News

Congratulations to Red River College grad Paul Samyn (Creative Communications, 1988), who was recently named the new editor of the Winnipeg Free Press.

Samyn has been acting as interim editor since Margo Goodhand resigned from the position in late July. His first job for the Free Press was as a paper boy, but his journalism career began when he was hired as a reporter in 1988.

Since then, he’s covered provincial and federal elections, conflicts overseas, and the funerals of Princess Diana and former prime minister Pierre Trudeau. He also helped lead the paper’s political coverage as its Ottawa bureau chief for a decade before being named city editor in 2007.

“It’s an honour and a privilege for someone who used to deliver the Free Press … to now be leading our newsroom as we serve our readers in both print and on our website,” Samyn said in the Free Press announcement.

“I’m proud to be part of our 140-year-old tradition and excited about the job ahead, delivering the stories that our readers expect and deserve.”

Click here to read the full Free Press story, and here for more information about RRC’s Creative Communications program.

This Monday, graduates from Red River College’s Hospitality and Culinary Arts programs will help to serve a trial run of the dinner that will represent Canada at the Culinary Olympics in October.

The grads, now members of the Junior Chefs of Winnipeg, will team up with members of Canada’s Junior National Culinary Team to prepare the seven-course dinner that will hopefully carry Youth Team Canada to the podium at this year’s Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany.

The event takes place Monday, Sept. 10, at Prairie Lights Restaurant on the lower level of RRC’s Notre Dame Campus. Tickets are sold out.

Creative Communications instructor Dan Vadeboncoeur
(Photo: Bernice Pontanilla/Metro Winnipeg)

Creative Communications students from Red River College took to the airwaves this week, to debut an online radio station that allows them to embrace new broadcasting technology.

The newly-launched Red River Radio provides CreComm (and other current RRC) students with production, programming and on-air training opportunities, while filling the void left when former campus station KICK-FM folded earlier this year.

The new streaming station will adhere to a similar format as KICK-FM — offering both news/talk and musical programming — and will continue to serve as a valuable showcase for local folk and indie-rock acts.

“We want to offer our students the chance to have everything they had at KICK-FM,” CreComm instructor Dan Vadeboncoeur (shown above) told Metro Winnipeg this week. “We’ve gone from over the airwaves to the biggest medium in the world.”

Vadeboncoeur and other CreComm instructors are currently fielding pitches from students before settling on a programming schedule. Any current RRC student — regardless of program of study — can pitch an idea for a show.

To listen online, visit radio.rrc.ca. Students interested in hosting a show on Red River Radio can contact Vadeboncoeur at dvadeboncoeur@rrc.ca.

Join us at the Exchange District Campus next Thursday, Sept. 6, as we celebrate the launch of Changing People’s Lives: An Illustrated History of Red River College.

Written by former RRC Dean Dave Williamson, Changing People’s Lives traces the College’s development from a small industrial training centre in the 1930s to one of Canada’s leading institutes of applied learning.

Along the way, Williamson (shown in grey, with RRC Board member Don Robertson) shares stories and photos of the many important people and projects that have driven the College’s growth.

Changing People’s Lives is available now for $34.95 from RRC’s Bookstores, at both the Notre Dame and Exchange District Campuses.

Date: Thu., Sept. 6, 2012
Time: 6pm – 7:30pm
Location: Roblin Centre Atrium, 160 Princess Street

Join the event page on Facebook.

Photo by Mike Deal, Winnipeg Free Press.

A Red River College instructor is one of two local artists paying tribute to the importance of libraries via a newly-unveiled public installation.

Darren Stebeleski, who teaches Graphic Design at RRC, is the visionary behind Sentinel of Truth, a public sculpture installation at Millennium Library Park that acts as a monument to libraries as defenders of freedom of speech.

The installation features text excerpts from 18 books — many by authors whose words have been censored or silenced — that are etched into recessed stainless steel panels set into a 50-metre steel wall.

“As a society, our ideas and our truths are ever fragile, open to corruption and attack through censorship,” says Stebeleski of the work. “The existence of a free and open library guarantees their safety and their dissemination.”

“Our stories are more than diversion; they are reflections of ourselves, explaining our lives to us. And our libraries are more than buildings that house books; they are unflagging shields protecting armouries of fearless truth. We must never fail to watch over them, as they watch over us.”

According to Alison Gillmor, arts columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press, “Stebeleski references the power and palpable physicality of books by using the solidity of steel. But he is also aware of the fragility of free speech … With its changing nature, Sentinel reminds us that we can’t take reading for granted.”

Stebeleski’s work is part of the Winnipeg Arts Council’s public arts initiative, as is its accompanying installation — emptyful, by Vancouver artist/architect Bill Pechet. Both works were unveiled during a public opening on Aug. 15, 2012.

Click here for more information about Sentinel of Truth.

RRC grad Scot Slessor (right), Consul General of Canada in Chandigarh, India, tours the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute with (from left) Dale Watts, Ted Maciurzynksi, Manishkumar Upadhyay, Dale Oughton and Eddy Lau.

Earlier this summer, Red River College played host to a returning graduate who’s now a diplomat working to promote economic relations between Canada and India.

Scot Slessor (Structural Drafting, 1982), has served as the Consul General of Canada in Chandigarh, India, since his appointment to the position in September 2010.

He visited the College on July 20, 2012, for a tour of the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute and to discuss possible partnership opportunities for RRC in India.

During his visit, Slessor met with RRC representatives to discuss the need for skills training and development in India, and to explore possible partnerships with post-secondary institutions there.

In particular, Slessor has been tasked with providing expertise in delivering and developing skills training in Punjab (where he’s stationed). If a partnership were to be struck, he would act as a conduit between RRC and the institutions in Punjab.

Over the years, Slessor has held a number of public and private sector positions, including stints with the Canada Employment and Immigration Commission in Toronto, and the Canadian International Development Agency and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in China.

Planning to hit the Winnipeg Fringe Festival this summer? Be sure to check out Run Ragged Company’s Daves of Their Lives, written and directed by Red River College’s own Dale Watts.

The hour-long soap opera spoof finds a formerly-successful but mentally exhausted businessmen — stuck in a loveless marriage with a menopausal wife, exploited by his stepmother and manipulated by his daughter and deceased dad — finding a second chance for happiness when a sultry young woman enters his life.

Daves of Their Lives marks the latest Fringe entry by festival regular Watts, Dean of Industrial Technologies at RRC. The show is being staged at Venue #2 (MTC Up the Alley), with performances on:

• Wed., July 18 (8:45 p.m.)
• Fri., July 20 (5:45 p.m.)
• Sun., July 22 (3:15 p.m.)
• Mon, July 23 (9 p.m.)
• Wed., July 25 (2 p.m.)
• Fri., July 27 (12:15 p.m.)
• Sat., July 28 (7:30 p.m.)

Tickets are $9 ($8 for students and seniors); click here for more information.

Red River College’s Rebels Athletics program is pleased to welcome the following new recruits to the men’s volleyball team:

Brad Angus – 6’ 4” Outside Hitter
Angus joins Red River after competing in the 2011-2012 season with the University of Winnipeg Wesmen. Prior to joining the Wesmen, he captured a silver medal as a member of the 2011 Western Canada Games team. Angus is a graduate of Dakota Collegiate, where his team was named the 2010 AAAA Provincial Champions.

Zach Duncan – 6’6” Middle/Outside Hitter
Duncan competed in the 2010-2011 season with the University of Manitoba Bisons. Prior to joining the Bisons he was a gold medalist at both the 2010 18U Provincial and National Championships. He was also the co-captain of his Miles MacDonnell Collegiate team that reached the AAAA Provincial Final Four. Duncan was named a Volleyball Manitoba Graduating All-Star, and also selected to the All Manitoba Team in 2009.

Erik Hansen – 6’ 7” Middle
Hansen will be rejoining the Rebels after taking a year off from competition. He was a member of the team from 2008-2011, contributing in 3 undefeated seasons and capturing 3 consecutive MCAC Championships. During this time Hansen was also twice named to the MCAC All-Conference team.

Mitchell Hendry – 5’ 10” Outside Hitter/Libero
Hendry is coming off a very successful 2012 18U club season with the 204 Volleyball Club, where he was coached by Dan Gilbert — also head coach of the Rebels men’s team. He was a gold medalist at the Provincial Championships and a silver medalist at the National Championships. Hendry is a graduate of MBCI, where he helped his team to a AAAA Provincial Final Four appearance.

Kyle Kasdorf – 6’ 5” Middle
Kasdorf was a teammate of Hendry with the 204 Volleyball Club, where he was a gold medalist at the 18U Provincial Championships and a silver medalist at the 18U National Championships. In addition to being named a Volleyball Manitoba Graduating All-Star, Kasdorf also received the Stefan Savoie Memorial Scholarship.

“I’m very excited with our new recruits for the 2012-13 volleyball season,” says Gilbert, noting the team is on the verge of adding two talented and experienced former university players to its roster.

“We will also be using the summer to evaluate a large number of prospective athletes who have expressed an interest in joining our team. I believe all this new talent, combined with our returning veterans, will result in the strongest team in my five seasons coaching with the RRC program.”

Gilbert and members of the men’s volleyball team will hit the court in late August to host skills camps for youth in grade 6-12. Cost of the week-long camps is $120 and registration closes on August 13.

Red River College alum Jim Van Dusen (Creative Communications, 1987) picked up a trio of honours at this year’s Radio and Production Awards, adding to an impressive list of industry accolades acquired during his 25 years in radio and TV.

Now the Creative/Production Director for Astral Radio in Winnipeg (home of Hot 103 and QX 104), Van Dusen picked up his first RAP trophy in the Medium Market Promos category, for “Jets Song Comin’ Home”, a collaboration with Hot 103 morning man Ace Burpee that celebrated the return of Winnipeg’s NHL team.

He was also named first runner-up in the same category, and first runner-up in the Medium Market Commercials category. In years past, Van Dusen — who taught a radio course for second-year CreComm students last year — has nabbed a number of runner-up spots at the RAP Awards, as well as honours at the Crystal Awards and the Signature Awards, and a Standard Radio Presidents Award in 1999. He also won an honorary gold medal at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, for his entry in the Literary Olympics’ Poetry Sweatshop.

Click here to learn more about RRC’s Creative Communications program.

Congratulations to RRC student Tannis CochraneCook (Computer Applications for Business, Peguis-Fisher River Campus), whose efforts to set up a recycling program at Peguis First Nation have earned her a 2012 Spirit of the Earth Award from Manitoba Hydro.

CochraneCook first began advocating for environmentally-safe waste disposal practices while volunteering at the Peguis Landfill site in 2009. (Her motivation was simple: The landfill was located next to her home, and owners were burning materials rather than recycling them.)

She’s since launched a community-wide recycling program at Peguis, for which now serves as Project Coordinator. In just two years, the program has proven so popular that an estimated 25% of businesses and residents on the reserve now recycle on a regular basis. Read More →