Photo courtesy Metro Winnipeg.

A student from Red River College’s Creative Communications program has written a book exploring the fatal blaze that claimed the lives of two veteran Winnipeg fire captains in 2007.

This weekend, second-year student Lindsey Enns will launch Black Fire, an exploration of the deaths of Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) captains Tom Nichols and Harold Lessard, who were killed after they became trapped on the second floor of a burning home in St. Boniface.

Enns has been working on the book since June, and completed it as part of a year-long project required for graduation. The subject is one with which she’s intimately familiar: Enns’ father is a fellow WFPS captain, who was originally scheduled to work the same shift as his fallen comrades. Read More →

A team of Red River College students picked up a pair of awards this month at the Great Northern Concrete Toboggan Race in Calgary.

The annual celebration of innovation and engineering spirit draws teams of post-secondary students from all over Canada. 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.

All toboggans are subject to a safety inspection before being raced, and are judged on the basis of their concrete, frame, steering and brake design, as well as race-day results, team spirit, and a host of other criteria.

This year’s event was held Feb. 8-11, 2012, in Calgary. The eight-member RRC squad — comprised of students from Construction Management, Municipal Engineering Technology, Business Administration, and Industrial Arts — won the Green Team Award for most sustainable design, and was also named Most Improved Team. Read More →

RRC President Stephanie Forsyth (third from right), with some of the RRC students and instructors who will assemble a 1933 Modified Ford to be raffled off later this year.

There’s nothing that looks better in your garage than a classic car.

Skills Canada Manitoba has paired up with long-time partner Red River College to build a 1933 Modified Ford that will be raffled off later this year to raise money for young Manitoba students and apprentices who are pursuing training and accreditation in skilled trades and technology areas.

Read More →

A trio of Red River College students have received rave reviews from a local robotic software developer, for their work on a prototype website for the Manitoba-based Virtual Robot Games (VRG).

As part of their coursework for the fall term of RRC’s Business Information Technology program, second-year students Cyle Hunter, Scott Bevan and Nathaniel Dolynchuk paired with Winnipeg-based Cogmation Robotics, a software developer specializing in robotic simulation.

The students developed a web application that allows VRG competitors to register their virtual players and teams, to upload autonomous game behaviours, robots and arenas, and to view their resulting scores and rankings. Read More →

T2202A Tuition and Education Credit Certificates for the 2011 tax year are available through your Web Advisor account.

These receipts will only be available online.

For information and complete instructions on how to access your T2202A Tax Receipt and Education Credit Certificate, go to https://me.rrc.mb.ca/login.aspx.

Red River College is pleased to congratulate the recipients of two awards in the Chemical and Biosciences Technology program: Susann Ohnstedt and Bryce Desender.

• Susann Ohnstedt received the Wilfred Dychuk Award, which is presented to a first-year student in the Chemical and Biosciences Technology program who demonstrates proficiency in the analytical chemistry laboratory. In the bottom left photo, Susann is shown (on right) with Isabel Bright, Chair of Life Sciences at Red River College.

• Bryce Desender received the Dr. Raymond Green Memorial Scholarship, which is presented to a second-year student in the Chemical and Biosciences Technology program as selected by committee. In the photo (bottom right), Bryce is shown with Mrs. Cynthia Johnstone, the widow of Dr. Raymond Green. Dr.Green was a former RRC employee and instructor in the program.

To learn more about RRC’s Chemical Biosciences Technology program, click here.

Four Red River College students will be flying to Montreal to test out their marketing chops against some of the best business students in the country.

Leah Rewucki, Robyn Grant, Marc Babaluk, and Thulise Mhlanga (shown above, from left to right) have all been selected to participate in the Vanier College National Marketing Case Competition, which will be held Feb. 10-12 at the Aeroport de Montreal Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Montreal.

Read More →

The Notre Dame Campus is a little more winter-friendly this week, with the opening of its first-ever outdoor skating rink.

Developed by the Red River College Students Association — with support from the College and Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation —  the rink provides students and staff with a great reason to get outside, and enhances recreation options for the surrounding neighbourhood.

“We pitched this as a community project, and something that will help improve connections with people who live in the area,” explains Alex Haas, President of the RRCSA. “It’s also a good way to encourage more physical fitness and participation on campus.”

Haas and fellow students Nick Hook and Marc Babaluk built the 75′ by 150′ rink themselves, including clearing snow, constructing a frame, and flooding the ice.

The rink is located near the south-east corner of the campus, by the “Iron Man” statue, and is available for use by all students, staff and members of the public.

RRC business students will have a valuable opportunity to rub elbows with leaders from Manitoba’s business community at Red River College’s 2012 Directions Business Conference.

Approximately 600 people, including past RRC alumni, are expected to attend this year’s event, which will be held on February 1 at Canad Inns Polo Park.

Read More →

A group of first-year Creative Communications students at Red River College recently put their writing talents to work, highlighting the achievements of RRC graduates. The volunteer effort — which was a collaborative project coordinated by journalism instructor Duncan McMonagle and the College Relations department at RRC — provided the budding writers with an opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience and exposure for their talents.

Each participating CreComm student was assigned an RRC grad to profile, and asked to emulate the style and format of the articles featured in the College’s “Going Places” blog. The blog is regularly used to showcase the accomplishments of RRC alumni who’ve achieved success in their chosen fields, after studying at Red River College.

Click below to read the RRC alumni profiles produced by the following Creative Communication students:

• Alana Odegard wrote a profile on Jessica Saunders (Child and Youth Care, 2011)
• Amanda Thorsteinsson wrote a profile on Dan Dupuis (Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, 2008)
• Cindy Chan wrote a profile on Leilani Esteban (Child and Youth Care, 2007)
• Katherine Dow wrote a profile on Ellen Barron (Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, 2005)
• Matthew TenBruggencate wrote a profile on Grant Maluga (Biindigen College Studies)