Kris Hancock has a few axes to grind. Then he’ll get them signed by rock stars and auction them off for charity.

The Ecole Selkirk Junior High teacher and Red River College grad (Industrial Arts/Technology Teacher Education, 2007) is the creator of the B.O.S.S. Guitar Works program, an afterschool course where Grade 7 and 8 students design and build custom electric guitars. (The program’s title stands for Building On Student Success.)

The guitars are then painted and sent to celebrities – among them Gene Simmons, Roger Waters, William Shatner and Jann Arden – for signatures before being auctioned off to support the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and other Manitoba charities.

When Hancock and other teachers planned the first auction in 2010, the goal was to raise $1,000. For this year’s event on May 30, the target is a hundred times that.

“It’s turned into something that’s truly amazing,” Hancock says. “It started as a small idea and the next thing you know, we’ve had celebrities sign over 100 guitars.”

Hancock says he had the first inklings of the fundraising plan while he was still studying to be an industrial arts teacher at Red River College. As his instructors and classmates discussed projects that would capture the attention of future preteen students, his own enthusiasm for playing electric guitar came to mind.

“You have to find something that engages, something that’s fresh and new. If a project is boring or not interesting, they’ll turn off. Your class won’t be fun for them and it won’t be fun for you.” Read More →

Imagine leaving your home of 40 years – the house where you threw down your bags after long days at work, raised your children, held your loved ones and, years later, wept at their passing.

For seniors downsizing to apartments or assisted-living facilities, the act of leaving their home can be a traumatic experience. Fortunately there are people like Lauren Cooke (Business Administration, 2004), owner of Leapfrog Moving Specialists, to make the transition easier.

“When I’ve recreated their living space in a smaller room,” Cooke says, “The look on their face, the happiness at keeping their ‘home’ even though they moved, that’s very rewarding.”

Cooke and her staff of three take care of “the finer things” when helping someone move to a smaller home, consulting with clients and using their own experienced judgements to pack just the essentials while disposing of a life’s worth of flotsam. The job, Cooke says, requires her to balance the roles of mover and counsellor at the same time.

“You have to be understanding and compassionate while still doing your job of getting them moved. I don’t try, I don’t force it, it just kind of happens. I’m attentive and sensitive to what they’re going through.” Read More →

He’s had a healthy obsession with technology since he was a kid, when a childhood friend got his very first computer as a birthday present.

Good thing Continuing Education grad Andre Bisseck has found a way to parlay that passion into a career, as a Senior Business Analyst with the Province of Manitoba.

Bisseck, who graduated from the Business Analyst program in 2011, says RRC provided the structured theory and framework to complement his existing knowledge. He also credits his instructors with helping to prepare him for his current role.

RRC: Where were you born and raised?

André Bisseck: I was a North End kid, born and raised.

When did you first become interested in technology?

A good friend of mine got a computer for his birthday one year and I was hooked. I think I used it more than he did, but ultimately it was responsible for my near-obsession with computers and technology.

What prompted you to enrol at RRC? Why the Business Analyst program?

After doing similar work for a major corporation for a number of years, I realized that I had fragmented knowledge of business analysis, but lacked the structured theory that provides the necessary framework. Also, I was looking to make a job change and wanted to shore up my experience with recognized education. I researched the available schooling options and chose Red River College for its reputation and course content. Read More →

Tyler Nelson wants you to have less of an impact.

The St. James born-and-bred graduate of Red River College’s Environmental Protection Technology program (2012) is fired up about people lowering the amount of waste they produce, as well as the energy and resources they consume. Nelson says even as a child, protecting the environment was on his mind.

“From an early age, I’ve always been recycling, composting, lowering my carbon footprint. It was just the way I grew up.”

When most 18-year-old high school grads plan their college or university studies, they turn to parents, peers and guidance counselors for direction. Nelson, on the other hand, was a bit more ambitious. He checked in with the provincial government.

“I emailed my MLA and he went, ‘Oh, sure I can help you out with some stuff,’ and he set up a lunch meeting with Neil Cunningham (the director of Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship) and Dan McInnis (assistant deputy minister for Climate Change and Environmental Protection),” Nelson says. “I asked about the environmental field, said I was curious about it. From there, they let me know it was the next big thing, it was important, that my passion was overwhelming and they said, ‘Go for it.’”

Nelson enrolled in civil engineering at Red River College, branching into the environmental stream when he hit his second year.

“There was a kind of stigma around the environmental program, because environmentalists are seen as tree huggers and save-the-whales type people, but in the environmental protection stream, you got to see it from the other side, from the side of ‘How do you lessen your impact? How do you set up programs to help people understand and take action?’”

“It was such a positive experience. Everyone was so overwhelmingly nice and passionate about what they were doing; not just the instructors, but the students.” Read More →

She’s an aspiring singer-songwriter with a long history of performing and caring for others  — and she’s looking for a career that will allow her to share those considerable gifts with future generations.

No surprise, then, that Continuing Education grad Angel Simard has already found her way back to Red River College — to further bolster her Youth Recreation Activity Worker credentials via a diploma from RRC’s Child and Youth Care program.

We caught up with Angel to find out what led her to RRC in the first place, and how her experience here has inspired her to embark on a career path where she can continue helping others.

RRC: Where were you born and raised?

I was born in Pine Falls, Manitoba, but raised in Winnipeg.

What was your favourite thing to do as a kid?

The number one interest of mine was always music. I’ve always had a passion for music, whether it’s singing, songwriting, or learning how to play a musical instrument. As a young child I used to sit down with my grandfather everyday to listen to him sing Hank Williams songs and play guitar, and I would observe him and help him record himself on a tape cassette recorder. He was a talented singer/musician who always wanted to be a country star. The farthest he came to that was singing a tribute to Hank Williams at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville during the 1940s. Music has been passed down from generation to generation in my family and I believe it’s meant to be a part of me and I’m supposed to use that gift and not waste it, and to share that gift when I feel ready to and also to keep passing that gift down to young people. (Which I have done with some of the youth I’ve worked with in my child and youth care practice.) Read More →

These grads aren’t just giving back to Red River College — they’re building it.

Chris Sousa (Building Construction Technician, 2012) and Glenn Garbett (Structural Technology, 1998) are two of the key pillars behind the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, Red River College’s new Exchange District campus and residence, which is racing toward its official opening on February 21.

As site supervisor and project manager, respectively, Sousa and Garbett have been marshalls to the small army of tradespeople, engineers, architects and planners tasked with bringing a 100-year-old Winnipeg heritage building into the 21^st century.

“Ever since my teenage years, I really enjoyed this building,” Sousa says, sitting in the sunlit mixology class where bottles and glasses look out onto Old Market Square. “I fell in love with the building and had my own personal plans with what I wanted to do with it. I didn’t expect it to be a school.”

“To have Red River College have a great idea for the use of the old building — to add onto it without interfering with it, to not make it stand out like a sore thumb and to make the heritage a key feature — it was a great privilege to work on.”

“There have been definite project challenges that make PGI one of the most memorable buildings I’ve worked on,” Garbett says. “I’ve worked on other heritage buildings downtown, but it was nowhere near as complex.”

Those complexities started on day one for the two men when they met the former bank whose proud, smiling exterior hid confusing, twisted and occasionally malicious guts.

“Everywhere we turned it was like opening a can of worms,” Sousa says. “If walls weren’t collapsing, it was the ceiling. If the ceiling wasn’t collapsing, it was the floors. There was always something going on that kept you on your toes.” Read More →

Each year, a maximum of four Lieutenant-Governor’s medals are awarded to Red River College students who, in the opinion of a selection committee, combine to the greatest extent in their graduating year academic and technical achievement, involvement in College and/or community activities, and good character.

KIMBERLY COWAN
Professional Baking and Patisserie

Kimberly Cowan credits Red River College’s Professional Baking & Patisserie program for allowing her to turn her life’s passion into a full-time career.

Cowan spent her childhood on her uncle’s grain and cattle farm in her hometown of Landis, SK. When her family made the move to Portage la Prairie, it meant a lot would change for a then-teenaged Cowan. Through those transitions, one thing remained the same: her passion for food (specifically baking), which she inherited from her mother and grandmother, both talented cooks.

A few years after earning her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in History, Kimberly decided to leave her full-time job at a local bank to go back to school and pursue a career in baking.  During her time with RRC, she competed in the Canola Bake-off in 2011 — tying for first with her Sticky Toffee Pudding entry. She also represented RRC in the baking category at Skills Manitoba and the Skills Canada Nationals, where she placed gold in the provincial competition.

Kimberly also played for RRC’s first ever women’s soccer team, helping them place third in the Manitoba College Athletic Conference in 2012. She is now in her eleventh year with Winnipeg’s Soccer League.

Today, Kimberly works as a full-time chef at Chocolatier Constance Popp, a premium artisan chocolate shop specializing in treats made with local ingredients.  She thanks her family, friends and instructors for their constant support and encouragement.

PATRICK MURPHY
Hospitality and Tourism Management

A husband and father of two, Patrick Murphy left his full-time accounting job to follow his passion in hotel management. He enrolled in Red River College’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program, having previously worked in the industry back when he first got married.

When asked what inspires him about the field, Patrick credits the people. He enjoys meeting guests from all over the world and learning more about their individual stories. As a child, Patrick had his own opportunity to travel the globe — his father’s military career took his family to the United States, Germany and Newfoundland.

He hopes to one day give his family the opportunity to travel the world as he has. Goal destinations include Baden-Baden, Germany, where he grew up, and of course, Disney World.

During his time with RRC, Patrick was awarded the Professional Leadership Award (2012), Canad Inns Award (2011) for academics and Fairmont Award (2011) for academics and student involvement. Today he is the Fairmont’s Gold Supervisor, responsible for the care of some of the Fairmont’s most special guests. His career goal is to work up the ladder and become general manager of his own hotel.

Patrick also contributes to his community as a team leader for Scouts Canada, an organization he discovered while looking for something to do with his son, Devon. He credits the program for teaching youth about the importance of diversity and respect.

From wintry Winnipeg to the beaches Down Under — Red River College grad Cliff Olson has certainly gone far with his training in hotel management.

A 1981 alum of RRC’s Hotel and Restaurant Administration program, Olson has enjoyed a long career in the industry, and now works in sunny Melbourne, Australia, where we caught up with him for an email interview.

RRC: You’ve worked all over the world, but where were you born?

Cliff Olson: Born in Winnipeg, but moved around Manitoba all through childhood, as Mom and Dad owned hotels in many areas.

Sounds like you’ve got the hospitality industry in your blood. What prompted you to come to RRC?

Yes, I grew up in hotels, and had been working in hotels and restaurants since I was 13. In high school I completed a two-and-a-half-year food services course. Afterward, I was looking at universities and colleges for a hotel management program. I went on a tour of the RRC campus and knew immediately it was where I wanted to be.

What stands out in your mind from that time?

I remember the instructors and coordinators were people I respected. They could talk about real experiences that I found helped me to learn.

Did you feel you were well-prepared for your field?

Absolutely, and I still use the things I learned. For instance I was never that interested in maintenance, but from the teachings I at least know enough about refrigeration, electrical and plumbing to understand what’s what in the real world. The accounting was invaluable and because of it when I went to work, I understood profit and loss statements and balance sheets. And the psychology was a great eye-opener, and helped me understand more about life. Read More →

When Rita Flamand was a young girl growing up in Camperville, Manitoba, she wasn’t allowed to speak her Metis tongue at school.

“They told me it wasn’t a real language,” she recalls. “They said it was a bastard language.”

Michif draws its verbs from Plains Cree or Ojibwe, while its nouns and articles are usually French. Like the Metis, it is a blending of cultures with its own unique identity. Despite having the five basic components of an independent language – syntax, semantics, pragmatics, morphology and phonology — it has traveled a difficult road to receiving official recognition, partly because there is no cohesive written form of the language.

Flamand has been working to change that. Since graduating from Red River College’s Aboriginal Interpreter program in 1998, she’s has been working as a translator on projects ranging from provincial voting guides to children’s cartoons, bettering her understanding of Michif as she builds toward a magnum opus: a Michif dictionary.

“I have everything set out to publish,” Flamand says, “I’m just dealing with the copyright issues… And I’ve been so busy using the stuff I took from RRC — translating and translating.”

It’s an unlikely project for a woman who only completed Grade 8. (Funding controversies at the time prevented Flamand and her classmates from progressing further.) She remembers working a variety of jobs as young as 14, traveling through Manitoba and northern Ontario to clean homes and look after children. A practical nursing course later on opened new job opportunities as far west as B.C., but also landed her in a tuberculosis sanatorium in Winnipegosis for a couple years in the mid-1950s.

Flamand married and raised eight children with her husband. When the last moved out in the ‘90s, Flamand faced a pressing choice; what to do next?

“My friend Darlene Timash knew I wanted to do something with my language – I was trying to get a writing system going at the time. She said ‘Rita, there’s a course starting at Red River College for Aboriginal interpreters, you should sign up.’” Read More →

So you graduate from Red River College’s Business Administration program with a major in marketing — what next? Well, if you’re Alex Kampen, you pack your bags and move to Bremerhaven, Germany, to play professional hockey.

Kampen, 21, grew up in Winnipeg and joined his first organized hockey team at the age of six, playing for the North Kildonan Cobras. As he gained more experience and his profile grew, he made his way up to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), where he played with the Selkirk Steelers for three seasons.

“Hockey has always been my life,” says Kampen from Germany. “It’s really been that driving force.”

Knowing he would eventually outgrow the MJHL age requirement, Kampen began exploring full-time post-secondary programs that interested him. After hearing good things about RRC, Kampen decided its Business Administration program would be the perfect fit.

Kampen spent his first year studying the foundation of business practices at RRC’s Roblin Centre downtown. During his second year, he took the initiative to bring a friend’s business idea to life while also finding a way to incorporate hockey into his studies. For his program’s Entrepreneurship Practicum, he worked with a small group of other Business students to create, develop and pitch “Puck Honey Stick Wax.”

The hockey product is a wax derived honey from honey farms and is meant to be used on the blades of hockey sticks to prevent water, snow or ice from sticking, which in return increases puck control and other performance variables.

Today, Kampen says he carries life-lessons learned during his time at RRC with him in Bremerhaven, where he plays for the Fischtown Pinguins in the 2012-13 Oberliga season.

“At Red River College, you’re definitely forced to do really well working with others. Right now, I’m on a hockey team and we all need to function and be efficient while working together.” Read More →