A pair of Red River College students are among the trio of competitors who’ll advance to the 42^nd World Skills Competition in Leipzig, Germany in 2013.

Jacob Bell (Bricklaying) and Dylan Pereira (Aircraft Maintenance) were named World Skills Competitors at the 18^th Canadian Skills Competition in Edmonton last weekend, along with Steinbach Regional/University of Manitoba student Ingrid Wieler (I.T. Software Solutions for Business).

In total, Team Manitoba brought home 22 medals: eight gold, six silver, and eight bronze. Of those medalists, the following were from Red River College:

Gold:

• Jacob Bell (Brick Masonry)
• Leonhard Derksen (Cabinet Making)
• Dylan Pereira (Aircraft Maintenance)
• Kevin Russell (Electronics)

Bronze:

• Colin Dewitt (Landscaping Gardening)
• Mackenzie Harman (Landscape Gardening)
• Michael Walmsley (Refrigeration)

The 62 members of the Manitoba team earned the right to represent the province by winning gold medals in their respect trade or technology area at the Provincial Skills Competition. Click here for a full list of last weekend’s medalists.

Red River College’s School of Indigenous Education hosted the 12th Annual Graduation Pow Wow last week, honouring the achievements of our Aboriginal graduates and paying tribute to their personal triumphs.

Held Friday, May 4, at RRC’s Notre Dame Campus, the event celebrated the accomplishments of 93 Aboriginal graduates, and attracted more than 850 friends, family members and dignitaries to a day-long event that included a pipe ceremony, traditional dancing, and a feast.

Another highlight of the event was the presentation of the Jules Lavallee Award, named after a former RRC Elder-in-Residence. This year’s award went to Corey Bear, a student from RRC’s Biindigen College Studies program.

Read More →

RRC alum Sean Trembley (right), with judges at the Barry Callebaut Canadian Intercollegiate Chocolate Competition in Toronto.

Congratulations go out to Red River College grad Sean Trembley, who represented the College at this year’s Barry Callebaut Canadian Intercollegiate Chocolate Competition in Toronto.

Trembley, a recent graduate of RRC’s Professional Baking and Patisserie program, placed first in the molded bonbon category at the third annual chocolate-makers’ contest — a junior version of the World Chocolate Masters competition, launched by Callebaut to help young chocolatiers develop their skills.

This year’s event, held at Humber College in Toronto, also featured mouthwatering entries from students at Humber, Cambrian, Canadore, Fenshawe, George Brown, Georgian, and Vancouver Community Colleges.

Click here for more info on RRC’s Baking and Patisserie program.

Students and staff at Red River College pledged to continue serving as sustainability leaders this week, during activities timed to coincide with Earth Day celebrations taking place the world over.

On Monday, April 23 (one day after the actual Earth Day), RRC held a “State of Sustainability” forum to inform the College community of the results of a recent environmental assessment.

Over the past year, RRC became the first Manitoba institution to take part in the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS), a comprehensive process to measure post-secondary sustainability performance — including operations, academics, social outreach and long term planning — and to benchmark those results against other post-secondary institutions.

College officials also launched Sustainability 365, a one-year work plan that outlines 42 specific and measurable targets to advance sustainability, including developing a Green Catering program, enhancing sustainability awareness through faculty development, and forming a Paper Reduction Task Force. Staff and students were invited to make their own sustainability pledges, by setting eco-friendly targets they plan to achieve within the coming year. Read More →

From left: Vida Reader (2012 Conference Committee Co-Chair, PMI Manitoba), Debbie Wilgosh (President, PMI Manitoba), Kirk Johnson (Program Manager, IT and Professional Studies, RRC), and RRC grad Scott Hinkson.

Red River College alum Scott Hinkson has been honoured by RRC and PMI Manitoba, having received a $1,000 student achievement award at the organization’s annual conference last week.

Hinkson, who earned his Project Management certificate through RRC’s School of Continuing and Distance Education in November 2011, works as a project manager for the Western Canada Lottery Corporation. But he’s also well-known in certain local circles as an acclaimed singer and songwriter.

“Every year, we ask all of the Project Management instructors to nominate a student for this award based on a combination of academics and attitude,” says Kirk Johnson, RRC’s Program Manager, I.T. and Professional Studies. “This year, the clear winner was more than just a good student — he’s actually an all-out rock star!” Read More →

(From left): Melissa Chaboyer, Alyssa Blanco, and Kristie Johnson.

Students from Red River College’s Business Administration program got some cross-border networking experience under their belts while taking part in the University of North Dakota’s Giants Entrepreneurship Challenge.

The third annual business plan competition — hosted by the university’s Department of Entrepreneurship and held April 13 and 14 on the UND campus in Grand Forks — was open to student teams from all colleges and universities in North Dakota, as well as from elsewhere in Canada and the U.S.

Judging panels were comprised of experienced entrepreneurs and business development specialists, and prizes were awarded to the top three teams, as well as for Best Elevator Pitch, Most Improved, and Most Innovative Idea (separate from the business plan competition).

The RRC team behind Re.Style — a proposed women’s consignment shop — came fourth in the general competition, behind teams from UND, Ball State University, and Johns Hopkins University. All of the RRC students in attendance benefited from the competition’s focus on innovation, entrepreneurship, and the development of future business endeavours.

“Red River College is a college of applied learning, and participating in this international competition was experiential learning, which will surely be applied by those who participated,” says Gordon Mackie, a Business Administration instructor at RRC.

Click here for more information about the Giants Entrepreneurship Challenge.

Red River College students were the dominant force at last week’s Skills Manitoba Skills Competition, sweeping the gold, silver and bronze medal categories in a number of post-secondary contests.

All told, RRC students earned 15 gold, 14 silver, and 15 bronze medals, for a total of 44. (Competitors Winnipeg Technical College and Assiniboine Community College both took home 14 medals each.)

The event was held April 12, 2012, at Red River College. Over 475 high school, post-secondary, and apprentice students competed in 42 skilled trades and technology contests in six industry sectors. Read More →

Click to expand

Red River College’s annual industry night/open house for graphic design will be held on Thursday, May 3. It will be an opportunity to view the work of talented students in the Graphic Design, Advanced Graphic Design, Digital Media Design and 3D Computer Graphics programs.

Join the event on Facebook to get the latest updates and see photos from last year’s Graphic Design Open House.

Some services, including online registration, will be temporarily unavailable while RRC’s Information Technology Solutions department conducts server upgrades on Thursday, April 19th at 11:30am.

This process is expected to take approximately one hour, and will affect the following online student services:

• Program and Course Information
• Case Log Systems
• Online Registration
• Parking – Student Service Centre staff will be unable to process parking requests while upgrades are being completed.

All other systems, including e-mail, Learn, Student Portal and WebAdvisor will not be affected.

A graphic design student from Red River College created a logo that was chosen from among 50 options to be used for the 2013 Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Winnipeg.

Click to learn more about the Graphic Design diploma program at Red River College.