Kevin Versteeg was halfway to obtaining a degree in Criminal Justice when he realized his true calling was right in his own backyard.

In 2000, Versteeg started working at Schriemer’s Home & Garden as a general labourer, working his way up to the position of nursery manager by 2005. Hoping to become a police officer, Versteeg started at the University of Winnipeg, completing two years of study before realizing he was already in his preferred career.

In 2007, while still working at Schriemer’s, Versteeg started his own landscape construction business, Classic Landscapes, and he hasn’t looked back.

“I really enjoy the transformation,” says Versteeg, 26, of landscape construction, which includes everything from full yard design to building decks and pergolas to installing putting greens.

“It’s very rewarding, being able to start with something that’s maybe not pleasing to the eye or [not] that functional and turning it into something that’s attractive, functional and something that the customer will really enjoy.”

Looking to expand his knowledge in the field, Versteeg began Red River College’s Greenspace Management program in 2008, graduating with honours in 2011. He says the program provided him valuable information, and not only in areas directly related to his business. Read More →

Profile by Sherry Kaniuga (Creative Communications, 1998)

Moments that make you realize “it’s all worth it” can happen anywhere, any time. For Sandy Kauenhofen, one of those moments hit while she was hundreds of feet in the air.

She was strapped in a tiny four-seater airplane soaring above the Pembina Valley at the time, as part of an excursion for people with disabilities living in a community home she worked at in Carman, Manitoba. When she first came up with the idea to take people flying instead of to somewhere on solid ground like the zoo, not everyone was on board.

“The families said, ‘Are you kidding? What if they don’t like it?’” Kauenhofen remembers. Her response?  “Well, then we’ll land!”

The risk was worth the reward. Sandy recalls one woman who was clearly apprehensive about taking to the skies.

“When she first got onto the plane, she was looking at us like, ‘What the heck is this?!’ She had a really puzzled look that turned into a bit of a scowl as we taxied down the runway,” Kauenhofen says. “But as soon as the plane lifted off the ground, the grin on her face got so big and so wide, I had tears in my eyes. You could tell by the look in her eyes that she just loved it and was so excited. It was the most exquisitely amazing experience.”

Now a coordinator at Epic Opportunities – a non-profit organization in Winnipeg that offers holistic, person-centred supports to empower people with an intellectual disability to live, learn, work and enjoy life in the community – Sandy works more behind the scenes, overseeing the staff teams by providing leadership and support as well as supporting individuals living in their homes. But although she is less hands-on, she says she is grateful every day to work with amazing people, a passion first ignited in her when she volunteered with St. Amant Centre’s school program while in high school. Read More →

Imagine: you’ve escaped domestic violence and are trying to heal, but starting the process is tough since you don’t know who you are.

It’s a situation counsellor Allison Spak sees every day, and one she’s helping to rectify as a cultural therapy coordinator.

“[I’m] helping women move along in their journey to live healthier lives,” says Spak, who graduated from Red River College’s Applied Counselling program in April, and now works at Wahbung Abinoonjiiag Inc., a domestic violence centre for children and families. The North End facility provides opportunities for holistic healing using culturally appropriate teachings.

“It’s working with Aboriginal women that have lost their culture, [who don’t know] who they are,” Spak explains. “Dealing with the effects of colonization, if you don’t know who you are culturally, these women are kind of lost. So it’s getting them back to their roots, to knowing who they are, to help them on their healing journey. These women want to know who they are.”

In order to help women rediscover their roots, Wahbung uses the traditional knowledge of Aboriginal ancestors, including the Medicine Wheel and the Seven Sacred Teachings.

“There’s the cultural side that the women learn from – giving back to their culture and learning who they are. And then there’s the therapy side, where we give them the tools [to deal with] what’s happened in their lives.” Read More →

Chris Lee used to think he’d never want to be in sales. But when he was offered a job marketing building envelope systems, Lee took a risk – and now he’s all wrapped up in his work.

Lee has spent the past seven years as Western Territory Manager for Henry Company Canada, which supplies air and vapour barrier, roofing and waterproofing products for residential and commercial buildings, such as the Canadian Museum for Human Rights opening this fall in Winnipeg. The sales and marketing job came to him unexpectedly.

“It was kind of a fluke,” says Lee, whose aversion to sales was based on the pushy, quota-driven world he witnessed while working in an auto dealership’s service department several years ago.

“I was working for a golf course in Winnipeg and my brother was living in Toronto. A guy he played hockey with told him he needed to hire someone out west. It was fall and the golf course was getting ready to close, so my brother called me up. I had no background in the building industry whatsoever, but I researched the company and their products, and discovered that they were well-known and respected within the industry.”

He took the job, that hockey buddy became his boss, and Lee hasn’t looked back. He now handles sales and marketing for Henry Company Canada’s residential construction side, covering a vast territory from Thunder Bay, Ont., all the way west to Vancouver Island. During the busy spring and summer building season, he spends about half his time on the road, selling building envelope systems to stores including Home Hardware, TruServ Canada and McMunn & Yates. Read More →

“There’s the lovely Golden Boy on Broadway,” says Bodi, the Consumer Communications Co-ordinator for Manitoba Hydro, in reference to the crown corporation’s political oversight. “And there are the stakeholders; people like you and me.”

It’s clear within a few seconds who’s the priority for the Red River College grad.

“I’m tasked with Power Smart, our demand-side management program, to use the user-friendly term for lowering energy consumption… we provide loans for home energy efficiency improvements, we change out furnaces for people who don’t have the financial ability, we have an affordable energy program for lower income families…”

“People can see the difference.”

Growing up in Elmwood, Bodi says she was set on a creative path by teachers who brought the performing arts into the classroom. “The teachers at my school read to us, we bonded. Young kids, before starting classes, would be asked for a demonstration – perhaps a performance with an instrument – to get the creative juices flowing.”

That creative output stayed with her, from publishing a poem at age 10 through her university training, to a “misstep” career that didn’t connect with her passions, even as her coworkers and bosses expressed how “we so enjoy reading your reports.”

“You write well,” Bodi father told her as she contemplated how to get her life back on the right track – a path that led to RRC’s Creative Communications program.

“CreComm gave you a taste of real life,” Bodi says about balancing the full course load in public relations, journalism, advertising and media production classes. “There were solid, solid teachers who instilled the fact they were sharing real life experiences. You could ask a teacher about an obstacle you were having with a project and they would answer with a real life illustration.” Read More →

In his grandmother’s final years, Vernon Cook wasn’t able to visit her as much as he wanted – she lived in a personal care home outside of town and getting out to see her was tough. But now he’s making it up to seniors everywhere.

“She passed away and I just felt awful that I couldn’t do more,” Cook says. “I just needed to do something for the elderly, for my grandma, because I couldn’t see her very much. And I thought I could do something to give back.”

The way Cook chose to give back was by completing the Therapeutic Recreation Facilitator for Older Adults program at Red River College and working at Southeast Personal Care Home. Cook, who is First Nations from Peguis, was raised to honour and respect his elders, so the program seemed like a natural fit.

He was the first Aboriginal man to graduate from the program, and before he even finished he was offered a position at Southeast, the first Aboriginal-focused care home in the city.

Southeast aims to respect holistic Aboriginal values and cultural traditions that nurture the health and well-being of each person. For example, the facility brings in elders and holds sharing circles, and features a ceremonial room for residents, Cook says.

“The residents are allowed to come in [to the ceremonial room] and smudge. It’s our praying, our meditating,” he explains. “It’s with sweet grass, sage, tobacco, and whatnot.”

Working in a care home where 90 per cent of residents are First Nations presents its own challenges, however, as many are residential school survivors.

“They’re very closed in,” he says of the survivors. “When they wanted to talk about it they would, but then there were triggers as well that would get them very upset. We would not bring it up, but when they wanted to talk, that’s why we would bring elders in or hold a sharing circle.” Read More →

Civil Engineering Technology grad Len Chambers (centre) with members of Stantec’s Water team.

Len Chambers has had a hand in many of Winnipeg’s largest residential developments – but not in the way you might think. He doesn’t build houses; he envisions communities from the ground up.

“You’re coming up with the concept and what you need to put in place for infrastructure to service that community. And then it’s great to see that unfold as it builds,” he says.

As practice leader, water for consulting firm Stantec, Chambers considers things like water and sewer service, wastewater treatment, land drainage, lift stations, retention ponds and flood mitigation when planning new communities.

“We sort of generalize all that stuff as water,” he explains.

A 1979 graduate of Red River College’s Civil Engineering Technology program, Chambers has participated in various design stages, as well as contract administration work, for major developments like Royalwood, Waverley West, Whyte Ridge and South Pointe.

“As I look around this city, I see several residential subdivisions that I was involved with,” he says. “It is great to see these subdivisions finished with families moved in and becoming part of the community.” Read More →

Scott Hinkson has the kind of schedule that might have you picturing him slipping into a phone booth before rushing off to his next stop, red cape flapping in the wind.

By day, he’s a nose-to-the-grind Senior Project Manager at Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC). After hours, he instructs on-campus and distance courses, including one he wrote himself, in both of the Continuing Education certificate programs he’s graduated from at Red River College: Business Analyst (2010) and Project Management  (2011). He also sits on RRC’s Business Analyst Advisory Committee, and at home, he’s a father to a busy almost-three-year-old son.

Hectic, sure. But somehow Hinkson still finds time to fit in performing as a successful local musician and working on releasing his fifth album.

“My first love is music, ever since I was a little tyke listening to Simon & Garfunkel on my parents’ old 8-tracks,” says Hinkson, who sings and plays guitar, plus pretty much whatever other instrument he envisions for his songs. Since 2004, he has released a short film soundtrack, and garnered local radio play and media attention with four solo albums.

“Nowadays, I have to book a day off for the house to be quiet enough for me to actually finish writing a song,” he says. “Usually I have about a 15-minute window to come up with an idea for a song, like while my little guy is having a bath.”

Hinkson’s time is much more regimented at work, where he not only schedules his own day, but his colleagues’ as well. As Senior Project Manager, he runs a handful of large projects at any one time, defining each project’s needs, identifying risks, then ensuring the project team delivers within the agreed-upon scope, budget and schedule. Read More →

He first made his mark on the local music scene in the usual way — designing posters and album art for his band as a teenager.

Fast forward a decade, and Red River College grad Christopher Samms is helping spread the word about Winnipeg’s status as Music City of the North, through a series of high-profile projects that coincide with the arrival of this week’s Juno Awards.

Samms (Graphic Design, 2009) was one of the designers behind the “We Speak Music” campaign launched recently by Winnipeg’s Juno Host Committee, in conjunction with Manitoba Film and Music. He worked on the campaign while employed by ClarkHuot/Cocoon, a design and branding firm contracted to help promote the annual awards.

“The main challenge was: how do we sum up why the Junos should be in Winnipeg, and why the entire country should be coming to Winnipeg to celebrate Canadian music,” says Samms, 29. “‘We Speak Music’ ended up being the most applicable and the most versatile, since it can be applied in so many different ways — We Speak Music, We Live Music, We Love Music, and so on.”

Expect the campaign to reach critical mass as Juno Week runs March 24-30, starting with a series of club and smaller-venue shows before wrapping up with a star-studded MTS Centre gala, featuring the likes of Robin Thicke, Sarah McLachlan, Arcade Fire, and Tegan and Sara.

This year’s Juno nominees include local indie darlings Royal Canoe, whose 2013 debut Today We’re Believers features album art by Samms. Read More →

“So you’re a drug dealer!”

Jennifer Wilkinson is used to hearing this joking response when she tries to explain just what she does for a living. But the easy-going Category Manager for Over the Counter Drugs at The North West Company (NWC), headquartered in downtown Winnipeg, doesn’t mind.

“It can be confusing – my job is pretty complex. It’s not like saying you’re a teacher, where people understand,” laughs Wilkinson, who graduated from Red River College’s Business Administration program with honours in 2004 and has been with NWC’s Procurement and Marketing department for the past six years. She’s responsible for all merchandising, pricing, shelving, marketing, promotions and sales of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs for the company’s Northern Stores and Giant Tiger stores across Canada.

“Before I started here, I had no idea this job even existed. I guess I had always just assumed that the food magically made its way onto store shelves,” Wilkinson says. She quickly learned there’s actually a lot that goes on behind the scenes, after starting as an assistant category manager for the bakery product segment, then becoming associate category manager for both bakery and dairy.

Being promoted to her latest role was exciting but daunting, because she’s the first person to fill it.

“Because of significant changes within the healthcare system, OTC drugs are becoming an increasingly important business segment for all pharmacy and retail banners. My role was created specifically so The North West Company could take advantage of the fast-paced growth this industry is experiencing,” Wilkinson explains. “I’m responsible for building this category from the ground up, and watching it flourish and grow over the next couple of years.” Read More →