Kevin Wasylenko has the ability to reach into the future through his life’s work.

The Winnipeg-based landscape horticulturalist has turned his lifelong passion for plants and trees into a rewarding – one might even say blossoming – career with the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF), the National Government of the Red River Métis.

“In the realm of horticulture, and with positions in the green industry, you get this really profound chance to leave a legacy,” Wasylenko explained, seated in a trendy coffee shop.

“As long as you’re planting things and following the right systems or protocol to make sure those plants are able to succeed, you can leave a mark that may last hundreds of years. I think that’s powerful for the entire green industry, and anyone who works with plants,” he said.

“Trees aren’t going out of style anytime soon,” he said with a smile.

Wasylenko is a 2019 graduate of RRC Polytech’s Landscape Horticulturalist apprenticeship program. He earned his Red Seal designation with Apprenticeship Manitoba the following year.

Today, as Green Initiatives Coordinator for the Energy, Infrastructure, and Resource Management Department of MMF, he is leading the Métis government’s ambitious pledge to plant 2 million trees and shrubs across the Red River Métis national homeland. He also sits on the Board of Directors for the Manitoba Nursery Landscape Association, and even teaches horticulture workshops.

In November of 2024, Apprenticeship Manitoba recognized Wasylenko as Rural Journeyperson of the Year at its 18^th annual Awards of Distinction at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg, celebrating the work he has done to educate and develop Manitoba’s skilled trades workforce.

Red Seal apprenticeship appealing

Wasylenko grew up near Richer and Ste-Geneviève, southeast of Winnipeg.

“I’ve always had a close connection to nature,” he said. He remembers many daytrips berry-picking with family and neighbours, many of whom were also Métis.

In his youth, Wasylenko grew up in the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets program and had plans to join the Royal Canadian Navy. “But, at 18, I wanted to take some time to see what was out there,” he remembered.

He picked up a landscaping job and worked it for a year or so. “A family member reached out and told me the landscape work I was doing actually qualified me for the Apprenticeship Manitoba Landscape Horticulturist trade. My hours could be put towards eligibility for technical training,” he said.

Gavin Taylor is not only “Polytechnic Proud” – he’s Portage la Prairie proud as well.

“Portage la Prairie produces lots of bright, young people who can make a positive impact on this community,” said Taylor, 27, of his hometown.

“Some chase their dreams elsewhere but they can always come back and make this community a great place to live. We need them here.”

You can say as much of Taylor, a 2021 graduate of RRC Polytech’s Business/Technology Teacher Education program.

He’s now in his fourth year as an Applied Commerce Teacher at Portage Collegiate Institute (PCI), where he was once a student.

“I always said I’d take the best job available that suited me. I wanted to be a full-time business teacher. I wanted something rural. I thought it would be somewhere else; it turned out to be Portage.

“My second year, I became the lead business teacher. And the room I inherited was the same room where I studied when I was a student. A lot of the staff were also the same – except now I was calling them by their first name.”

More than 1,100 students attend PCI. As Portage la Prairie’s lone public high school, it reflects all the challenges, opportunities and potential of the city itself.

“Our students are from all walks of life. The demographics are similar to those of Winnipeg’s inner-city schools. We have challenges but there are really great things coming out of our classrooms.”

Taylor teaches a range of business courses for grades nine through 12. The school store plays a big role in the learning. Students order products, take inventory, launch promotions and generally learn how a business operates.

Meanwhile, a venture development course has students seeing their own business ideas to fruition. The course builds up to a tradeshow day in May when students show off their work to the public, including local media.

“We make things as real-world as possible. And whether a student goes on to establish their own enterprise or become an employee, they’re gaining skills that really transcend business.”

Family and nature have profoundly influenced RRC Polytech grad Erin Ringland’s artistic journey. Drawing from these inspirations, she partnered with the College to design the 2024 Orange Shirt in support of the Mínwastánikéwin Award and to honour the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, otherwise known as Orange Shirt Day.

Ringland, born and raised in Winnipeg and a member of Kistiganwacheeng (Garden Hill) First Nation, is a Digital Media Design alumna and currently works as a front-end application developer for the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba. Her work in graphic design and layout programming is rooted in her love of art, recreating scenes from nature, and following in the footsteps of many family members.

“I was surrounded by art growing up – whoever’s house I was at, whether it was my parents’, my kookoom’s, my cousins’ – there were always paintings hanging on the walls along with family portraits,” said Ringland.

She credits her auntie Irene Miller for nurturing her passion for drawing at an early age. She spent hours with her auntie, watching her sketch images and providing prompts for what she wanted to see on paper. Miller died in 2003 when Ringland was six years old – the time she spent with her, though, profoundly impacted Ringland, and she continued to draw even after the loss.

“She was the driving force behind my art,” said Ringland. “I always think of her when I draw – in a way, it’s how I keep her with me.”

Jacques Lavergne was on a snowboard in Whistler, BC, when he fell in love with the hospitality and tourism industry.

“It caught me by surprise to be honest,” admitted the 2001 graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s popular Business Administration program. “Growing up, working in a hotel just wasn’t on my radar.”

Now the General Manager of Delta Hotels by Marriott Winnipeg, Lavergne left his hometown of Winnipeg for the slopes of Whistler after finishing high school at École Précieux-Sang in St. Boniface.

“I decided to head to Whistler for a season of snowboarding, and I stayed for four years,” said Lavergne with a wink, seated in the Blaze Restaurant and Lounge off the Delta Winnipeg’s lobby.

To cover his rent and living expenses, Lavergne found a job bussing tables at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler resort and spa. “It’s a beautiful hotel in a nice setting,” he remembered. “That job was my first taste of hospitality and tourism, and I quickly became completely enamored. I fell in love with the industry.”

His passion still burns brightly after some 30 years in the business. “I love the fact that every day in my job is completely different from the last. You get to meet some phenomenal people,” he said.

The Delta Winnipeg welcomes more than 200,000 guests on an annual basis. “We host sports teams, people from the film industry and big concerts; we host international conferences,” he said.

“I know it’s a cliché expression, but again, every day is different here,” said Lavergne, who started in his current leadership role in 2022.

As head of the hotel’s five-member executive management team, Lavergne oversees approximately 220 staff. Associate engagement is a top priority at all Marriott Hotels, he said.

“Making sure our staff are happy and want to work here is paramount. Everything we do focuses on making them happy first, with the idea that everything else will follow.”

Business Administration program the best fit

Lavergne packed up his snowboard and returned to Winnipeg in 1998, working for a year as a bartender. He came home with his eye on the Business Administration program at RRC Polytech, although he considered the Hospitality and Tourism Management program as well.

“I had some great hospitality experience from my time in Whistler, but I felt like I needed some more education,” he said. “I wanted to get into something more at a hotel management level.”

Golf can be a relaxing pastime for some and a frustrating obsession for others. But for Business Administration grad Guido Cerasani, golf has been the beating heart behind 31 years of community and family at Shooters Family Golf Centre.

Shooters is well-known in Winnipeg as the city’s only privately-owned 18-hole course. Open year-round, it features a par-57 course, a driving range that includes grass tees, a miniature golf course, and a pro shop. The 2731 Main Street location sits at the edge of the city and also boasts a restaurant and outdoor patio.

It’s an impressively diverse business. For Cerasani, though, having family involved at every level is the best part. His son Eason runs the pro shop and daughter Amy leads the restaurant operations and food services. Both are also RRC Polytech graduates.  Cerasani’s wife, Sue, is also a big part of the family aspect behind the ‘Family Golf Centre’.

“We’re fortunate because our kids were born and raised at the golf course, so they spend every day of their lives with us,” said Cerasani. “One of the pre-requisites of them taking over management operations is that they had to graduate from the Business Administration program at RRC Polytech, and they both did. So yeah, it’s a family affair.”

Cerasani graduated from the College’s Business Administration program in 1978. Shortly after, he began a successful 20-year banking career with TD. While he originally thought of himself as handy man in high school and envisioned a future as an electrician, success in early computing — and a bit of luck — changed everything for Cerasani when he decided to divert from a friend group attending university and instead opted to fast-track his financial career with hands-on learning at RRC Polytech.

“Everybody says ‘you know what you’re going to do’, but I really had no idea what I was going to do,” he said. “In high school, I took typing classes and it turns out it was the best class I ever took in my life because I could type 65 words per minute. Then when I got into banking, we had to do a lot of our own typing.”

“That said, I like to fix things and build things, I like to tinker and make electronic devices, and because of that I thought I’d be something of a mechanical guy, doing something with my hands and not working in an office. But you just never know – at least, I didn’t know right away.”

“Going to RRC Polytech was the best decision I ever made, because if I hadn’t gone there, I don’t think I would be the businessman I am today.”

Guido Cerasani, RRC Polytech graduate (Business Administration, 1978)

On the big stage, the moment was not too big for Julie Sundara.

Weeks after being one of the alumni guest speakers at RRC Polytech’s Spring Convocation, the Medical Radiologic Technology (MRT) alum and now clinical instructor for MRT students recounted the emotional experience.

“I was terrified beforehand,” she said, laughing. “I walked into the room early and I saw all these empty seats and felt the pit in my stomach. If you know the Eminem song ‘Lose Yourself’, that’s how I felt. This was my moment to step up.”

The nerves went away as Sundara shared hard-earned wisdom as the daughter of Laotian immigrants, as a student who struggled at times, and as an MRT professional.

“Your careers and your achievements are not only for you,” Sundara said at the convocation ceremony, speaking to a huge audience that included the graduating students of health sciences and information systems programs. “They’re a tribute to those who supported, encouraged, and mentored you. Honour your teachers, friends, and family by finding joy in your careers.”

After completing the two-year MRT program in 2008, Sundara began working with Shared Health at Health Sciences Centre (HSC). As a frontline radiologic technologist at Manitoba’s busiest trauma hospital, she gained experience ranging from in-patient treatment and the emergency department to the operating room and the morgue. Day shifts, night shifts, and double shifts were all part of the mix.

It’s a challenging field and there’s more to taking an X-ray than many people know, Sundara said.

“There’s an art,” she explained. “It’s not just pushing buttons. It’s like shooting pool – you think about the angles to shoot. Since bones are not square – they’re round, curved, sharp – you have to demonstrate the bones with different views. It takes proper positioning and an understanding of pathology, diseases, and what that looks like on an X-ray. You need to determine how strong and how many X-rays are necessary.”

Sundara loved the hands-on, technical work and interacting with patients. She took on extra responsibilities, building skills and demonstrating her competence.

Feeling she’d reached her potential in the field, though, Sundara was set to return to school to become an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) technologist when an opportunity arrived.

She moved into a .7 part-time position as a clinical instructor.

The part-time position had her working alongside then full-time instructor Christine Preachuk, whose support Sundara remains grateful for.

RRC Polytech Bachelor of Nursing graduate Melissa Williams had a secret behind her smile as she had her photo taken earlier this year. The photo was being used as a part of RRC Polytech’s Proud Partner billboard campaign showcasing grads across the province.

“In the billboard, you can’t tell, but I’m pregnant—I mean, like first trimester pregnant,” Williams said on a phone call. But before she begins her next adventure as a first-time parent, she shared her journey of being in school during a pandemic and how she found herself caring for the sickest of the sick in the hospital.

“I work in the resus room [resuscitation or trauma room] of the emergency department, taking care of the most acute patients. I really love doing that type of nursing,” said Williams.

Williams is familiar with people who’ve needed acute care. Both her sister and brother have almost died and have needed to have emergency services at hospitals.

“They both survived and have made full recoveries, but I understand the importance of emergency services,” she added. “I think I’ve always been interested in medicine; learning about the human body and ways to improve our health. My mom was a nurse and just such a nurturer – that helped inspire me to become a nurse.”

When asked why she was driven to work in the emergency room, she took a moment before she responded with, “I guess it’s that you’re using all of your skills, right? You really have to think critically. You have to run multiple infusions. Sometimes you’re intubating patients and putting central lines in. And it’s really interesting to see everything that we can do to save a patient.”

From Health Care Aide to ER Nurse

Williams started her career in health care after graduating from the Health Care Aide program at RRC Polytech in 2012.

“Choosing RRC Polytech [in 2012] was a positive experience and was the starting point of my post-secondary education and helped to bring me back in the future,” she said.

Williams had been working as a Health Care Aide when she decided to continue her education and took a two-year Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program, graduating in 2016, after which she was able to join the LPN to Bachelor of Nursing Pathway program at RRC Polytech, which she completed in 2022.

“RRC Polytech really does have the best reputation for the nurses that graduate here,” Williams said, “and I wanted to graduate with that same reputation.”

One of the things Tom Thordarson likes best about his longtime career in Indigenous banking is that he is helping his own people.

“Being First Nations myself, I’ve seen the challenges First Nations go through. Anything I can do to help others be successful, that’s my big thing for sure,” he said, sitting at the kitchen table in his West St. Paul home. Thordarson is a member of Peguis First Nation, one of the largest communities of its kind in Manitoba.

One key to his own success was his education in the two-year Business Administration diploma program at RRC Polytech. He graduated in 2005, with an entry-level position at RBC waiting for him.

Today, as a Senior Relationship Manager in Commercial Financial Services for RBC, he specializes in Indigenous Markets with clients in Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario. He understands the First Nations experience and knows how to help people meet their financial goals.

In his role with RBC, he is part of a dedicated Indigenous Markets team with 14 staff across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, and Western Ontario.

“There are a lot of good things happening in First Nation communities right now. So, it’s good to be able to help them,” he said.

“Not all the banks have an Indigenous Markets team like ours; I think RBC was the first to establish one. I appreciate the respect RBC has for First Nations people and communities, and its commitment to truth and reconciliation,” he added.

Thordarson works out of an office in Headingley, on the Swan Lake First Nation Reserve. From there, he empowers First Nation governments and Indigenous clients to navigate a path to grow and succeed, and helps them create future opportunity and prosperity in Manitoba.

His own opportunity came when he was a young man living and working with his father in Peguis First Nation, located 190 kilometers north of Winnipeg.

“There were limited opportunities for employment in Peguis, on the reserve at the time,” he remembered. His father worked in the heating and air conditioning business. “The work in Peguis was sporadic. We’d get busy, and then there were times when we’d have no work. I wanted something more stable.”

That was when he noticed the RBC branch in Peguis had posted a casual teller position. He applied and was hired. Working with numbers always appealed to him  ­̶  math was his strongest subject in grade school.

RRC Polytech program highly recommended

When it was time for him to leave Peguis First Nation in 2003 to further his education, he knew university didn’t feel right for him. “RRC Polytech seemed like a better fit for me, with it being smaller. That drew me there,” he said.

A cousin of Thordarson’s had taken the Business Administration program at RRC Polytech before him and recommended it. “He had a lot of good things to say about the program, and the different fields you can go into after graduation,” said Thordarson, giving banking and entrepreneurship as examples.

The program taught Thordarson all the aspects of business he needed to know. “Law, accounting – which is helping me to this day, having to get financial statements from my clients and analyzing those – business communications, helping to write proposals, and so on.”

If a conversation with Barry Karlenzig does anything less than inspire, it will at least leave you questioning how many hours there are in a week.

An individual prolific in his sales career and as a volunteer, Karlenzig can make you rethink how you spend your time — and he shows no signs of slowing down. On top of a full-time Customer Programs Manager role with New Flyer, Karlenzig spends significant time volunteering with Pride Winnipeg, where he’s been the President for the last five years.

Karlenzig’s sales career, which began with a Business Administration diploma from RRC Polytech, has taken him across Canada. His first job was on a travel committee for Princess Auto, assisting with new stores being opened. From there, he worked for Sun Life, Enterprise, Sysco Food, and CWB National Leasing before joining New Flyer. Today, he works to ensure customer satisfaction with new buses and builds long-term relationships with those customers.

All these experiences started at RRC Polytech, though.

After attending high school at River East Collegiate, Karlenzig started out at university with most of his cohort. Unfortunately, after missing out on his first opportunity to get into business school, Karlenzig was left at a crossroads. On the advice of a friend already attending, he chose the Business Administration program at RRC Polytech.

“I still remember my first day, I had an amazing Business Communications instructor who walked in with a CD player and played Buckcherry – Crazy Bitch,” laughed Karlenzig. “She let the song play — lyrics, swearing, everything — and she said ‘You have ten seconds in business to introduce yourself and have someone either like you or not like you. You all are never going to forget the first 30 seconds of this class.’ Fifteen years later, I’ve never forgotten.”

The program also created some surprise experiences for Karlenzig. He was chosen out of his graduating class to be the business manager on the North American Solar Challenge team from RRC Polytech, transporting a solar car to Texas on a trip managed by students across several programs.

As business manager, Karlenzig did all the trip logistics — finding sponsors, making t-shirts, and booking hotels. He was also blogging updates from the road using a long-distance plan.

Fisyani Sinyama moved to Canada from Zambia in 2008, only a year after the global financial crisis. You might think the circumstances would repel someone from working in finance, but that wasn’t true for Fisyani.

“I was really interested in learning how the financial system works,” Fisyani said.

Fisyani’s husband arrived in Manitoba ahead of her and studied Computer and Information Systems Technology at RRC Polytech, landing a job with Great-West Life after graduating. Her husband inspired her, and she decided to study International Business in 2009.

Fisyani said one of the things she appreciated about International Business was the instructors, and how they accommodated, celebrated, and understood that their students were from different cultures with different customs.

“There was a lot of group work, which I was not used to. I struggled with it in the beginning, but I’m glad that I stuck with it,” said Fisyani.

“When I did my law diploma in Zambia, the work was very individual-centric. Then I came to Red River and was put in an environment where answers, ideas, opinions, and suggestions were discussed. All of a sudden, the lecturer’s answer wasn’t the end to the question…they were there to guide your thought process.”

Fisyani did a work placement during the program at the Winnipeg Airports Authority, which further helped her get a feel for Canadian workplaces.

“It prepared me in all sorts of ways…if I didn’t go to [the] College, I would have struggled in my first job for sure.”

After graduating from International Business and having her first child, Fisyani became a Customer Service Representative at Western Financial Group in 2011.

“I did well at Red River, which just lit a flame in me to go back and take more courses…I was looking for a job in investments and wealth management,” she said.