When people hear the word “business”, they often think of a retail store. But in reality, business is that and so much more.

Business training is universal, and the skills learned can be transferred to a number of industries, including health care, education, social services, construction and even fashion. Simply put, a business education is a great place to start any career.

Red River College offers a two-year Business Administration diploma program with specializations in accounting, marketing, financial services, human resource management (new this year), and general administration. As with all RRC programs, we take a hands-on approach to business training, and we offer students the ability to further their education down the road via articulation agreements with a number of other universities.

Click here to learn more about the Business Administration program at RRC.

They took home every prize except one. A group of 14 advertising majors from Red River College’s Creative Communications program are $90,000 richer this week, having achieved a near-clean sweep at the Imagine Students (Verb) Charities awards gala, hosted by Muttart Foundation and Imagine Canada on June 21, in Toronto.

The biggest award of the night, $50,000 for first place, was presented to Creative Communications students Emily Doer, Courtney Brecht and Corinne Rikkelmann, for their awareness campaign, I am a Charity Case.

“It was such a strong campaign. It had some edge to it, and I think that really helped our product stand out,” said Doer. “I am still reeling from the win – I wouldn’t even cash the cheque until I got home.”

A total of 50 submissions were received for the contest and the judges had to narrow the field down to 12 ad campaigns. All five teams from RRC were notified they made it to the second round, where they would be given the chance to refine their campaign materials. At that point contest organizers would select six winners and invite them to the awards gala in Toronto. By mid-May all five teams were invited.

“It was an intense and emotional evening,” said Doer. “As they kept calling out names I just became more nervous and anxious until they had the final two teams on the podium and I was up there with my team. It was a great way to end the year.”

The contest was launched to get students to find a creative way to demonstrate how charities have a far reaching and positive effect. Teams were able to take any approach and use any medium to help communicate their message.

“I believe the primary reason that advertising majors from Red River College dominated this contest is because the Creative Communications program is the total package,” said Susan Nicol, advertising and marketing instructor. “Every instructor gave the students the tools they needed to do well in this competition, and they have met and exceeded our expectations.”

Full list of the award winners:

• First Prize of $50,000 was awarded to Emily Doer, Courtney Brecht and Corinne Rikkelmann from Red River College for their campaign, I am a Charity Case

• Second Prize of $25,000 was awarded to Suzy Bodiroga, Alex Kyle, Monique Pantel and Josie Marier-Loeppky from Red River College for their campaign, Charities are at the Heart

• Third Prize of $10,000 was awarded to Laura Stobbe from the University of Victoria for her campaign, A Charity Was Here

• Fourth Prize of $7,500 was awarded to Mitch Kruse and Tamara Adams from Red River College, for their campaign, Without Charities

• Fifth Prize of $5,000 was awarded to Jaclyn Leskiw, Michael Trakalo and Katie Madziak from Red River College, for their campaign, Charities are Everywhere

• Sixth Prize of $2,500 was awarded to Tanner Ziprick and Kelly McGuinness from Red River College, for their campaign, Most Canadians wouldn’t know a charity if it hit them in the face

To view the student submissions visit them at the Students (Verb) Charities

See the full release from Imagine Canada and the Muttart Foundation

Graduates of RRC’s Youth Recreation Activity Worker program gathered to celebrate their achievements last Friday, at a special event held to showcase their contributions to the community.

On Friday, June 7, the program’s graduating class met at RRC’s Roblin Centre to pay tribute to each others’ achievements, and to mark the College’s 12th year of making a difference in the lives of inner city youth.

“Congratulations to all of the Youth Recreation Activity Worker program graduates,” said lead instructor Kerry Coulter. “You have already affected the lives of so many youth in a positive way and I know you will continue to have a huge impact in our community and with each individual child you are yet to meet.”

The program, which trains participants to work with inner city youth, was launched in response to increased demand for drop-in programming at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg. Building on existing materials from RRC’s Child and Youth Care program, the College developed a 10-month certificate program to train a new generation of young adults to serve as recreational leaders.

Graduates of the program, many of whom face socio-economic barriers themselves, often go on to find jobs with Boys and Girls Clubs and other inner city youth agencies, or as childhood educators and teachers’ aides.

Last week’s event was attended by a number of politicians and community leaders, including Mayor Sam Katz, Premier Greg Selinger, and Boys and Girls Clubs President Ron Brown.

Click here to learn more about the program, which is open to students aged 18 to 29.

A heartfelt thank-you — and an equally heartfelt congratulations — to everyone who took part in Red River College’s entry in the 2013 Pride Winnipeg Parade on June 2.

Approximately 60 students and staff members, together with friends and family, donned bright red RRC t-shirts while walking the parade route in support of Manitoba’s LGBTT community.

As a result of their enthusiasm (and possibly all the free frisbees they handed out!), Red River College won the “Best Walking Group” award from Pride Parade organizers.

Click here to see a gallery of photos from the event.

From left: Dental Assisting grads Chelsea Bezditny, Katharina Seibel, Kaitlyn Bezditny, Jillian O’Donnell and Lee-Anne Sabourin.

Dental Assisting graduates from Red River College’s Winkler Campus are gearing up for a summer trip to Guatemala, where they’ll provide free clinical care for local residents in five different locations.

As part of their fifth annual summer mission to the region, five recent RRC grads (now registered dental assistants), as well as a dentist, a dental therapist, and a dental instructor from the College, will provide free dental care to approximately 2,540 Guatemalans — double the number they provided care for during their last trip in 2012.

This year’s team will spend a day and a half attending to locals at San Marcos Church, before travelling to Nuevo Chuatuj, La Felicidad and San Martin Chile Verde in subsequent days. The trip takes place June 30 to July 10; students have been fundraising for months to offset their travel costs.

“Past team members have personally gained a lot from their experiences, and feel blessed by having worked with the people they encountered,” says Athena Wilford, Dental Assisting Coordinator at Winkler Campus. “In spite of poverty and meagre living conditions, the people we met were very gracious.” Read More →

Advertising students from Red River College’s Creative Communications program will pick up five national awards next month, when they head to Toronto to receive cash prizes for their work promoting Canadian charities.

Sponsored by Imagine Canada and Alberta’s Muttart Foundation, the Students Verb Charities contest rewards exceptional promotional campaigns exploring how charities ensure, improve and reflect our quality of life. A total of $100,000 is up for grabs next month, and with five out of a possible six awards going to RRC students, the odds are clearly in their favour.

Working in teams of two to four people, the RRC advertising majors developed creative concepts and videos, for which they’ll receive awards ranging from $2,500 to $50,000. They’ll travel to Toronto next month with their instructors; the Muttart Foundation is covering the students’ travel expenses, as well as putting up the prize money.

In other CreComm news, student Terry Proveda picked up the Best Film and Best Documentary awards for his video Going to Extremes at last week’s University of Winnipeg’s 2013 Student Film Festival, while classmates Katy Slimmon, Owen Swinn and Brian Wrede picked up Best Editing honours for their documentary Living in Harmony, about a local Hutterite colony.

As well, this year’s Broadcast Journalism class won first place in the Video Studio Newscast category at this year’s Broadcast Educators Association of Canada (BEAC) National Student Awards. That award will be handed out this weekend as part of the BEAC Annual Conference in Banff. Click here to view the winning newscast.

Culinary student Randy Grieg, who won a gold medal at last month’s Skills Manitoba Competition.

Congratulations to the 48 Red River College students who won medals at last month’s Skills Manitoba Competition, many of whom will go on to represent the province at the national contest in Vancouver next month.

The 16th annual Olympic-style competition was held April 11 at RRC’s Notre Dame Campus, with students competing in 40 different categories aimed at showcasing their hands-on expertise, talent and determination in a variety of skilled trades and technologies.

RRC students swept the podium in 13 different categories, and earned medals in six more. Those who won gold medals who will go on to compete as Team Manitoba at the 19th Skills Canada National Competition in Vancouver, June 5-8.

More than 500 students from across Manitoba took part in the provincial trials. See below for a full list of RRC winners. Read More →

Education Minister Nancy Allan (left) and Winnipeg Construction Association President Ron Hambly (centre) look on as Elmwood High School student Samuel Lopez and carpentry instructor Frank Jess build a toolbox in one of RRC’s Mobile Training Labs.

Red River College and Manitoba Education are helping to boost trades training through a pilot project that provides Winnipeg youth a hands-on introduction to the trades.

The pilot program provides up to 25 students in Grades 7 and 8 the opportunity to “try out” the type of work typically done by electricians, carpenters and welders. Students from Elmwood High School are attending Red River College once a week for three weeks, to learn about career options in the trades.

“The pilot program is intended to expose young people to the trades as a viable career option,” says Stephanie Forsyth, President, Red River College. “One of the ways to get more young people interested in the trades is to give them more hands-on experience, and help them identify a skill they would love to acquire.”

According to Skills Canada, over the next two decades employers in Canada will find it difficult to hire and retain skilled workers. However, a Statistics Canada survey in 2009 showed just 26% of young people aged 13 to 24 plan to consider a career in the skilled trades.

“The future of Manitoba is being trained here today. These students are gaining valuable experience through hands-on learning,” says Education Minister Nancy Allan. “Projects like these expose students to new potential career opportunities that will lead to good jobs and build our province.” Read More →

Front Row: Jennifer Kasprick, Janis Ollson, Maddie Tokar-Wolff
Back Row: Eva Brown (instructor), Anita Lesage, Sarah Brown, Sheldon Hamp

Students from Red River College’s Business/Technology Teacher Education program extended their reach clear across the globe last month, while taking part in an international conference on emerging classroom technologies.

The students, all pre-service teachers in Eva Brown’s second-year Teacher Ed. ICT and Multimedia classes, were participants in the 2013 Flat Classroom Conference, held March 8-10 at Yokohama International School in Japan.

Only Brown was actually present in Japan, invited to the conference as a presenter; the pre-service teachers participated via Google Hangout sessions and as online presenters during one of the conference’s three keynote addresses. Prior to the conference, all six students worked as a group to produce a video on the topic of “How We Can Help Others”. (Click here to watch.)

Their project — showcasing humanitarian initiatives on a local, national and international scale — was presented alongside 14 others, and representatives from Brown’s class were given the opportunity to speak to the 200-plus students and educators in Japan as well as many other virtual participants. Read More →