An advertising student from Red River College’s Creative Communications program will showcase extraordinary stories about ordinary lives, when he launches a new book about Manitobans with Down syndrome this weekend.

Second-year student Jordan Power has spent the least year compiling stories of work, love and accomplishment into a series of eight profiles called Extra-Ordinary: Stories of Manitobans with Down Syndrome.

“They’re [stories] about getting fired and making friends. They’re about winning and losing and swimming and skiing. They’re about laughing and loving and looking forward to sex,” says Power, who’ll complete CreComm and receive a BA in Communications from the University of Winnipeg this spring.

“Everyone has a story to tell. You just have to ask.”

Among those profiled is Ruth Elizabeth Joseph, a student in RRC’s Academic and Career Essential Skills program, which launched last year with funding from the College’s Transforming Futures campaign.

Power will read passages from the book this Saturday at a launch and discussion from 7-8 p.m. at McNally Robinson. Proceeds from the new book, which Power wrote as part of his year-long Independent Professional Project (IPP), will be donated to the Manitoba Down Syndrome Society.

Click here to learn more about Extra-ordinary, and here for more on RRC’s Creative Communications program.