When you spend a year working in a foreign country — in a part of the world you’ve only heard stories about — the actual “working” part can be kind of a necessary evil.

But when the country in question is Angola — and the work involves flying a Cessna Caravan over much of south-central Africa — it’s probably fair to say there are worse ways to spend 12 months.

Just ask Red River College grad Jonathan Epp, who got a bird’s-eye view of Africa as a pilot and aircraft mechanic with Mission Aviation Fellowship, a faith-based international group that provides charter flights to doctors, missionaries and aid workers in developing nations.

A native of small-town Saskatchewan, Epp had never been outside North America before, and was quickly taken by the beauty of Africa’s landscape — the sweeping grasslands and mountains, plunging cliffs and waterfalls. He says he expected to encounter some culture shock on arrival — a lack of amenities and certain creature comforts — but admits to feeling even greater shock when he returned home to Winnipeg.

“After being there for a year and coming back, it really shocked me how materialistic we are,” says Epp, who graduated from RRC’s Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Apprenticeship program in 2002, and now works as an instructor for the program at the College’s Stevenson Campus on Saskatchewan Avenue.

“Here, everyone wants a bigger house, or they’ve got to have a big screen TV and two cars and a boat. And we work so hard for it — we work these long hours, 50, 60 hours a week. I came back and thought, ‘What are we doing this for?’” Read More →

At Red River College, we’re used to being a part of people’s “first times” — whether it’s their first time pursuing post-secondary education, their first time earning a diploma or degree, or their first time finding meaningful work in a rich and rewarding field.

But just as often, we’re lucky enough to be part of people’s non-academic “firsts” — as with RRC grad Joe Thompson, who just this year chose the College’s annual Graduation Pow Wow as the site of his first traditional dance.

“I’ve participated in their graduations before, but this year I actually danced for the very first time,” says Thompson, who graduated from RRC’s ACCESS Business Administration program in 1989, and works as a Recruitment and Diversity Advisor for Manitoba Hydro.

“I chose Red River College for my first time dancing at a traditional Pow Wow because (the College) meant something very important to me now and in the past. I thought, ‘What better place to start than here?'”

A former resident of the community of Duck Bay (Pine Creek First Nation member), Thompson’s first job was working for the mining company Inco Ltd., in Thompson, Man.

He moved to Winnipeg when he was 23, and heard about RRC’s Business Administration program while completing his high school credentials at the Winnipeg Adult Education Centre.

“I just needed to do more,” says Thompson. “I wanted more education, and I was starting a new family. That’s what prompted me to make sure I was providing for my family.” Read More →

Red River College alum Dawna Friesen has been named the best news anchor in Canada, for her efforts in front of (and behind) the camera on nightly news show Global National.

Friesen, who serves as Anchor and Executive Editor of Global National, was named Best News Anchor at last month’s Gemini Awards Industry Gala honouring news & sports, documentary, lifestyle and reality programming.

“I take this one for the team, for Global National,” Friesen said at the event, held Aug. 30, 2011, at Toronto’s Metro Convention Centre. “We are not the biggest, but we are the best.”

Friesen, a 1984 graduate of RRC’s Creative Communications program, thanked all the people who work on her show, in particular the reporters “who are out there every day working their butts off.”

During the same ceremony, Global BC’s News Hour was chosen as the nation’s Best Local Newscast, Large Market. Earlier this year, Global Toronto won “best newscast” honours at the Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada (RTDNA) Awards

“To win Gemini Awards for both Best News Anchor and Best Local Newscast in Canada is proof that Global News has taken its rightful place among the world’s leading news organizations,” said Troy Reeb, Vice-President of Global News.

“This is a tribute to the leadership of Dawna Friesen, the incredibly talented team at Global BC, and the hard work of our teams around the world every day.” Read More →

Her younger years were marked by some serious ups and downs — including experiences with poverty and the child welfare system — so it’s no surprise Judy Richichi was at first wary of working with some of Winnipeg’s most marginalized residents.

But the Red River College grad has for years been doing just that — helping to enrich and improve the lives of those currently experiencing homelessness, first as an accountant and more recently as Director of Resource Development for inner city shelter Siloam Mission.

“To be honest, when you go through something like that, the last thing you want to do is to come back to it,” says Richichi, a mother of four who graduated from RRC’s Business Administration program in 1985.

“But having been a product of the system, I knew that change can happen. I know you don’t have to be stuck in that situation. We as a society tend to stereotype and say, ‘They’re never going to change.’ I and seven brothers and sisters can attest that is wrong. If you give people a hand up and help them out, then change can happen.”

One of eight siblings who grew up in Ohio and Florida, Richichi spent time in and out of foster homes and group homes before her dad and new step-mom were able to move her — and half of her brothers and sisters — to Winnipeg in the late 1970s.

Though her parents were able to keep the younger children together, money was always tight, and Richichi and her siblings had to pay for their own post-secondary educations. Having excelled at math and accounting courses in high school, Richichi opted to pursue a Business Administration diploma at RRC, impressed by the College’s reputation for providing a quality, career-focused education that wouldn’t involve decades of student debt. Read More →

When locally-renowned chef Adam Donnelly was a kid, he couldn’t have cared less about cooking, menu planning, or even the means by which food ended up on his family’s dinner table.

But after two years of training at Red River College’s Culinary Arts program, Donnelly — now the head chef and co-owner of Segovia Tapas Bar & Restaurant — found he’d discovered his true calling, an epiphany that would kick-start his career as one of the most buzzed-about young chefs in the city.

“When I was younger, I’d just come home and food would be on the table,” says Donnelly, a 28-year-old Pinawa native. “I never helped my mom make food because I was never really that interested in it. Then I got older and moved away, and I had to learn to do it all myself.”

Donnelly’s original post-secondary plan was to pursue film studies in university, but he began bingeing on cookbooks and books about cooking during a break between semesters. He decided instead to take a year off so he could save up for Culinary Arts; shortly after classes commenced, he knew he was hooked.

“It really kept me interested — there was so much I didn’t know, so every day I came to school, I would learn something new and different,” says Donnelly, while preparing for the dinner rush at his Osborne Village eatery.

“(The program) really gives you the basic starting skills that you need to succeed in a professional kitchen. And then you take it from there — whether you want to cook in a hotel, or cooking Italian food or French food or whatever — you can take those basic skills and go in any direction you want.” Read More →

This just in! Global National Anchor and Executive Editor Dawna Friesen will serve as emcee at the College’s 2011 Alumni Dinner.

Friesen, a 1984 graduate of RRC’s Creative Communications program, will take time out of her busy schedule to host the event, held in part to celebrate the accomplishments of 2011’s Distinguished Alumnus Wayne Morsky. (Friesen herself is a fellow Distinguished Alum, having received the same honour in 2009.)

“It’s a great pleasure to be part of the Alumni Dinner,” says Friesen. “I have such fond memories of Red River College, and am so proud of how it’s thriving, producing the next crop of talent as only Winnipeg can.”

The Alumni Dinner will be held Friday, Nov. 18, 2011, at the Fairmont Winnipeg (One Lombard Place). Tickets are $140 each, or $1,120 for a table of eight. To order tickets, or to learn more about becoming an event sponsor, contact Dale Oughton, RRC’s Alumni Coordinator, at 204-632-2359 or doughton@rrc.mb.ca.

Click here to read more about Friesen’s many accomplishments.

Click here to learn more about past winner’s of RRC’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

As one of the frontline employees for the newly-restructured Assiniboine Park Conservancy, Karen Cox gets to avail herself of some pretty breathtaking on-the-job perks.

So while the rest of us are toiling away in cramped cubicles or harshly-lit retail outlets, Cox spends her days at one of the city’s best-loved tourist destinations — a 1,110-acre site that has for decades been described as Winnipeg’s “crown jewel.”

“Assiniboine Park is really a one-of-a-kind place in Winnipeg,” says Cox, 24, a recent graduate of RRC’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program.

“We have so much greenspace to offer newcomers who are visiting the city or the province for the first time, and also local residents. It’s just a great place to spend time with your friends and family — an overall fun place to be.”

Raised in Teulon, Man., Cox moved to Winnipeg directly after high school, enrolling at the University of Manitoba, where she’d originally considered a career in recreation. A year later, she decided that university wasn’t the best fit, so she instead enrolled in RRC’s two-year Hospitality program, where she majored in Tourism Management

“I knew that I loved working with people, so I thought that tourism would be a great career path for me,” says Cox.

“I know the tourism industry is continually growing and full of opportunities — people are always coming and going — and because I really enjoy working with people, I thought it would be the perfect choice.” Read More →

She’s clearly got a knack for the written word, given the rate at which she’s risen through StandardAero‘s ranks since being hired there only a short time ago.

But while we’d love to take the credit, it’s clear that Red River College grad Loriebeth Quileza has been busy sharpening her communication skills almost since birth.

“(Technical writing) is all about finding a simpler way to explain things,” says Quileza, a 27-year-old Winnipeg native who graduated from RRC’s Technical Communication program in 2005, and now works as Operations Excellence Project Manager (aka Lean Project Manager) for local aerospace firm StandardAero.

“Growing up as a second-generation Filipino-Canadian, I’m always doing that with my parents — trying to say things in a way they’ll understand, since English isn’t their first language!”

Raised in Tyndall Park, Quileza says she was always more of a tech-head than a wordsmith; she’s had a lifelong passion for computer sciences, and originally planned to study the field in university.

But by the time she got a few semesters under her belt, she’d downgraded that “passion” to more of a “love-hate relationship,” prompting the switch to RRC and its Technical Communication program, which offered a healthy dose of overlap.

“You’re taking the logic and the systematic thinking from computer science, and tying it together with writing skills and plain English,” says Quileza of the program, which trains students to communicate technical and scientific info via a range of media, including proposals, manuals, scientific articles, and web and electronic documents.

“You’re able to see what your basic fundamental tools are, and how they can be applied to a wide range of industries.” Read More →

The Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg already serves a high-profile function: producing all of Canada’s circulation coins.

Now, Red River College grad Elise Wood has the opportunity to raise the popular tourist destination’s profile even further, thanks to the skills she picked up while enroled in the College’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program.

“The Royal Canadian Mint is one of the largest and most versatile mints in the world – here in Winnipeg we’ve made circulation coins for more than 70 countries around the world,” says Wood, the Mint’s Supervisor of Boutique and Tour Operations .

“That’s something we should be proud of as Canadians. Many visitors don’t realize what we do here until they visit and take a tour.”

A native of St. Francois Xavier (just west of the city), Wood describes herself as a “regular country kid” who enjoyed playing sports and other outdoor games as a child. After graduating high school, she attended a few semesters of university before heading to Ontario to work at a resort on Lake of the Woods.

“It turned out I had a knack for it,” says Wood of the job. “At the time I was serving and bartending, but I really had fun and I was good at it. I was confident in my abilities, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to make a career out of it.” Read More →

Like any writer worth her salt, Red River College grad RoseAnna Schick can pinpoint with acuity the childhood passions that paved the way to her career as a communications expert.

She remembers the diaries she began keeping as a seven-year-old girl, the makeshift office she set up in her bedroom, and the first time she was published — at the ripe old age of nine. (The story in question, a Yuletide tale of a little boy who wants to be an elf, won third place in a rural newspaper’s holiday fiction contest, netting Schick, now the head of local communications firm RAS Creative, an impressive $20 cash prize.)

She also recalls her first forays into publishing, as the self-appointed editor of a weekly newspaper launched while working a summer job as a counsellor at Camp Stephens.

“It was called Stephens’ Surroundings, and it was mostly gossip and a bunch of other stuff the campers weren’t allowed to read,” says Schick, who graduated from RRC’s Creative Communications program in 1995. “We had an old Gestetner machine — this was pre-photocopier — so I would hand-write the newspaper on a carbon sheet, then I’d have to crank out all the copies by hand. I’d stay up all night, writing these stories and cranking them out … that’s what gave me the idea that I really enjoyed writing for a purpose.”

Schick was drawn to RRC’s CreComm program while completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Winnipeg, after an instructor suggested she’d be a good fit. She signed up, thinking she was on her way to becoming a journalist, but soon realized she might not have the stomach for a career in hard news. Read More →