Each year Red River College awards a Red River College Honorary Diploma to an individual who demonstrates high standards of excellence in their personal and professional achievements and whose involvement in the community is widely recognized.

Widely and rightfully hailed as one of the most talented chefs in Canada, Chef Takashi Murakami, C.M., has spent the last 35 years elevating food preparation to an art form as Executive Chef of the St. Charles Country Club. Luckily, Chef Murakami’s lengthy tenure at St. Charles leaves ample room on his C.V. for the impressive array of awards and honours he’s amassed over the decades, among them a series of gold medals and a World Championship as a member and coach of Culinary Team Canada, a Chef of the Year designation by the Manitoba Chefs Association, membership in the Canadian Culinary Federation’s Honour Society, and a 2005 appointment as Member of the Order of Canada (making him one of only two chefs to receive this prestigious honour, and the only one from Manitoba).

Chef Murakami has also enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with Red River College over the years, having served on the College’s Advisory Committee for the last decade (the last three of which he’s acted as Chair), as a cooperative education employer for the College’s Hospitality and Culinary Arts students, and as a member of La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs—a capacity in which he trained Red River College culinary students taking part in the International Jeunes Chefs (Young Chefs) Rôtisseurs Competition.

A number of Red River College’s Culinary Arts instructors completed their apprenticeship training under Chef Murakami, who also developed the DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) analysis for the College’s Culinary Arts program. Most recently, he has signed on as a Chef of Distinction supporting the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute—future home of the College’s Culinary and Hospitality programs, and site of its first student residence.

We are proud to celebrate Chef Murakami’s many accomplishments by awarding him Red River College’s Honorary Diploma for 2011.

A true testament to the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship, John Gale has made a name for himself in two distinct realms — first blazing trails in the mineral drilling industry before setting his sights on real estate development in the Lake of the Woods region.

Having begun his career installing remote telephone systems in Northern Manitoba, Gale — a native of The Pas — moved to Winnipeg seeking greater challenges, later earning a diploma in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Red River College in 1980. From there, he began working in a research and development capacity for Delro Industries, then the manufacturing arm of Midwest Diamond Drilling.

With Gale leading the way, the company revolutionized the industry through the development of a new diamond bit capable of drilling rock at three times the speed of the technology it replaced.

“My assignment was to make something bigger, better, faster and more improved, and that’s what I did,” says Gale, the 2010 recipient of RRC’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

“It was pretty radical at the time … we had to go from a high-pressure, low-speed application to a very high-speed, low-pressure application — from a crushing motion to a grinding motion, basically. It wasn’t just an equipment change, it was a wholesale change, and with all the equipment and spare parts and safety issues to consider, it took a couple of years to get the whole thing off the ground.” Read More →

She knows only too well the frustrations of the child welfare system, having herself survived upwards of 160 placements before she turned 17.

But thanks to the network of supports in place to help students achieve success, Red River College grad Rebecca Begg is now working to improve the system from within — as a support worker with community advocacy group New Directions.

“When you’re genuinely interested in a person’s well being, you go to a whole other level in your relationship,” says Begg, the first RRC grad to earn her Child and Youth Care diploma through a joint program offered by the College and local community resource Ndinawe. “That’s what these kids need, because they’ve got big stories to tell.”

Begg knows about big stories: A few years ago, she was a widowed mother of two who’d only reached Grade 9. These days — having passed her RRC courses with flying colours — she’s helping to meet the needs of other at-risk women and children in Winnipeg, by framing the lessons she learned in College through the lens of her own struggles and success.

“I have no illusions that I’m going to save these kids, or that I’m going to be the one and only positive influence in their lives,” says Begg. “I’m just there to plant the seed — to help them make the changes they need to make, and to walk with them in their journey.”

Click here for more information about New Directions.

Click here to learn more about the Child and Youth Care program at Red River College.

When you consider her history, it’s really not surprising that Red River College alum Crystal Hay wound up working in the hospitality industry.

For Hay — a recent graduate of RRC’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program — hotel work is literally a family affair.

“My family owned a few small rural hotels — in Grand Marais, Falcon Lake and Lake of the Woods,” says Hay, 28, who earned her major in the program’s Hotel and Restaurant Management stream.

“So I spent a lot of my summers as a teenager out at Falcon Lake, doing everything from housekeeping to serving to working in the front office, and everything in between. I guess that’s how I got my start in the industry.”

In addition to the aforementioned hotel-related skills, Hay’s summer work experience also helped her cultivate her people skills — which come in handy in her current job, as the Group Reservations and Revenue Assistant at Delta Winnipeg.

“I’m not an extrovert by any means,” says Hay. “As soon as I’m in a building like this it comes easy to me, but outside of work I’m very much an introvert. The experience definitely helped me to become more outspoken and outgoing.” Read More →

It’s not often someone manages to kick-start their career by turning down one of the first job offers to come their way.

But that’s exactly how longtime Red River College instructor (and former student) Cliff Burton got started on the path toward teaching — by declining a job offer from the University of Manitoba in order to finish up his studies.

It was the mid-1960s, and Burton, then a young man, had recently completed the 10-month Diesel program at RRC (then called the Manitoba Institute of Technology). He was employed for a time rebuilding automotive engine heads and valves at Manitoba Bearing Works, and later at StandardAero, where he rebuilt aircraft engines. It was the latter position that twigged his interest in machining, and by 1966, he was back at MIT, enrolled in the 10-month Machine Shop course.

In April of the following year, Burton was offered a job building research equipment for the U of M’s Mechanical Engineering department. They wanted him to start immediately. Burton told them he wasn’t finished with his coursework.

“I told them that there were a lot more things left to learn, and I wanted to finish this course that I had started,” says Burton, who now teaches Related Math and Science at RRC. “Two weeks later the University phoned me back and said they were so impressed that I wanted to learn more, and finish what I had started, that they were willing to wait the three months for me to finish.” Read More →

Four years ago, she couldn’t even turn on a computer — let alone operate one properly — and she was only vaguely familiar with the tragic legacy of residential schools in Canada.

But these days, Red River College grad Sharon Fletcher is not only 100% computer-savvy, she’s helping to shine a light on one of the darkest periods of Aboriginal history through her work with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC).

Fletcher, 34, has been working as a hairdresser since she was a teenager (she got her licence midway through Grade 12, and still does hair on the side), but in 2007 decided to broaden her horizons by enrolling in RRC’s Computer Applications for Business program.

“When I first took the course, I was completely computer-illiterate,” says Fletcher, who currently works as the Financial Officer at the TRC’s national headquarters on Main Street. “While everyone else was logging on their computers, I was the only one in class trying to figure out how to turn the thing on.”

Fletcher — who at the time was balancing her busy course load with her salon duties and her school-aged son — quickly got the hang of computers, not to mention countless other marketable skills. In addition to the computer-related courses — which covered business document writing, accounting, and basic office procedures and software — Fletcher also received a crash course in Aboriginal history, via the program’s Aboriginal Culture and Issues class.

“We learned a lot about residential schools and what happened to people there, which gives me a real advantage today, because that’s what the Commission is all about — getting those stories from the survivors of residential schools,” explains Fletcher, who took her Computer Applications for Business program through RRC’s School of Indigenous Education.

“I’d never really grown up in a ‘traditionally’ Native home, at least not culture-wise. It’s kind of divided — my dad is white, and my mom is Native — so being in the Aboriginal Cultures and Issues class, and having the chance to get to know my roots, I really enjoyed that.” Read More →

Matt Best always figured he had a future in marketing.

But it wasn’t until he took the lead role on a class project at Red River College that he knew for certain he could make a career of it.

“When I got to Red River College, I quickly realized that marketing was one of my passions,” says Best, 24, a former Winnipeg resident who now calls Calgary home. “After having the opportunity to work on the Entrepreneurship (program) practicum as the leader of my marketing group, I also realized that I was good at it.”

These days, Best works as Coordinator of Consumer Engagement for TrojanOne, a Canadian marketing agency with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. In addition to running the Calgary office, Best also contributes to marketing efforts for a roster of blue-chip clients, among them Canadian Tire, Mattel, Coca-Cola and Bank of Montreal.

“We’re pretty much your one-stop-shop for everything,” says Best of TrojanOne, a company he first became involved with through an internship with the University of Lethbridge (where he’s currently pursuing a degree in Marketing). “Our vision is to get our clients promoted, so that’s what we strive for in everything we do.”

Raised in Charleswood — where he was active in sports like hockey, golf and lacrosse — Best got his first taste of the marketing world through high school business classes he enrolled in as a teen. He spent a year in Vancouver after graduating Grade 12, but returned to Winnipeg in time to sign up for RRC’s Business Administration program in 2006. Read More →

There’s more than one way Red River College can help you get your wings. Just ask RRC alum Tim San Diego, who took a slightly different path to a career spent flying the friendly skies.

A former Winnipeg resident who now spends most of his time in Thompson, Man., San Diego graduated from RRC’s Aircraft Maintenance Engineer program in 2007. Though he’s always been mechanically-minded (his father was a hobby mechanic, and he spent his high school years studying robotics) he’s also harbored a lifelong fascination with flying, which he now gets to indulge as one of the few licensed pilots working in an engineering capacity at Perimeter Aviation.

“That’s pretty rare,” says San Diego, who managed to earn his pilot’s license while apprenticing at St. Andrews Airport, his first post-RRC place of employment.

“There are probably 100 people working at Perimeter right now, and only me and Mark (Wehrle, Perimeter’s President) can do both.”

To clarify again, San Diego did not undergo any  flight training at Red River (though RRC does offer an Aviation Management program in partnership with Harv’s Air and Winnipeg Aviation). In San Diego’s case, his AME course provided him with the skills required to service helicopters and large and small aircraft. And thanks to a rather generous co-worker — St. Andrews Airport staffer Al Hartwig — San Diego managed to rack up enough flight time to qualify for his private pilot’s license. Read More →

For a good chunk of each day, he’s alone with his thoughts — or at least, as alone as a guy can be when 50,000 people are listening in.

That’s the paradox faced daily by Red River College alum Casey Norman, who broadcasts his cultural musings to a devoted army of fans from the comfort of his studio at local rock station Power 97.

“I like interacting with the audience — it’s an immediate connection with the listeners,” says Norman, Power’s Music Director, Assistant Program Director and host of the Power Drive every weekday afternoon from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

“The great thing about Power 97 is that you can say something on the air, and before you’re even finished the sentence, someone’s on their cell phone calling you to talk about it.”

Norman, who graduated from RRC’s Creative Communications program in 2005, describes his current position as “the job I’ve always wanted,” so it’s no surprise that he’s been working up to it for the last 20 years or so.

Born and raised in St. James, he first discovered a love of music while rifling through his parents record collection (lucky for him, they were big fans of The Beatles and Leonard Cohen), but it wasn’t until junior high that he began seeking out more underground fare like the Dead Milkmen and They Might Be Giants.

His first radio gig was at the University of Winnipeg’s campus station while he was a student there in the late ‘90s, though — as with most origin stories — the position itself was about as entry-level as they come. Read More →

Heading back to the classroom as a mature student can be stressful enough for the best of us, especially when it comes to balancing schoolwork with familial obligations.

But Red River College alumna Anna Marie Prince had an even tougher time than most: Her husband was hospitalized with a life-threatening kidney disease just months after her program’s start date, requiring her to squeeze a risky organ transplant into her already hectic schedule.

“I remember we were going through our final tissue tests, and she was reading a textbook while we were doing it,” says Anna Marie’s husband, Edward Prince, for whom she bravely served as an organ donor in December 2008.

“I told the doctor, ‘Don’t mind her – she’s studying for a test!’”

A former resident of Peguis First Nation, Anna Marie entered RRC’s Dental Assisting – Level II program in the fall of 2008, having spent the bulk of her life raising a family and working managerial jobs at restaurants.

“I’d never chosen a career where I could concentrate my interests, so I told (my husband), ‘I’d like to go back to school,’” says Anna Marie. “He was a retired career counselor, so he said, ‘Well, why don’t you?’” Read More →