Graduates of RRC’s Youth Recreation Activity Worker program gathered to celebrate their achievements last Friday, at a special event held to showcase their contributions to the community.

On Friday, June 7, the program’s graduating class met at RRC’s Roblin Centre to pay tribute to each others’ achievements, and to mark the College’s 12th year of making a difference in the lives of inner city youth.

“Congratulations to all of the Youth Recreation Activity Worker program graduates,” said lead instructor Kerry Coulter. “You have already affected the lives of so many youth in a positive way and I know you will continue to have a huge impact in our community and with each individual child you are yet to meet.”

The program, which trains participants to work with inner city youth, was launched in response to increased demand for drop-in programming at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg. Building on existing materials from RRC’s Child and Youth Care program, the College developed a 10-month certificate program to train a new generation of young adults to serve as recreational leaders.

Graduates of the program, many of whom face socio-economic barriers themselves, often go on to find jobs with Boys and Girls Clubs and other inner city youth agencies, or as childhood educators and teachers’ aides.

Last week’s event was attended by a number of politicians and community leaders, including Mayor Sam Katz, Premier Greg Selinger, and Boys and Girls Clubs President Ron Brown.

Click here to learn more about the program, which is open to students aged 18 to 29.

A heartfelt thank-you — and an equally heartfelt congratulations — to everyone who took part in Red River College’s entry in the 2013 Pride Winnipeg Parade on June 2.

Approximately 60 students and staff members, together with friends and family, donned bright red RRC t-shirts while walking the parade route in support of Manitoba’s LGBTT community.

As a result of their enthusiasm (and possibly all the free frisbees they handed out!), Red River College won the “Best Walking Group” award from Pride Parade organizers.

Click here to see a gallery of photos from the event.

From left: Dental Assisting grads Chelsea Bezditny, Katharina Seibel, Kaitlyn Bezditny, Jillian O’Donnell and Lee-Anne Sabourin.

Dental Assisting graduates from Red River College’s Winkler Campus are gearing up for a summer trip to Guatemala, where they’ll provide free clinical care for local residents in five different locations.

As part of their fifth annual summer mission to the region, five recent RRC grads (now registered dental assistants), as well as a dentist, a dental therapist, and a dental instructor from the College, will provide free dental care to approximately 2,540 Guatemalans — double the number they provided care for during their last trip in 2012.

This year’s team will spend a day and a half attending to locals at San Marcos Church, before travelling to Nuevo Chuatuj, La Felicidad and San Martin Chile Verde in subsequent days. The trip takes place June 30 to July 10; students have been fundraising for months to offset their travel costs.

“Past team members have personally gained a lot from their experiences, and feel blessed by having worked with the people they encountered,” says Athena Wilford, Dental Assisting Coordinator at Winkler Campus. “In spite of poverty and meagre living conditions, the people we met were very gracious.” Read More →

Advertising students from Red River College’s Creative Communications program will pick up five national awards next month, when they head to Toronto to receive cash prizes for their work promoting Canadian charities.

Sponsored by Imagine Canada and Alberta’s Muttart Foundation, the Students Verb Charities contest rewards exceptional promotional campaigns exploring how charities ensure, improve and reflect our quality of life. A total of $100,000 is up for grabs next month, and with five out of a possible six awards going to RRC students, the odds are clearly in their favour.

Working in teams of two to four people, the RRC advertising majors developed creative concepts and videos, for which they’ll receive awards ranging from $2,500 to $50,000. They’ll travel to Toronto next month with their instructors; the Muttart Foundation is covering the students’ travel expenses, as well as putting up the prize money.

In other CreComm news, student Terry Proveda picked up the Best Film and Best Documentary awards for his video Going to Extremes at last week’s University of Winnipeg’s 2013 Student Film Festival, while classmates Katy Slimmon, Owen Swinn and Brian Wrede picked up Best Editing honours for their documentary Living in Harmony, about a local Hutterite colony.

As well, this year’s Broadcast Journalism class won first place in the Video Studio Newscast category at this year’s Broadcast Educators Association of Canada (BEAC) National Student Awards. That award will be handed out this weekend as part of the BEAC Annual Conference in Banff. Click here to view the winning newscast.

Culinary student Randy Grieg, who won a gold medal at last month’s Skills Manitoba Competition.

Congratulations to the 48 Red River College students who won medals at last month’s Skills Manitoba Competition, many of whom will go on to represent the province at the national contest in Vancouver next month.

The 16th annual Olympic-style competition was held April 11 at RRC’s Notre Dame Campus, with students competing in 40 different categories aimed at showcasing their hands-on expertise, talent and determination in a variety of skilled trades and technologies.

RRC students swept the podium in 13 different categories, and earned medals in six more. Those who won gold medals who will go on to compete as Team Manitoba at the 19th Skills Canada National Competition in Vancouver, June 5-8.

More than 500 students from across Manitoba took part in the provincial trials. See below for a full list of RRC winners. Read More →

Education Minister Nancy Allan (left) and Winnipeg Construction Association President Ron Hambly (centre) look on as Elmwood High School student Samuel Lopez and carpentry instructor Frank Jess build a toolbox in one of RRC’s Mobile Training Labs.

Red River College and Manitoba Education are helping to boost trades training through a pilot project that provides Winnipeg youth a hands-on introduction to the trades.

The pilot program provides up to 25 students in Grades 7 and 8 the opportunity to “try out” the type of work typically done by electricians, carpenters and welders. Students from Elmwood High School are attending Red River College once a week for three weeks, to learn about career options in the trades.

“The pilot program is intended to expose young people to the trades as a viable career option,” says Stephanie Forsyth, President, Red River College. “One of the ways to get more young people interested in the trades is to give them more hands-on experience, and help them identify a skill they would love to acquire.”

According to Skills Canada, over the next two decades employers in Canada will find it difficult to hire and retain skilled workers. However, a Statistics Canada survey in 2009 showed just 26% of young people aged 13 to 24 plan to consider a career in the skilled trades.

“The future of Manitoba is being trained here today. These students are gaining valuable experience through hands-on learning,” says Education Minister Nancy Allan. “Projects like these expose students to new potential career opportunities that will lead to good jobs and build our province.” Read More →

Front Row: Jennifer Kasprick, Janis Ollson, Maddie Tokar-Wolff
Back Row: Eva Brown (instructor), Anita Lesage, Sarah Brown, Sheldon Hamp

Students from Red River College’s Business/Technology Teacher Education program extended their reach clear across the globe last month, while taking part in an international conference on emerging classroom technologies.

The students, all pre-service teachers in Eva Brown’s second-year Teacher Ed. ICT and Multimedia classes, were participants in the 2013 Flat Classroom Conference, held March 8-10 at Yokohama International School in Japan.

Only Brown was actually present in Japan, invited to the conference as a presenter; the pre-service teachers participated via Google Hangout sessions and as online presenters during one of the conference’s three keynote addresses. Prior to the conference, all six students worked as a group to produce a video on the topic of “How We Can Help Others”. (Click here to watch.)

Their project — showcasing humanitarian initiatives on a local, national and international scale — was presented alongside 14 others, and representatives from Brown’s class were given the opportunity to speak to the 200-plus students and educators in Japan as well as many other virtual participants. Read More →

Youth who grew up in the child welfare system will have the opportunity to attend Red River College tuition-free this fall. The special bursaries will remove one of many barriers that typically see less than five percent of youth in care pursue a post-secondary education.

“Transitioning out of care can be very challenging for many youth—especially financially,” says Stephanie Forsyth, RRC President. “The prospect of student loans and debts may prevent capable students from receiving a post-secondary education. Red River College is delighted to be able to remove that worry for a number of students.”

There are more than 9,500 children and youth in care in Manitoba, with the majority being First Nations and Métis. Typically, once youth in care turn 18 they leave the child welfare system and must fend for themselves. With few supports available, many will find themselves on social assistance or even homeless.

“Youth raised in foster care face unique challenges once they leave the system,” says Jay Rodgers, CEO, General Child and Family Services Authority. “By waiving the tuition fee, Red River College is giving these young people the opportunity for a much brighter future through education and inspiring hope.”

A handful of RRC students have already received a Youth in Care bursary. With the program becoming permanent as of this fall, a minimum of 20 youth in care per year, selected by a child and family services authority, will be eligible to attend the College on a bursary. They will remain on an extension of care with their authority and have their living expenses covered up to the age of 21, so long as they remain students of the College and take a minimum 60 percent course load.

Students must meet regular entrance requirements. Tuition will be fully covered by revenue generated from the College’s Youth in Care bursary endowment fund, which recently received a $100,000 private donation. The College intends to fundraise $1 million to support the program on a permanent basis.

While mass shootings and other violence on university and college campuses throughout North America have increased our sense of vulnerability, Red River College has implemented a comprehensive plan to communicate threats and enhance the safety of students, staff and visitors. The quality of its Integrated Campus Emergency Alerting System has led to a leadership recognition award from the Human Resource Management Association of Manitoba (HRMAM).

This Emergency Alerting System provides timely and effective warnings to allow people to take appropriate actions that save lives in the event of an imminent safety threat. It includes the following features:

• Emergency announcements through several public address speakers;
• Desktop alerts to computers and text alerts to cellphones for all staff and students;
• A comprehensive education campaign, including orientation for students and new employees;
• Weekly testing of the system, including annual campus-wide lockdown drills to ensure students and staff know what to do in the event of an imminent threat.

“As a result of the Alerting System, the entire College community has become more engaged and aware of their responsibilities in the event of an unforeseen emergency affecting one or more of our campuses,” said Dave Clarke, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator.  “It has helped make Red River College a safer environment in which to work and learn.”

The system includes pre-scripted messages to initiate a lockdown at any campus, as well as the ability to issue live or updated messaging as a situation evolves.  Participants can also specify which campus they attend to receive alerts for only that campus.

The Alerting system also includes protocols and procedures for immediate notification of managers and senior staff in the event of a serious incident, as well as departmental call-trees to disseminate information to and from staff who may be off campus.