Several decades’ worth of accolades and achievements were celebrated in style last week, as former students and current faculty — along with a host of community partners — gathered at Red River College’s 2010 Alumni Dinner.

The event — held Friday, Nov. 19th at The Fairmont Winnipeg — gave those in attendance a chance to pay tribute to their peers, among them entrepreneur John Gale, the recipient of this year’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Gale, a 1980 graduate of RRC's Mechanical Engineering Technology program, was one of the driving forces behind the creation of a diamond drill bit that revolutionized the drilling industry in the mid-1980s. He’s currently overseeing a development plan that aims to turn the city of Kenora into a world-class business and tourist destination.

“It was definitely the most successful alumni dinner to date,” says Dale Oughton, RRC’s Alumni Coordinator, of the event, which drew more than 400 attendees.

“John Gale had the entire room in stitches, He was absolutely priceless, and very eloquent.”

As always, the event helped RRC raise awareness of its Alumni Program, the purpose of which — as Oughton explains — is to maintain relationships between the College and the graduates, while celebrating the achievements of alumni.

Emceed by Creative Communications instructor Steve Vogelsang, the event also featured tributes to RRC students Nikki Brown and Andre-John Camara, winners of this year’s Alumni Spirit Awards.

Money raised by the event will be used to support RRC’s Alumni Scholarships. A portion of the funds raised will also go towards the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, the rooftop deck of which will be reserved for Alumni Association functions.

From left: Mario de Negri, Al Richards and Ryan Ratushniak, winners of RRC's inaugural Chili Cup.

Staff and faculty at Red River College found a novel way to beat the winter blues last week, by engaging in some five-alarm fun at the College's first-ever Chili Cup.

The cook-off, held Nov. 16th at RRC's Notre Dame Campus, saw 13 teams putting their culinary skills to the test. Upwards of 150 students and staff members took part in the "tasting" component of the event, which helped to raise nearly $400 for RRC's Students' Association Food Bank.

The event boasted two award categories: the President's Choice Award (determined by Stephanie Forsyth, Cathy Rushton and John Reimers), and the Chili Cup Award (determined by the tasters).

The competition was close, but in the end, the following teams emerged victorious:

Chili Cup (First Place): Rebels Burning Fire Chili — Ryan Ratushniak, Mario de Negri, Al Richards and Dan Gilbert. The Rebels' chili wowed the tasters with its unique flavour and surprising undercurrent of cinnamon. It'll be served up in the voyageur Dining Room on Thu., Nov. 25th — aka "A Chili Day in November."

Chili Cup (Second Place): Tammy's Revenge — Tammy Kowerko

Chili Cup (Third Place): Piementas de Chili Caliente — Garry Giesbrecht

President's Choice: 33 Miners Trapped in Chili — Colin Fast

Congratulations also go out to staff and students at RRC's Winkler Campus, who also participated in the event. With six entries, the Winkler competition was similarly fierce, but the aptly named El Scorcho dish (courtesy of Shane Dubyk) eventually took the top prize.

On Thursday, September 30, join us for the Red River College Alumni Wine & Cheese event at the Exchange District Campus (formerly Princess Street Campus). The annual event is a great opportunity to connect with friends, former classmates and instructors. This year, alumni will have the opportunity to meet RRC's new President, Stephanie Forsyth.

Event Details

Date: Thursday, September 30, 2010
Time: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Location: Loewen Atrium, Exchange District Campus
160 Princess Street, Winnipeg

Please confirm your attendance by contacting Melissa Warden at 632-2118 or e-mailing smwarden@rrc.mb.ca. 

The next generation of TV news anchors and weather reporters
were honing their skills at Red River College last week as part of the
RRC/Manitoba Moose Respond to Reading program.

A grade five classroom from Niji Mahkwa School won the TV
broadcast field trip through the Respond to Reading program and got to
experience what life is like inside a TV studio. Students took turns reading
the news from behind the news desk and doing the weather in front of a green
screen while their classmates watched on televisions throughout the studio.

Now in its tenth year, the Respond to Reading program is designed to encourage students in kindergarten to grade five to get into reading in a fun, motivational way.

Last week, a grade four class from Ecole Noel Ritchot shut
their textbooks, put on chef’s hats and made some delicious food at Red River
College.

The culinary experience came as part of a prize for being
selected as one of the winning classrooms in the RRC/Manitoba Moose Respond to
Reading program. The program, now in its tenth year, is designed to be a fun,
motivational way to encourage children in kindergarten to grade five to read.

RRC Culinary Arts students and instructors helped the 30
grade four students make personal pizzas and decorate cookies. Afterwards, the
kids had a pizza party in the cafeteria before getting a tour of the campus.

Second-year Creative Communications students at Red River College are
showing off their Independent Professional Projects (IPP) at the Park Theatre
from March 10 to March 12.

The IPP is a self-directed course that Creative Communications students
are required to take in their second year. Here’s how it works:

1. Students come up with an idea for a project and
   present it to a panel of instructors. Projects generally fall into one of four
   different categories: creative, promotional, documentary or research-based.
2.  Once approved, students spend the next year
   completing it.
3.  After the project is complete, students market
   their work through the appropriate channels.

During the free, three-day IPP Presentations event, over 60 students
will be making 10-minute presentations about their work to peers, industry and
the general public. Projects being presented include novels, documentaries and events, just to name a few.

Take a look at the IPP Presentations program to see a full listing of students and
the projects they are presenting.

When the Olympic torch passed through Winkler on January 7,
2010, students at the Red River College Winkler Campus got into the spirit
and participated in one of their own traditions — an annual hockey game.

This year’s installment was titled “The Torch Relay Hockey
Game” to commemorate the Olympic torch coming through Winkler.

The boot hockey game, which pits the staff, Dental Assisting
and Applied Counseling students against the Business Administration students,
is held on the campus parking lot and is a thee-year tradition for the staff
and students.

 “It’s a
friendly competition that gets the staff and students together,” says Isabel
Bright, Regional Manager for the RRC Winkler Campus.

This year, the all-girls team faced off against the mixed
Business Administration team, but despite having more players, the girl’s team
lost.

“It’s just for fun, but the business students don’t like to
lose,“ says Bright, joking about her team’s loss. “It’s only because the boys
played like boys that we lost.”

Red River College's Stevenson Campus played host to over 1,300 Winnipeggers from the business, labour, government and non-profit sectors on September 18th for the 6th Annual United Way of Winnipeg Plane Pull.

This event — which has teams competing against each other to see who can move a commercial aircraft  the fastest using just people power — is the kickoff for the United Way's 2009 Campaign.

This year's Campaign Chair is RRC President Dr. Jeff Zabudsky, who can be seen in this photo leading the Campaign Cabinet team in their plane pull attempt.

The fundraising goal for this year's United Way Campaign is $18,218,778. Zabudsky announced on Friday that the organization is already well on its way toward that target, as over $7 million has already been raised.

For more photos of the Plane Pull, see the United Way Facebook page or ChrisD.ca.

On Wednesday night, Manitoba’s best young athletes gathered at Red River College for a pep rally as a send off to the 2009 Canada Summer Games.

Over 300 athletes on Team Manitoba will compete against others from across the country in 18 events from August 15-29 in Prince Edward Island.

Throughout the pep rally, Ace Burpee kept the athletes pumped up as they got introduced and showed off their team cheers. Capping the night off, local magician Darcy Oake mesmerized the crowd with a high-energy magic show.

It was a great night for the athletes and coaches and Red River College wishes Team Manitoba the best in PEI.

Go Team Toba!