lives of their students.

“This side of the College is so filled with that entrepreneurial spirit of creativity and integrity that is so great to be around,” said Forsyth.

“It’s like there’s this secret side of the College — a shadow side of the College — that comes alive at nights and on weekends. You’re really making a difference — both to students, and to industry here in Manitoba.”

As part of the reception, organizers paid tribute to instructors marking their 10^th, 20^th and 25^th year of service with the College. They also honoured longtime instructor Bob Chamberlain — described by students as a “toasted marshmallow” (crusty on the outside, but soft and warm on the inside!) — with the first-ever Teaching Excellence Award.

Those recognized at the event included: Clara Baricz, Carlos Clark, Arnold Evans, Sandie Foster, James Hayes, Nancy Hughes, Suzanne Kelly, Phillip Klassen, Harold Klause, Daniel Larson, Dennis Mitchell and Bradley Schellenberg (10 years); Wayne Bemister, Leon Wartzaba and David A. Bibby (20 years); and Otto Gebhardt and Maureen Olafson (25 years).

Click here for more information about the School of Continuing + Distance Education.