CBC Radio One (89.3 FM/990 AM) is preparing to broadcast live at not one, but three Red River College campuses on Thursday, Sept. 4!

Marcy Markusa, host of Information Radio, Marilyn Maki, host of Radio Noon, and Ismaila Alfa, host of Up to Speed, will bring listeners live interviews and stories about how RRC students are making an impact on Manitoba’s workforce.

CBC Manitoba will have a station set up at specific times during the day at each campus; students are encouraged to be on the lookout. Those who stop by the station and show the CBC Radio App on their smartphone will have the opportunity to win an iPad mini!

Locations and Times

Notre Dame Campus
Information Radio, 6:00am – 8:30am with Marcy Markusa

Roblin Centre
Radio Noon, 12:00pm – 1:00pm with Marilyn Maki

Paterson GlobalFoods Institute
Up to Speed, 3:00pm – 6:00pm with Ismaila Alfa

More programming information is available at cbc.ca/manitoba, on Facebook at facebook.com/cbcmanitoba, and on Twitter at twitter.com/cbcmanitoba.

Follow CBC’s radio hosts on Twitter at @CBCMarcy, @CBCMarilyn and @CBCIsmaila.

Welcome back, all new and returning Red River College students!

As a way to celebrate your first few weeks of classes, and to help you get a feel for your new surroundings, the Red River College Students’ Association has a full slate of back-to-school events planned.

See below for details on welcome events and DisOrientation Week activities. And don’t forget our Aboriginal Student Support & Community Relations team is also hosting a Welcoming Celebration for students, this Thursday at the Notre Dame Campus!

Tuesday, Sept. 2
Maw’s Eatery and Red River College Students’ Association presents…
Back to School BBQ
Free food, drinks and Fanta floats for students
Where: Bijou Park (beside Paterson Global Foods Institute, 504 Main St.
When: 11am – 1:30pm
*Rainout backup at Maw’s Eatery and Beer Hall (291 Bannatyne Ave.)
Feat. Musicians Mark Mills & The Vikings

Back to School BBQ Afterparty
Live music; food and drink specials for students
Where: Maw’s Eatery and Beer Hall (291 Bannatyne Ave.)
When: Doors open at 1:30pm

Wednesday, Sept. 3
MTS and Red River College Students’ Association presents…
Welcome Back BBQ
Free food, drinks and Fanta floats for students
Where: Outdoor courtyard between buildings D,E,F at Notre Dame Campus
When: 11am – 1:30pm
*Rainout backup in The Cave Lounge at NDC
Feat. Musicians Mark Mills & The Vikings

DisOrientation Week 2014 (Sept. 8-12)

Monday, Sept. 8
Magic performance: Wonderist Chris Funk
Where: The Cave Lounge at Notre Dame Campus
When: 12pm – 1pm
Free show for students Read More →

Red River College’s Aboriginal Student Support & Community Relations team will host a Welcoming Celebration for students on Thursday, September 4, from 11:15am to 1pm, at the Notre Dame Campus.

Students have a lot on their minds when going back to school — like housing, buying textbooks, and just finding their way around campus. The Welcoming Celebration offers a break from it all — complete with a free lunch and the chance to meet other students while being entertained by comedian Don Burnstick.

Date: Thursday, September 4, 2014
Time: Doors open at 11:15am; Don Burnstick’s comedy show starts at noon
Place: F209, Aboriginal Support Centre (Notre Dame Campus)

For more information, please call 204.632.3773.

Red River College students brought home four medals from this year’s Skills Canada National Competition in Toronto.

Held June 4-7, the Olympic-style competition drew more than 500 participants from across Canada — all of them gold winners in their respective provincial contests.

A total of 15 RRC students represented Team Manitoba in a number of trades and technology-related fields. Congratulations to the following medalists:

• Dexter Bracken and Andrew Tutte (shown above): Silver, Landscaping Gardening
• Kyle Duguid: Silver, Aircraft Maintenance
• Clark Holmes: Gold, Auto Service
• Nina Widmer: Silver, Brick Masonry

Click here for a full list of winners.

Red River College will pay tribute to a pair of industry trailblazers this week, awarding honorary diplomas to film/TV producer Lisa Meeches and business owner Larry Vickar as part of its spring convocation ceremonies.

The honorees will pick up their diplomas at convocation ceremonies taking place Wednesday, June 4 at the Centennial Concert Hall. Meeches will receive a diploma in Creative Communications, while Vickar will receive a diploma in Business Administration.

“Both recipients are leaders in their community; their contributions are widely known and well respected,” says Richard Lennon, Chair of RRC’s Board of Governors. “The College is committed to improving the social and economic well-being of Manitobans and we are happy to honour those who share those values with us.” Read More →

Red River College is pleased to announce it will host the Colleges and Institutes Canada 2015 Annual Conference, an event that will afford opportunities to showcase both our institution and our city to executives and academics from across the country.

The College unveiled its plans to serve as co-host, along with Assiniboine Community College and the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology, at the organization’s recent 2014 conference in Ottawa (the last to be held under its former name, the Association of Canadian Community Colleges).

The theme of the 2015 conference is “Leading Change” — a particularly appropriate theme for RRC, and one that allows us to shine a spotlight on such innovative initiatives as our new Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, our ever-expanding applied research capabilities, our culturally-enriched approach to aboriginal education, and the transformative community programming we’ve undertaken in partnership with organizations in the North End.

“With all of the positive changes going on in the city, it wasn’t hard to entice [conference organizers] to come to the centre of Canada,” says RRC President Stephanie Forsyth, who teamed with Tourism Winnipeg to secure host city status.

“This will not only enhance Red River College’s reputation as one of Canada’s top institutes of applied learning, it will also help us to share one of the best-kept secrets in Canada — the city of Winnipeg.”

The 2015 conference is scheduled to take place May 24-26 at the RBC Convention Centre. Upwards of 1,000 delegates from colleges and polytechniques across Canada are expected to take part in the event.

Click on the image below to watch the video unveiled at this year’s conference as part of RRC’s announcement.

In a case of perfect timing, Red River College will wrap up the Victoria Day long weekend by getting ready to welcome actual royalty to its Exchange District and Stevenson Campuses.

On Wednesday, May 21, the College will play host to Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as part of a four-day excursion to Canada that also includes stops in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

On Wednesday morning, the royal couple will tour RRC’s Stevenson Campus, where they’ll be greeted by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, St. Boniface MP Shelly Glover and RRC President Stephanie Forsyth, among others. The couple will arrive just in time for Aviation & Aerospace in Manitoba Day, an annual event that showcases the province’s thriving aerospace and aviation industry for the benefit of more than 700 Grade 6 students.

Later the same day, Prince Charles will join President Forsyth for a tour of RRC’s Roblin Centre, where they’ll be joined by representatives from Prince’s Charities Canada, an organization that works with existing Canadian charities on a number of core objectives.

The last time RRC hosted visiting royalty was in 2002, when Prince Philip took part in the opening of The Roblin Centre (then called the Princess Street Campus).

Visit Stephanie Forsyth’s blog for more information on the 2014 visit.

Congratulations to RRC instructor Scott MacAulay, who was recently named the Prairie region’s Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year by Startup Canada.

He’ll be formally recognized at the Prairie Startup Canada Awards in Calgary on May 15.

MacAulay (shown above) has been an entrepreneurship and finance instructor with RRC’s Applied Commerce and Management Education (ACME) department for the last eight years. Recently, he’s been seconded to research better ways to activate entrepreneurs, and is currently gathering best practices for how to implement an entrepreneurial lifestyle in Manitoba.

MacAulay is also very active in the local startup scene, working alongside such organizations as Ramp Up Manitoba, AssentWorks and Innovation Alley to connect RRC students and instructors with other members of the innovation community.

As well, he’s the co-founder of his own tech startup, PermissionClick, a productivity tool aimed at making it easier for teachers to collect permission slips and payments from students and parents. Read More →

They’re ‘awesome,’ a ‘mouthful,’ and ‘kim-cheesy’ – and they’re the winners of The Winnipeg Foundation’s first-ever Recipe for Success Video Cooking Contest.

For several months, kids from all over Winnipeg have been working to create delicious, nutritious and outrageous sandwiches, as part of a contest launched by The Winnipeg Foundation in partnership with Red River College.

Over the weekend, the winning teams gathered at RRC’s Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, to take part in a Junior Master Chef Culinary Adventure led by instructors from the College’s Culinary Arts program.

“Cooking is a valuable life skill,” says Keith Müller, Dean of RRC’s School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts. “We are excited to host these budding chefs … and to give them the opportunity to add a few new skills to their culinary repertoire.”

While at PGI on Saturday, students toured the Culinary Arts program’s facilities, learned to use equipment in the cooking labs and helped prepare a healthy lunch for themselves and their guests. They also took part in an awards ceremony, and received feedback from Müller on their recipe submissions.

• Grand Prize: Wrap of Awesomeness, Strathcona Elementary School
• Runner-up: Mulvey Mouthful, Mulvey School
• People’s Choice: Maple Bacon “Kimcheese” Sandwich, École Van Walleghem School
• Wild Card: Picnic Sandwich, École Lacerte
• Wild Card: BLT Mega, Polson School

Prizes for the teams included three $500 grants to support healthy food initiatives and five Junior Master Chef Culinary Adventures, plus the Wrap of Awesomeness will be featured at RRC’s Culinary Exchange.

“We are thrilled with the caliber and variety of the recipes submitted in the contest,” says Richard Frost, CEO of The Winnipeg Foundation. “The goal was to get kids talking about, preparing and eating healthy food. The success of the contest shows that’s exactly what

To watch the videos or learn more about the contest or Nourishing Potential, visit www.wpgfdn.org/recipe-for-success.

(From left): Third-year Construction Management students Yared Melketsadik, Linh Trinh, Prohor Kernos and Jarrod Serens.

A team of Construction Management students from Red River College has tied for first place in a bid simulation contest pitting them against colleges throughout Canada.

The RRC team — comprised of third-year students Prohor Kernos, Yared Melketsadik, Jarrod Sarens and Linh Trinh — tied for first in the “Most Professional” category of The Construction Institute of Canada’s 2014 Student Bid Competition.

The annual contest requires students to successfully complete each step of the bidding and estimation process for a simulated construction project, just as they would if they were working in industry. Team members study drawings, estimate the quantity of materials needed, and apply realistic pricing — all while working to a strict deadline.

“We are very proud of the effort and dedication on the part of the students, who undertook this competition outside of their regular coursework,” says Jerry Johnstone, Chair of RRC’s Civil Engineering Technology department. “The work ethic they exhibited will serve them well in their future careers.”

RRC’s team members had originally ranked eighth out of 62 teams from 10 participating colleges, but were recently informed they’d tied for first after judges discovered an error in scoring. While preparing their bid, RRC students worked closely with coach (and instructor) Adam Ding, Barb Boroskae from the Winnipeg Construction Association, and mentor James Melendez from PCL Construction, who was named “Esteemed Mentor” by contest judges.

Other contest categories include “Most Accurate and Complete Bid Package”, and “Closest to the Target Price”. RRC’s first-place ranking in the “Most Professional” category comes with a $1,000 prize.

Click here for more information on RRC’s Construction Management program.