Downhill runs keep leading to upward trends for members of Red River College’s Concrete Toboggan Race Team, who picked up a pair of awards and a top-quarter ranking at the annual competition in Vancouver last month.

The nine-member team took home a Spirit Award and Best Steering Design honours at the 39^th annual Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race, where members finished fifth out of 21 teams representing some of the country’s top engineering schools.

The showing improves on the team’s ninth-place finish in 2012, and shows how far they’ve come since ranking last in their tournament debut the year prior.

The Toboggan Race, a showcase of innovation and engineering spirit, draws teams of post-secondary students from all over Canada, encouraging them to focus on materials and structure knowledge, innovative concrete and mechanical design, and teamwork. Entrants must design and construct a five-person toboggan with a roll bar (capable of withstanding an upset at 75-km/hour), and a running surface composed entirely of concrete, while maintaining a total weight of less than 300 pounds. Read More →

Tune into any radio station in Winnipeg, and you’re likely to hear a Red River College grad. From the deejays who chat in between songs, to the news reporters on CBC, RRC has a long history of producing excellent talent in radio. The tradition continues with the launch of Red River Radio this past summer, a fully-functional, online station run almost entirely by Creative Communications students. But that doesn’t mean they should have all the fun.

Red River Radio is looking for all RRC students to participate in the station. Listen online at radio.rrc.ca, or better yet — appear on the station yourselves! Got a cool project to talk about? Want to promote your band’s upcoming show? Are you planning a fundraiser, or bragging about a recent accomplishment? Red River Radio wants to hear from you. Plus, if you head down to the station in the Roblin Centre Campus you’ll get to experience how a real radio station works. Read More →

Students from RRC’s Graphic Design program will go on a 24-hour creative spree this weekend, while showcasing their talents at a unique “live” art event at The Forks.

The eleventh annual Forks Market Student Art Show and Auction takes place Saturday, Feb. 9 and Sunday, Feb. 10.

The art show component runs Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The live auction, hosted by Jon Ljungberg, runs Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

During the art show, second-year Graphic Design students will have 24 hours to create original works of art using a variety of drawing and painting techniques. Once completed, their works will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, with proceeds going towards Winnipeg Harvest and the RRC Graphic Design Students’ Graduation Fund.

Click here for more information.

Photo credit: Steve Burton

A Red River College student has created a new website giving voice to burn survivors from across Canada — while connecting them with the supports and online resources she herself missed out on as a child.

Maria Cristina Laureano, a second-year Creative Communications student, will host a launch party this Saturday for After the Cocoon, a website featuring stories and photos of burn survivors she interviewed at a conference in Calgary.

The project was completed as part of Laureano’s CreComm coursework, and was inspired by her experiences growing up with scars caused by serious burns suffered when a pot of boiling water spilled on when she was just nine months old. Her family moved to Canada from the Philippines when she was four, and Laureano later found out about burn-support networks such as the Canadian Burn Survivors Community and the Mamingwey Burn Survivor Society. Read More →

Students in Red River College’s Advanced Graphic Design class have harnessed their considerable technical skills to create a new iPad app that showcases the best the College has to offer.

Fifteen students collaborated on the fall project, which saw them develop an iPad version of RRC’s 2013-14 Viewbook, an annual recruitment publication featuring info on the College’s programs and support services.

Now available in the App Store, the 2013-14 Viewbook app is enhanced by additional photos, videos and slide shows, and was inspired by a similar project a few years ago in which program coordinator Diane Livingston beta tested the Adobe software used to create the app. This software is now part of the Adobe Creative Suite software used by all Graphic Design students.

Livingston says the work provides Graphic Design students with valuable experience learning to use the technology to adapt existing print material. After finishing work on the Viewbook project, each student then designed and created his or her own individual iPad apps.

“Graphic designers are no longer designing just for print,” says Livingston. “We are a design school, so our students are designing user interfaces and web pages too. We know this is the way industry is going, because it allows them to save on printing costs.”

Students appreciated the chance to push the boundaries of their skill sets by using technologies they’ll encounter in the workforce, says Livingston, noting the Viewbook app has been especially well-received by RRC’s student recruiters.

“They love it because they can just take it on the road — plug their iPad into a projector, and all their program information is there,” she says.

Click here to check out the iPad Viewbook app yourself, and here for more information on RRC’s Advanced Graphic Design program.

(Each year, a maximum of four Lieutenant-Governor’s medals are awarded to Red River College students who, in the opinion of a selection committee, combine to the greatest extent in their graduating year academic and technical achievement, involvement in College and/or community activities, and good character.)

KIMBERLY COWAN
Professional Baking & Patisserie

Kimberly Cowan credits Red River College’s Professional Baking & Patisserie program for allowing her to turn her life’s passion into a full-time career.

Cowan spent her childhood on her uncle’s grain and cattle farm in her hometown of Landis, SK. When her family made the move to Portage la Prairie, it meant a lot would change for a then-teenaged Cowan. Through those transitions, one thing remained the same: her passion for food (specifically baking), which she inherited from her mother and grandmother, both talented cooks.

A few years after earning her Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in History, Kimberly decided to leave her full-time job at a local bank to go back to school and pursue a career in baking.  During her time with RRC, she competed in the Canola Bake-off in 2011 — tying for first with her Sticky Toffee Pudding entry. She also represented RRC in the baking category at Skills Manitoba and the Skills Canada Nationals, where she placed gold in the provincial competition. Read More →

Lt.-Col. B.S. Sandhu, President, Continental Group of Institutes, and Stephanie Forsyth, President and CEO of Red River College, sign a Memorandum of Understanding in Mohali, India.

Building on the success of its strong relationship with China, Red River College is actively recruiting in India this week and will sign deals with five educational institutions to bring hundreds of new students to Manitoba.

The enrolment of Indian students will increase opportunities for Manitoba students and help address Manitoba’s shortage of skilled labour. This year RRC has more than 150 students from China alone, and another 380 from several other countries, enrolled in three campuses. These successful models will be repeated to attract students from India with five-year agreements. After recruiting in India, RRC will target more international students working with sister campuses and educators in South America.

“Our India relationships benefit the college, the Province and India,” said RRC President and CEO Stephanie Forsyth from Delhi, India. “Foreign students, who pay the full cost of their education, allow us to develop even more programs and seats for Manitobans. Just as importantly, foreign students bring the global community to us. When they join our students and faculty on campus they help us all learn about their culture, and that helps us see how we can grow Manitoba and Canadian business abroad. India has a growing number of youth striving to achieve a strong post-secondary education, but the competition for limited spaces in India is strong. We provide educational opportunities in Canada that might otherwise be impossible to attain in India. The vast majority of these students have their sights on Canada as their future home.” Read More →

Red River College students will have an opportunity to network with leaders from Manitoba’s business community, at next month’s 2013 Directions Business Conference.

Approximately 600 people, including past RRC alumni, are expected to attend this year’s event, which will be held Feb. 6, 2013, at Canad Inns Polo Park.

The annual conference targets students from RRC’s School of Business and Applied Arts, providing them with a chance to meet industry leaders and potential employers. Participation also allows students to create valuable contacts, and to benefit from the experience of attending a professional business conference.

In the morning, students will hear from keynote speaker Norva Riddell, senior vice-president of sales and marketing for True North Sports and Entertainment. In addition, they’ll have the opportunity to sit in on a number of breakout sessions on topics ranging from mobile apps, environmental sustainability, corporate and social responsibility, and effective networking strategies.

In the afternoon, other industry leaders from across Manitoba will help mentor students by hosting  roundtable sessions in a variety of different career areas – accounting and finance, hospitality and tourism, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, and information technology.

Click here for more information about the 2013 Directions Business Conference.

Story by Aaron Cyr, a member of the RRC Rebels Men’s Volleyball Team

As a member of dozens of volleyball teams over my playing and coaching career, I have experienced quite the range of trips. Whether it was a bus trip to Calgary or a cargo van ride to Brandon, there was always a unique adventure to be had. But when RRC Rebels Coach Dan Gilbert informed us this year’s trip was not to your typical destination of Saskatchewan, Alberta, or B.C. — but instead to the historic city of Havana, Cuba — I knew this trip would be special.

While a Christmas vacation to Cuba usually suggests 11:00 a.m. wake ups, beach siestas, and plenty of fruity cocktails, our plans were different. We were here to perform. The first four mornings started with 6:30 a.m. alarms, awakening us for early morning practice with Cuba’s top volleyballers. After being paired up with a Cuban positional counterpart, we spent some time stretching and warming up, at the same time crossing a language barrier and learning about one another.

Roberto, the Cuban coach, called us “rivals”, since we would eventually be on opposite sides of the net. But this was just not so. We became friends. This was difficult, since I spoke as much Spanish as he did English. Communicating with hand gestures — and sometimes just agreeing with “si” — was common. But when we hit the court to compete against each other, we spoke the same language. It wasn’t verbal, nor did it involve any hand gestures — just that the sport we had both played our entire lives now gave us common ground.  Read More →

Back by popular demand, Red River College’s Electrical Engineering Technology department will again host a series of spring Kids Kamps — free programs that introduce Grade 7 and 8 students to the field of electrical and electronic engineering technology.

The sessions will run at both the Exchange District and Notre Dame Campuses, every Saturday from Feb. 23 to April 7, 2013. A total of 12 sessions are scheduled (eight at the Exchange District, four at Notre Dame); students can take part in one session each.

The Kids Kamps will cover basic theory, but the emphasis of each session will be on developing practical skills, and on encouraging younger students to consider careers in science and technology. Read More →