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LINK, is the official publication of SAIT Polytechnic alumni. It's published three-times annually and sent to more than 90,000 graduates worldwide.
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WINTER 2013
A PUBLICATION FORSAIT POLYTECHNICALUMNI
3 years with skinheads
ALUMNI IN THIS ISSUE: RYAN AMIES (AT ‘01), RICK BROWN (AVIONICS ‘77), JENNIFER CARLSON BROE (BAMK ‘99), MICHELLE BUTTERFIELD (JA ’08), EMILY CHRYSANTHOU (MET ‘12), MURRAY COBBE (PT ‘71), IAN COWLEY (PKC ‘84), MICHAEL DEKKER (PKC ‘01), SEEMA DHAWAN (JA ‘08), PABLO FERNANDEZ (JA ‘99), BRETT GUNDLOCK (JA ‘06), VANESSA MENDOZA (PKC ‘96), MORGAN MOE (EMT ‘10), DESMOND NWAERONDU (BA ‘06), DOUG RAMSAY (PT ’77), ALISTER SCHREIBER (AMET ‘90), LIFEND ZHAO (CLT ‘08)
INTRODUCING SAIT’S NEW PRESIDENTRECIPES FOR A COLD PROVINCE
Alumni and Development
Endorsed by:
ALUMNI HEALTH & DENTAL INSURANCE
Manulife, Manulife Financial, the Manulife Financial For Your Future logo and the Block Design are trademarks of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and are used by it, and by its affiliates under license. Exclusions and limitations apply.
Underwritten by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (Manulife Financial).
Alumni Health & Dental Insurance can help you
lower out-of-pocket health care costs. You can pay
less for prescription drugs, dental care, vision care,
hearing aids, massage therapy — and much more!
Visit www.healthplans101.ca/sait for more
information or call toll-free 1-866-842-5757.
Health care bills? What health care bills?
SAVE! Apply by
March 31, 2013 to lock in at 2012 rates
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linkSAITALUMNILINK.CA
FEATURES
Historic 10 housewarmings
When the house is 740,000 square feet, it takes more than one celebration to warm it. LINK takes you to the Trades and Technology
Complex grand opening events. WRITTEN BY | CAROLYNN SEMENIUK
Sleepless and 14 ambitious
SAIT’s 2012 Outstanding Young Alumnus has harnessed social media, a social conscience and
the ability to function on very little sleep to make his mark at the
tender age of 26. WRITTEN BY | CHRISTIE SIMMONS
Hanging with 18 the Movement
SAIT alumnus Brett Gundlock spent three years photographing
a group of Calgary skinheads. His photos reveal a poisoned world and
surprising vulnerability. WRITTEN BY | CAROLYNN SEMENIUK
SHARED COMMUNITY
3 LINK NEWS & VIEWSPeople, programs, partners and
perks on campus
25 LINK INSPIRATIONAlumni in the community
33 INNOVATIONApplied research and innovations
39 LINK CAMPUSRecipes from the Culinary Campus
THEN AND NOW
40 CALENDAR OF EVENTS
44 FIRST PERSONA presidential farewell
WHAT’S THIS? When you see this icon, called a QR code, use your smart phone to access our website for more on the story. QR what? Don’t worry; you can still get there online at saitalumnilink.ca
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THERE IS AN OFTEN QUOTED PIECE OF LEADERSHIP ADVICE THAT SAYS, “DO NOT FOLLOW WHERE THE PATH MAY LEAD. GO INSTEAD TO WHERE THERE IS NO PATH AND LEAVE A TRAIL.” It’s sage advice. It’s also one of the 393,000,000 hits Google returns when you enter the phrase “leadership advice” into the search engine. There are so many ways to lead.
I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about effective leadership over the past year. It’s been on my mind since Irene Lewis, SAIT Polytechnic’s President and CEO, announced her retirement last December. Irene spent 15 years blazing trails in trades and technology education and modeling graceful, whip-smart leadership at SAIT. It’s one of the reasons why she’s been selected for the 2012 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards.
In this issue of LINK, we explore many different examples of leadership in our SAIT community. We introduce Doug Ramsay, the recipient of the 2012 SAIT Distinguished Alumni award. Ramsay is an energy industry CEO who models leadership based on hard work, respect and straight shooting. His young contemporary, Desmond Nwaerondu, this year’s Outstanding Young Alumnus, uses his social media savvy and keen social conscience to demonstrate new ways forward for his industry and the community at large.
LINK also looks at ways SAIT alumni and staff are charting new trails with innovation. Among these leaders are an alumna who is opening up the sport of bobsledding for para-athletes with her accessible bobsled design and model; a research team of SAIT/industry who collaborated to produce affordable, portable technology to turn salt water or brackish water into drinking water; and a young SAIT photojournalism grad who forged new territory in documentary photography, spending three years embedded with a group of Calgary skinheads.
In many ways, SAIT’s new Trades and Technology Complex has made SAIT a model of what a trades and technology campus can be. In our Achievements section, we look at how this leadership has already netted recognition and several awards for the $400 million project.
Finally, we’re excited to introduce SAIT’s new commander-in-chief to you, our alumni family. SAIT’s 16th President and CEO, David Ross takes the helm March 18th, bringing with him a wealth of experience and a brand of leadership that will, no doubt, take SAIT down uncharted pathways. We look forward to sharing SAIT’s journey with you and to hearing about yours, as you forge your own new trails.
BRIAN BOWMAN
DIRECTOR, ALUMNI AND DEVELOPMENT
YOUR PRIVACY AND SAIT ALUMNI AND DEVELOPMENT
WHO HAS ACCESS TO MY INFORMATION?Only individuals working or volunteering for SAIT, who have signed a non-disclosure agreement, and who have a specific need to see your contact information for alumni, marketing or development purposes have access to your personal information.DOES SAIT ALUMNI AND DEVELOPMENT SELL DATA?
No. SAIT Alumni and Development enters into partnerships to provide benefits and services to its members and releases contact information to only these partners. SAIT is at all times responsible for safeguarding your information.
I PREFER NOT TO BE PHONED AND I ONLY WANT TO RECEIVE CERTAIN KINDS OF MAIL — WHAT DO I DO?Contact us at 403.284.7040 or [email protected]. It is our responsibility to ensure that your information is accurate and treated
according to your wishes.
THE OFFICIAL WORDSAIT’s Alumni and Development department collects information on behalf of SAIT, under the authority of Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Post-Secondary Learning Act, for the purposes of administering alumni relations, marketing and development programs for SAIT. Any information submitted by an individual to SAIT may be used to update his or her record.
Information gathered for these purposes will be protected, disclosed and used in compliance with Alberta’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Individuals who submit information to the Alumni and Development department acknowledge the above and consent to the collection of personal information.
For more information or to make changes to your record, please contact SAIT Alumni and Development at 403.284.7040 or [email protected].
Breaking trail
link
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Brian Bowman
MANAGING EDITOR
Lorie Abernethy
ONLINE EDITOR
Alison O’Connor
EDITOR
Carolynn Semeniuk
CONTRIBUTORS
Sergei Belski, Brian Buchsdrueker, Aaron Elkaim,
Greg Fulmes, Barry Giles, Todd Kimberley, Kate Kunz,
Alison O’Connor, Lori Pichette, Eric Rosenbaum, Julie
Sengl, Heather Setka, Nicole Shepherd, Christie Simmons,
George Webber, Michelle Woodard
DESIGN & PRODUCTION
IVY Design Inc.
ADVERTISING SALES
James Foster
PRINTING
Mitchell Press Ltd.
The LINK is published three times a year by SAIT Alumni
and Development as a service to SAIT alumni, donors,
students, partners, faculty and staff.
LINK invites your advertising, letters to the editor and
comments. Please direct them to [email protected].
LINKSAIT Alumni and Development
1301 - 16 Avenue NW Calgary, AB T2M 0L4
Ph: 403.284.7010 (address updates)
403.284.8279 For all other inquiriesFax: 403.284.8394
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Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Circulation Department
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Cover by Aaron Elkaim
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NEW STUDENT EMERGENCY FUND P4SAIT’S NEW LEADER P52012 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS P7SAIT GRADS AT THEIR POST P9
LINK NEWS & VIEWS
1. Go to sait.ca/studentemployment and click on the ‘Students Enter Here’ tab.
2. Type in your 9-digit SAIT ID number as your username and create a password.
3. Find the job of your dreams! Or, link directly to the job board at www.myinterfase.com/sait/studentregistration.aspx and click on ‘Cheat Sheet’ to get you started.
JOB BOARDLooking for a job in your field? Check out the job board on sait.ca where employers can post job openings and alumni can browse these opportunities and post their resumes.
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PHOTO TIPS
Shooting white and blackABOUT OUR EXPERT: Barry Giles, B. Ed., (AST ‘78) is a photography instructor for SAIT’s Continuing Education photography certificate program.
Every camera’s meter reads 18 per cent of the reflected light of an image. That means the camera thinks everything is a mid tone. You’re smarter than your meter. When shooting a subject that is all white or black, you
have to override your camera’s meter. Whites will have to be slightly over exposed and blacks will have to be slightly under exposed.
To find out how much, practice shooting an all-white or all-black subject and adjust the exposure value in your camera until the image you see on the screen looks true to the black or white tone of the subject.
BARRY GILES
600 mm1/400 @f6.3ISO 200
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I.G. LEWIS FUND
Student aid when it’s needed most
SAIT Polytechnic students at risk of dropping out because of personal financial crisis have somewhere new to turn, thanks to a student aid emergency fund created in honour of President Irene Lewis’ retirement.Bill Lingard, chair of SAIT’s Board of Governors, announced the
student aid program at the annual President’s Gala last October. Organizers say they hope to raise $2 million in donations to create an endowment that will generate $70,000 annually for this emergency assistance program, called the I.G. Lewis Fund.
It will provide short term assistance for students who are facing a financial calamity, possibly caused by an illness in the family or other unforeseen setback.
“(It’s) one that will change lives for learners when they need it most,” said Lingard. “Whether that’s the death of a loved one, an illness or accident — anything that might cause a student to give up or drop out.”
Lingard added that the fund is intended primarily for mature students and single parents, to help them finish their education and change their lives and their families’ lives for the better. He continued saying that the assistance also sends a very powerful message: “We believe in you, and we know you can succeed.”
Instructors, staff and counsellors can identify students at risk and refer them to the program. Mentors will meet privately with these students to evaluate their situation and determine if they need assistance. The amount of aid can range from a $50 food voucher to a maximum sum of $4000. Those who receive the funds will also receive counselling to ensure they reach graduation.
Lewis was moved by the naming of the Fund, saying the issue hits close to home.“I am no stranger to financial hardships myself. At one time, I didn’t know how I was going to put food on the table. That’s why it means so much to me that SAIT has created the I.G. Lewis Fund in honour of my retirement.”
CAROLYNN SEMENIUK
LINK NEWS & VIEWS
Bill Lingard, chair of SAIT’s Board of Governors, announced a new emergency financial aid fund for SAIT students at the President’s Gala last October.
YOU’VE GOT OPTIONS
iWith people making more career changes in their lifetimes than ever before, SAIT alumni need to know exactly where their credentials can take them.
“It used to be that you started your career in a job and stayed there until you retired,” says Karen McDaniel, SAIT’s articulation coordinator. “Today, there’s no way to predict where your career is going to go. Transfer options put SAIT’s commitment to lifelong learning into action, whether you’re looking at a logical progression in your career or a 90-degree turn into a completely new field.”
In November, hundreds of alumni and students participated in SAIT’s fourth annual Transfer Option Fair and explored offerings from 38 Canadian and international institutions that accept SAIT transfer credits. But if you didn’t make it to the event, it’s not too late. “We are happy to do the research for our students and alumni, whether they already have a program in mind or just want to know what’s out there,” says McDaniel.
McDaniel, who negotiates agreements with post secondaries around the world, adds there is a lot to choose from. In the last six years there has been an increase of over 1,000 per cent in the choices available to SAIT grads. “Alumni need to think big. We have over 700 agreements with colleges and universities worldwide and that number is always growing. It’s amazing what you can do. In some cases, our alumni applied their SAIT credential to a program that earns them an additional two credentials in only three years.”
To learn where your SAIT credentials can take you, email [email protected], or visit www.sait.ca/transferoptions to search by program, school or institution.
JULIE SENGL
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LINK NEWS & VIEWS
PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION
SAIT selects new leaderRoss ready to take the helm
This March, David Ross begins his new post as SAIT Polytechnic’s 16th President and CEO, leaving daffodils in Vancouver to experience his first full Calgary spring —
replete with snow, Chinooks, hail, or whatever else Mother Nature sends our way. In spite of the radical weather change, Ross believes moving to Calgary will feel akin to coming home.
“I’ve always believed Maritimers and prairie folk have a lot in common,” says Ross, who grew up in the small, fishing port town of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. “There’s a sense of community in these regions that comes from enduring hardship; from having to rely on your neighbours when times are tough.”
That’s not the only kinship Ross expects to find as he assumes the helm from retiring SAIT President Irene Lewis. He’s a great believer in the value of a trades and technology education and in the necessity of these graduates to keep the nation’s economy moving.
“I happen to believe that meeting the demand for skilled labour is the biggest challenge facing this country,” he says. “Unless we have people to fill these jobs, our economy can’t grow.”
At SAIT, he sees a shared interest in skills-based education. “SAIT has proven over the years to be an innovative institution with a strong reputation for developing industry-ready graduates.”
Ross’ respect for SAIT appears to be mutual. The Board of Governors began looking for SAIT’s next president in January 2012, using the services of an executive search firm. After consulting with various SAIT community members, they nailed down the job description and put out the call. It was a tall list of criteria and an intensive recruitment process aimed at filtering applicants down to the best of the best, which the Board clearly believes they’ve found in Ross.
“(We were) impressed by David’s passion for developing strong relationships; his inclusive, collaborative style; his authenticity; his emphasis on trust and empowerment; and his interest in being visible with — and connected to — students,” says Bill Lingard, who chairs the Board.
Ross’ connection to students makes sense given his 20-plus years of leadership experience in post secondary education. Ross is currently the President and CEO at Vancouver’s Langara College and previously held a variety of executive positions at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C.
Ross has also logged a number of years as a student in post secondary schools. He holds a doctorate in education administration from the University of Nebraska, a Master of Aquaculture from Simon Fraser University, and both a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science from Dalhousie University.
SAIT’s president elect brings more to Calgary than just heady qualifications. His wife, Ewa and 3-year-old son, Aleksander, are also making the move. “(We’re) looking forward to the strong sense of community that SAIT and Calgary are well known for,” says Ross. “If the welcome and hospitality we have received already is any indication, we are anxious to meet others from the SAIT community and participate in all the area has to offer.”
Though he expects to find warm people, Ross already knows better than to make any predictions about Calgary’s weather. Back in August of 1992 when he was driving across the country, moving from the east coast to Vancouver, he had to detour south of Alberta to avoid a severe summer snow storm. “It took me twenty years to get back to Calgary,” he says, laughing.
ROSS OFFICIALLY BECOMES PRESIDENT AND CEO OF SAIT POLYTECHNIC ON MARCH 18.
CAROLYNN SEMENIUK
SAIT Polytechnic’s 16th president, David Ross, will take office March 18, 2013
“ I HAPPEN TO BELIEVE THAT MEETING THE DEMAND FOR SKILLED LABOUR IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING THIS COUNTRY. ”
— DAVID ROSS
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Ramsay’s love of and commitment to the oil field service sector extends beyond the challenges and obligations he faces as CEO of CalFrac. In some sense, his
success in business has only been trumped by his generosity to the community — and to SAIT in particular — both financially and in terms of his personal energy and expertise.
Mary MacDonald, Dean, MacPhail School of Energy says Ramsay’s willingness to consult the institution on industry matters and his support behind efforts like SAIT’s application for a petroleum engineering degree program, means he’s also an important strategic partner.
“Whenever we’re going to do anything in terms of the service sector which Doug represents, we’ll always consult with his engineers about subject matter expertise. And at a higher level, we consult with leaders like Doug about where we should be going with training to meet their needs and address their biggest workforce development challenges,” says MacDonald.
This fall, with the grand opening of the Trades and Technology Complex, SAIT also launched the Ramsay Centre for Petroleum Engineering Technology, named in honour of Ramsay’s generous $3 million gift to SAIT in 2011.
From Ramsay’s perspective, investing in SAIT just makes sense. He has been very fortunate, he says, and organizations like SAIT and STARS Air Ambulance — a cause he and his wife fervently support — have vision and values in keeping with his own. And, stirred by the words of Calgary philanthropist Dick Haskayne, his mentor and good friend, he recognizes how his actions serve to inspire.
“I talked to Dick about this opportunity,” says Ramsay of his donation to SAIT. “He said, ‘Well that would be really good, Doug. And the reason you can put your name up on it is you’ll inspire others. They’ll tell the story about this kid from Brooks that attended this school and worked hard and say look what he did!’”
And indeed inspire is precisely what this well-deserving Distinguished Alumni Award recipient does, says MacDonald.
“Doug is a role model for our students,” she says. “He helps us by letting our students know how successful they can be by talking with them about his background; where he started and where he is today.”
CHRISTIE SIMMONS
SAIT’S 2012 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS
Uncommon common sense success
“My mom always told me, ‘everybody puts their pants on one leg at a time’ and I’ve lived by that motto. If you work hard it pays off,” says Doug Ramsay (PT ‘77), SAIT’s newest Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. “Work hard, be honest, be ethical, respect the company that you work for and respect the people you work with. It’s pretty easy.”
Whether or not this approach is easy might be questionable, but there’s little to dispute that whatever Ramsay’s been doing, he’s been doing it right.
In 1999 Ramsay took his SAIT education and 20-plus years of international oil field service experience and put it behind CalFrac, a company specializing in pressure pumping services for the oil industry. Then, in just over a decade, he and founding partners built CalFrac from a fledgling organization with a staff of 22 and sales of $4 million, to a world-leading oil field service provider with annual sales of $1.5 billion and a staff of 3,400 people in six countries.
“I love it,” Ramsay says of the business. “I like how fast it changes, I like the people. I like the technology and how you can leverage the technology in business.”K
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* No purchase required. Contest organized jointly with Primmum Insurance Company and open to members, employees and other eligible persons belonging to employer, professional and alumni groups which have an agreement with and are entitled to group rates from the organizers. Contest ends on October 31, 2013. Draw on November 22, 2013. One (1) prize to be won. The winner may choose between a Lexus ES 300h hybrid (approximate MSRP of $58,902 which includes freight, pre-delivery inspection, fees and applicable taxes) or $60,000 in Canadian funds. Skill-testing question required. Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Complete contest rules available at melochemonnex.com/contest.
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Most insurance companies offer discounts for combining home and auto policies, or your good driving record. What you may not know is that we offer these savings too, plus we offer preferred rates to members of the SAIT alumni community. You’ll also receive our highly personalized service and great protection that suits your needs. Find out how much you could save.
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LINK NEWS & VIEWS
ALUMNI REPORTING
Commanding their PostBesides their collective passion for delivering news, all three journalists at online news source Huffington Post Alberta, a regional arm of the popular international news website owned by AOL, share one key trait. THEY’RE ALL SAIT JOURNALISM ARTS GRADS.
Pablo Fernandez ( JA ‘99), Michelle Butterfield (JA ‘08) and Seema Dhawan (JA ‘08) peer down at the bustling city from a large bay window in their downtown Calgary high-rise office. From this one-room newsroom, the tight team has delivered news, views and other content since the site’s summer 2012 launch.
Despite the crew’s small size, Fernandez says no matter how daunting their task may seem, “at the end of the day, we always deliver.”
Fernandez, Huffington Post Alberta’s news editor, says his SAIT education laid the foundation for the position’s diverse demands. “Even though
this job (Huffington Post) probably didn’t even exist when I went to SAIT, all those skills — which were obviously geared towards print journalism back then — are still absolutely critical in online journalism today.”
After graduation, Fernandez worked for a B.C. weekly newspaper, and then, 10 years ago, joined the Calgary Sun as a reporter. In 2008, his self-taught web skills landed him in the Sun’s online editor’s chair.
Fernandez has been in the news business for more than a dozen years and has witnessed the online reporting cycle eclipse the print one. “I think at first, everybody took offence to it.” Many journalists, he says, felt fact was being sacrificed for speed when delivering online news. However, he says newsrooms have always been forced to balance accuracy with timeliness. “Now, I find this challenge rewarding,” he says.
For all three SAIT alumni, joining Huffington Post came after a rigorous recruitment process. Butterfield says she went through eight interviews. Her second-to-last one was a phone call with Huffington Post founder, Arianna Huffington. For Butterfield, the newsroom’s associate editor, the Huffington Post was worth the effort. “I love the balance they’ve struck,” she says. “It feels like some place you can go to get it all.”
A Nova Scotia import, Butterfield majored in criminology and psychology at Saint Mary’s University, and then enrolled in the SAIT’s journalism program and worked at the campus newspaper, the Weal, as news editor. She turned a Calgary Herald internship into a permanent crime reporter gig, and then transitioned into the Herald’s online editor.
She stays one step ahead of industry trends, and encourages current journalism students to do the same. “Take every opportunity you’re given,” she says. “Learn diverse skills: interview, take photos, shoot video. The more you can diversify, the more you are employable.”
Her colleague, assistant news editor Dhawan, agrees. As a freelance reporter and editor, Dhawan covered travel, business and news for a number of publications, including the Calgary Herald and up! magazine. She also created freelancebliss.com, an online community to unite Calgary freelancers.
Dhawan, who also holds a communications studies bachelor’s degree, says she’s using all of this experience at the Huffington Post. “In retrospect, I was training for this role,” she says.
“I’m at the right place at the right time.”
BY HEATHER SETKA
Pablo Fernandez, Michelle Butterfield and Seema Dhawan endured a rigorous screening process before coming together as the all-SAIT alumni Huffington Post news team.
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A GRANDWELCOME
WRITTEN BY | CAROLYNN SEMENIUK
Last fall, SAIT hosted a series of housewarming events to end all housewarmings. After years of dedication and elbow grease, not to mention $400 million, to reach the grand opening of the Trades and Technology Complex, SAIT was ready to shake things up.
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A GRANDWELCOME
WRITTEN BY | CAROLYNN SEMENIUK
FEATURE
N THE LATE DAYS OF AUGUST, construction crews worked through the night to put the final touches on SAIT Polytechnic’s new Trades and Technology Complex. Staff arriving on campus in the morning found lawns and sidewalks that
hadn’t been there the night before. Throughout the day, armies of custodians and window washers scrubbed tirelessly to clear away construction dust and grime and reveal the building features beneath.
Think of last minute cleaning for holiday guests and you’ll get the picture. Except this fall, crews were preparing for company to come to the grandest house warming events for the biggest expansion in SAIT’s history.
The first of these, The Crystal Ball on Aug. 23, was a gala celebration to thank SAIT staff and key donors for their roles in bringing the expansion to fruition. Donors were given guided tours and then led across campus by a Louisiana style marching band to the Aldred Centre where they joined staff for a party on the main floor of the 440,000 square-foot building fronting 16th Avenue. Soprano Michelle Minke splintered a series of crystal balls with her operatic acrobatics to reveal biography boards honouring naming donors of the Complex. Later that evening, staff unveiled a massive, steel donor wall celebrating these and other donors whose contributions pushed forward the fundraising for the Complex in big leaps.
(Top to bottom, left to right)Festival goers at The Wave grand opening.Guests in Aldred Centre at the Crystal Ball.Soprano Michelle Mink.Dancers at the Chinook Lodge Pow Wow, held during The Wave.The platform panel rings in the grand opening.Classic cars on display at the Wave.SAIT staff and alumni showed their pride at reunions held during The Wave.
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A GRAND WELCOME
Aug. 27 marked SAIT’s celebration with the first students to attend classes in the Trades and Technology Complex. Apprenticeship students who started classes that day were invited to a welcome barbeque — student style — with burgers and a live band on the east side of the Aldred Building.
SAIT rang in the official opening of the Trades and Technology Complex Sept. 5, marking the moment with the clanging of old fashioned school bells. Alberta’s Premier, the Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre-North, the first chair of the fundraising campaign for the Complex, the President of the SAIT Student’s Association and SAIT’s President and CEO each spoke of the value of the Complex for students, SAIT and the Alberta labour market. “We know that investments in education pay huge dividends,” said Alberta Premier Alison Redford. “(This) Complex at SAIT will help ensure our workers have the knowledge and skills to keep the province growing.”
On Sept. 15, SAIT flung the campus doors wide open for The Wave, inviting the community to explore the expanded campus and learn about a SAIT education. Guests came by the thousands to enjoy dozens of venues, which included band performances, hands-on carpentry activities, a Pow Wow, a bobsled dry land training track demonstration, a classic car show and an alumni art show. The day was capped off by a series of Deans’ Receptions where senior SAIT Polytechnic academics hosted hundreds of alumni and industry partners.
The Trades and Technology Complex has become part of the “new normal” at SAIT and students are getting used to their new learning spaces.
The Complex has added more than 740,000 square-feet of space on campus so more students can enjoy the hands-on, highly-skilled training for which SAIT is known.
(Top to bottom, left to right) Calgary band, Double Fuzz entertains the crowd during apprentice welcome festivities. SAIT alumnus Kevin Leycraft (EGT ‘75) displays his handmade antique Harley Davidson at The Wave.Tara and Ron Mathison and Murray Cobbe look on during a donor’s tour of the Complex prior to the Crystal Ball.Dave Kelly emcees the program during the Crystal Ball.The Promising Futures donor wall recognizes campaign contributors.
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There are reasons why SAIT’s 2012 Outstanding Young Alumnus has been on Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 list two years running — he’s ambitiuous, he’s passionate and he seldom stops.
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HE GLOBE AND MAIL HAS PEGGED HIM AS ONE OF CALGARY’S UP-AND-COMING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS. Local talk show radio QR77 has turned to him for on-air advice as a trusted wealth advisor. He’s been nominated for a spot on Avenue Magazine’s top-40-under-40 achievement roster for the past two years running. And now, Desmond Nwaerondu is
being applauded as SAIT’s Outstanding Young Alumni award recipient for 2012.At just 26 years of age, Nwaerondu is busy making a name for himself.
It’s a conscious effort on his part to step up, stand out, give back and make a difference, and he attributes a lot of his success thus far to a good education and inherent ambition. The rest he pretty much credits to Twitter.
Nwaerondu joined Sun Life Financial as a financial advisor shortly after finishing school (SAIT Business Administration, 2006; University of Lethbridge Bachelor of Management, 2009). He gave cold calls the cold shoulder from the start, choosing instead to rely exclusively on social media to drive his business. Between his money-savvy advice blog on his website advisorDes.com, and regular tweets to promote his blog, he’s secured a following of more than a thousand on Twitter, and built a professional network in active pursuit of mutual success. And Nwaerondu’s clients aren’t the only ones following him online. As one of the first in the company to successfully use social media in this way, he’s caught the eye of Sun Life’s top executives nationally.
the talkOF THETOWNSAIT’s Outstanding Young Alumnus – Desmond Nwaerondu WRITTEN BY | CHRISTIE SIMMONS
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“I’m all over social media,” said Nwaerondu. “They saw that and sought me out in order to get my opinion and expertise on different platforms.” He was more than happy to coach others in the successful implementation of a social media strategy.
Sharing his expertise and networking with like-minded individuals is important to Nwaerondu both personally and professionally, and he does it a lot, online and off. He sits on the Executive Board for his Sun Life Financial office in Calgary. He serves as Treasurer for the Calgary Chapter of the University of Lethbridge Alumni Committee. And he’s heading into his second year as Chair of the SAIT Financial Services Committee.
The SAIT committee comes together to discuss what services and courses should be offered to the School’s Financial Services majors based on industry demand. Who better to gauge demand in the financial industry than professionals working in the industry?
“We have bankers, estate planners, financial advisors like myself, an insurance broker and people from HR departments in banking,” said Nwaerondu.
“We’ve got eight members right now, but I want to grow it to 12.” The status quo doesn’t stand a chance if he knows he can do better.
For Nwaerondu, volunteering on this committee represents the perfect opportunity to give back to the school that he says gave his career a jumpstart. “I had competing job offers when I graduated and that’s largely because of the solid foundation and technical experience I got at SAIT.”
His other volunteer commitments (and there are several) are more generally directed at giving back to society as a whole.
Nwaerondu volunteers at Momentum, a financial learning centre for newly arrived, low-income immigrants, where he teaches basic financial literacy classes an average of three times per quarter. “I’m passionate about the business and I know how important it is for people to understand the basics, like the difference between saving and investing, and how credit cards and interest works. When people don’t understand the basics, they can get into trouble really quickly.”
“ I HAD COMPETING JOB OFFERS WHEN I GRADUATED AND THAT’S LARGELY BECAUSE OF THE SOLID FOUNDATION AND TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE I GOT AT SAIT. ”
— DESMOND NWAERONDU
Nwaerondu channels his financial advisor expertise in the community, volunteering at a financial learning centre for low income, recent immigrants. It’s just one of many volunteer gigs that keep him running.
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He’s often able to leverage his professional expertise as a volunteer. On other occasions though, there’s no experience necessary.
Nwaerondu serves as a youth ambassador for the Igbo Cultural Association of Calgary (ICAC). His father was born in Nigeria and speaks the Igbo dialect so Nwaerondu feels a personal connection with the group. Once a month he heads down to the Calgary Drop-in Centre with other ICAC members to help serve meals to the homeless.
Together with a group of colleagues at Sun Life Financial, he travels with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for people he’s never met in impoverished villages and far-away lands he had never imagined visiting. Last year his contingent built two houses in Chacala, Mexico. This year he travelled to Chiang Mai, Thailand to build a house there.
And closer to home, there’s his annual fundraiser called “Nwaerondu Fights Cancer,” which he’s organized (much of it through social media) and self-funded for three years running to raise awareness and money towards cancer research and
palliative care. “When a 19-year-old friend of a friend succumbed to cancer, it really hit home for me that this could happen to anyone at any time,” said Nwaerondu. “I had to do something.”
So how does he do it all, and why?“It’s the same with every single volunteer activity I do,” said Nwaerondu.
“Everyone is always so appreciative of my time and effort. When I have the opportunity to volunteer, it’s something I value.” And when you value something, you find, or make the time for it.
“I don’t sleep a lot and I’m very good at time management,” said Nwaerondu, for whom sport is another priority. He makes time to play weekly in a men’s soccer league, to sub occasionally on a friend’s basketball team, to golf every chance he gets during summer, and to snowboard throughout the winter.
Being named SAIT’s Outstanding Young Alumni for 2012 was an unexpected honour that Nwaerondu isn’t convinced he deserves, but at the same time, isn’t about to let slip away. “With this award I’m being recognized for what I do on a daily basis,” said Nwaerondu. “I don’t think I’m doing anything particularly outstanding, but it’s great to know others see value in what I do. I’m humbled by that…”
So does he think the award will impact him professionally?“Professionally everything has ramifications,” said Nwaerondu, without
a moment’s hesitation. “I’m growing my business in a public forum. People talk. It’s all good.”
THE TALK OF THE TOWN
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HE WAS A SKINNY KID; BABY FACED AND 2,219 MILES FROM HIS DESTINATION.
In the spring of 2009, Jordan* boarded a Greyhound bus in Hamilton, Ontario wearing the uniform of his generation — sneakers, a hoodie and a backwards ball cap. He travelled by bus for 58 hours to Calgary, Alberta. to start a new life. And as his bus rounded the turn into the Calgary Bus Depot, Jordan’s new life waited for him, sneering.
Jordan had made the trip to join the Aryan Guard, a small but potent Calgary-based, white supremacy movement. Back in Hamilton, Jordan had contacted the group about moving out west. He was eager to fit in. He had traded up to a real neo-Nazi tattoo on the felt marker tattoos that had made him the butt of jokes during early Skype video calls with the group. Within days of his arrival, he shaved his head and donned black boots and a bomber jacket
— the uniform of his new life as a member of the Aryan Guard.Waiting for Jordan at the station that night were a handful of skinheads,
each marginally older than their teenaged guest. Among the group, however, was a young man with a camera who had a decidedly different purpose for being there.
This man with the camera was Brett Gundlock (JA ‘06), a young photojournalist who would document the rapid decline of Jordan’s life and the usually private world of skinheads over a three year period. Gundlock ate with them, drank with them, slept in their homes, and though he despised their beliefs, would for a brief period, be counted among them.
Back in 2008, when he first encountered the Aryan Guard as a news photographer for the Calgary Sun, Gundlock was only two years out of SAIT’s photojournalism
program and barely old enough to vote. He was photographing the Aryan Guard’s first White Pride Day march downtown. “The fact that the group existed at all, the fact that they went marching through downtown Calgary, was astonishing to me,” he says. True to his craft, Gundlock’s curiosity got the best of him and he approached the skinheads to propose a photo documentary of their day-to-day lives. He would call this work The Movement.
A month later, after much scrutiny, the group agreed to Gundlock’s proposal. It was the kind of embedded work that would make the most seasoned photojournalist blanch, but Gundlock says it was precisely because of his inexperience that he netted this privileged access. “I had the blessings of youth on my side,” he said.
In reality, it was a great deal more than young hubris or naiveté working for Gundlock. At 20-years-old, in a field where only the best find
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Although edgy, dramatic photos are the mainstay of Gundlock’s photo documentary on skinheads, quiet portraits, like the one of Jordan shown here, were among his favourites.
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steady employment, Gundlock had received several major photojournalism awards, generated an extensive portfolio working at city papers and was heading to a staff photographer position at the National Post. He attributes part of his early success to lessons learned from Frank Shuffletoski, his photojournalism instructor at SAIT. “Frank taught us about the importance of work ethic and what we would need to get into the newspapers… He saw my drive to do this and he supported me.”
Support for Gundlock’s skinhead project didn’t always come readily. There were those who believed that covering the Aryan Guard validated their existence. It’s a perception experienced by others who have documented the world of Canada’s neo-Nazi movements. Warren Kinsella, who has authored several books about organized racism in Canada, says he has long been criticized for pandering to a fringe group of radicals through his work. “I’ve been hearing these criticisms for 25 years.”
Kinsella argues that the number of neo-Nazis is not the issue, and that these groups don’t become less dangerous when we ignore them. “These are not democratic movements. They work through force and intimidation, like a terrorist movement.”
It was a terrible night to be headed southbound down Centre Street on a city bus, especially if you were among a group of Asian high school kids riding transit. Because that night, they had the misfortune to share that bus with three of Canada’s most violent skinheads. It started with taunts
about the teens’ language and ethnicity and it grew louder and more confrontational. Then, suddenly, Kevin Brozny, Tyler Sturrup and Robert Reitmeier, leaders of the neo-Nazi group, the Western European Bloodlines, were standing over the teens, and things looked like they were about to get very ugly.
“That’s enough boys,” said Rob, suddenly. He was breeching the rules of his probation by being drunk and out at night. The men hopped off the bus, charged by the prospect of violence, laughing as they walked into the night.
“These guys get a high from that kind of stuff…” says Gundlock. “Violence is what drives them.”
Gundlock was with the skinheads that night and describes this as one of his most difficult experiences embedded in the Movement. “I definitely would have intervened if it had become violent, but no one on that bus knew that,” he said.”I wanted to apologize to the kids and tell everyone on the bus that I wasn’t one of them (the skinheads)...” With his buzzed hair, black hoodie and jeans, Gundlock was virtually indistinguishable from the skinheads.
Gundlock makes no bones about how blending in gave him better access to the group. “Theoretically, journalists aren’t supposed to engage with their subjects, they’re not supposed to influence the scene by taking part in it… I realized, right from the start, that I was going to have to break all those rules…” he says.
“ THESE ARE THE TRUE BELIEVERS, THE WARRIORS OF A RACE WAR THEY BELIEVE IS BEING WAGED AGAINST WHITES WORLDWIDE... BASED ON IDEOLOGIES FROM A DARK TIME IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY, SKINHEADS FEEL THEY ARE ON THE PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS…”
— BRETT GUNDLOCK
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C o m m u n i t y M a t t e r s
When Shane Homes was established in 1979, we had the philosophy that we would not only build quality homes within the community, but also help those communities grow.
Over thirty years later this philosophy still holds true and we continue to be passionate about building strong relationships with the people who live in the communities in which we build.
It’s a simple philosophy, we are strong supporters of causes that promote health, wellness and education, and that help change people’s lives for the better.
It is a pledge that we look forward to honouring in the years ahead.
Shane Homes is proud to be a member of the Founding Builders Leadership Circle, a select group of leaders in Calgary’s home
building industry who have each donated $1 million in their quest to change the perception of an often misunderstood industry.
A T H L E T I C Sh e l p i n g b u i l d c h a r a c t e r t h r o u g h s p o r t
E D U C A T I O Nb u i l d i n g a h e a l t h y f o u n d a t i o n f o r t o m o r r o wp r o v i d i n g s u p p o r t f o r a h a p p i e r t o m o r r o w
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For Gundlock, that meant sleeping on the floor or the couch or in the spare room of one of the member’s apartments night after night. It meant days of being submerged in a poisoned world of drinking and violence and hatred. “I could only stay for a certain amount of time,” explains Gundlock. “After a while I’d have to get out for my own sanity. They don’t live in our world.”
“These are the true believers, the warriors of a race war they believe is being waged against whites worldwide,” Gundlock told the Calgary Herald.
“Based on ideologies from a dark time in the history of humanity, skinheads feel they are on the path of righteousness…”
Although he engaged with the skinheads, Gundlock earned the trust of its members by never misleading them about his principles. “I never pretended to be sympathetic to their point of view. My technique was to shut up and let them talk.” When they asked him what he thought, Gundlock said, “I understand your perspective. I don’t agree with it, but I understand why YOU feel that way.” If pressed, he would offer them his honest opinion.
One by one, they piled off the yellow school bus, young men and women in black bomber jackets and boots. As they spilled onto the grounds of the Mewata Armouries, organizers handed out large black flags bearing the words: White Pride Worldwide. March 21,
paradoxically, is recognized as both a White Pride Day and as a day for the celebration of the elimination of racism. Confrontation was inevitable.
It had only been days since Jordan arrived at the Greyhound station in Calgary, but already, thanks to his freshly shaved head and the Aryan Guard’s
“starter kit” for new recruits — a black bomber jacket and black boots — he looked every bit the wizened skinhead.
The skinheads advanced along Stephen Avenue, 60 people deep, a raucous throng of waving black flags and chants. WHITE. PRIDE. WORLD. WIDE… In no time, they were halted by a far larger force. More than 400 anti-racist counter protesters confronted the group, hurling insults first, then bottles, rocks and other projectiles.
Amidst the chaos, Jordan ducked into a bus shelter on the Aryan Guard side of the police barricade. It wouldn’t take long before he’d regret this.
“Almost everyone called him ‘bus shelter’ after that because he hid with the girls,” explains Gundlock. “He became kind of the runt of the litter and he didn’t get much respect.” It was, he says, a tough pill to swallow for a boy who had
moved across the country to find a place to fit in.Playing to adolescent insecurity is a tried-
and-true tactic of the skinhead movement. Gundlock says many of the members “fell into” the movement because skinheads target high school kids. “They bring them in and start to brainwash them with these ideologies which they sell as fact.”
During his three years with the skinheads, Gundlock grew increasingly interested in the draw to the movement. Sometimes, members chose this life because hatred, bigotry and ignorance were fed to them by their parents. Other times, it was the inevitable result of a violent, angry nature.
But the movement has its greatest success with young people who lack connection, at school or at home, says Gundlock. “These kids aren’t the captains of the football team. They’re looking for a place to belong.”
Kinsella concurs. “The appeal of skinhead culture is that teens are always in search of a subculture in which to belong.”
Through his photography, Gundlock sought to capture the “repulsive” ethos of skinhead culture as well as the raw vulnerability of some of its followers. The latter is particularly true of his portraits of Jordan. In those, he hoped his audience would see what he saw: a young, very lost person.
Gundlock last saw Jordan in 2010 on a court house video testifying with the head of the Aryan Guard. Both were being charged for attempted murder and building bombs. “He just looked awful. It had only been a year, but he’d already been in prison twice,” says Gundlock. “He just needed to slow down and step back, but he kept going, full speed ahead.”
*We cannot provide Jordan’s full name due to provisions of Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Photojournalist and SAIT alumnus Brett Gundlock, shown here in his Toronto studio, began photographing a group of Calgary skinheads after covering their White Pride Day march in 2008. He documented their lives over a three year period, creating a body of work he called “The Movement.”
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LINKINSPIRATION
A taste for success, baby
It wasn’t exactly an a-ha! moment. IT WAS MORE OF A BLECH! MOMENT.
“I opened a jar of green beans to feed my daughter,” recalls Jennifer Carlson Broe (BAMK ‘99), referring to then six-month-old Finley. “Frankly, it was disgusting. Completely unappealing. I couldn’t feed it to her in good conscience.”
That’s when the business graduate side of Carlson Broe connected with her mother side and opened her eyes to opportunity. She realized there was a market for baby food that actually tasted good and that parents could feel good about feeding to their children. Carlson Broe, who graduated from SAIT Polytechnic’s Business Administration program with a marketing major in 1999, followed through on her nutritional revelation. Enlisting the help of her sister, Jill Vos, she started creating and re-creating old family recipes in her own kitchen and in 2006, Baby Gourmet Foods Inc. was born.
After two years of local operation, setting out a successful stall at the Calgary Farmers’ Market, Carlson Broe took another bold step, pitching her products to Walmart Canada. Today, Baby Gourmet products are available at 80 per cent of grocery stores in Canada, including the Walmart, Canada Safeway, and Loblaws/Real Canadian Superstore chains. The Calgary-based company has 17 full-time employees, with projected revenues of $9 million for 2012, and is just now starting to break into the American market.
Every one of Baby Gourmet’s products still begins life in Carlson Broe’s kitchen. They’re certified organic and kosher, and they’re recommended by pediatricians
and pediatric nutritionists. Carlson Broe believes she’s struck a responsive chord in parents, based on a simple principle — that of all the cut-rate consumer products out there, baby food shouldn’t be one of them.
As a result of her presence in the Farmers’ Market, Carlson Broe got to interact directly with mothers for two years, and she came to realize that her competitors in the baby food business had missed the mark. “Baby food isn’t about price, it’s about quality,” she says. “When you’re feeding the most important member of your family, price isn’t the issue.”
She argues that baby food companies need to acknowledge the importance of a child’s first experience of solid food. “I believe we’re developing babies’ palates from the first food we’re feeding them. We’re setting up their relationship with food from the very beginning.”
Carlson Broe has seen some recent well-earned recognition. She was tapped as the 2011 Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year for Canada’s Prairies region, and just recently earned a spot in Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 list for 2012.
“I think it takes a certain type of personality to be an entrepreneur,” says Carlson Broe. “It’s an innate ability to take a risk. I don’t think I’m smarter than anyone else, necessarily… it’s about taking initiative, showing persistence, being resilient to rejection.”
TODD KIMBERLEY
Jennifer Carlson Broe mixed market savvy with maternal instincts to create Baby Gourmet, and it’s proving to be a winning recipe in the world of business.
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Debra Ross started her non-destructive testing company, Gamma Tech Inspection, with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck. No stranger to adversity, Ross struggled for years to succeed, but today her future couldn’t be brighter.
Ross always loved flying, so when she decided to go back to school at age 26, SAIT’s aviation program caught her eye. “I dropped out of school at 14 and spent a lot of years just trying to survive. I worked a lot of low-paying jobs and I knew something had to change. Amelia Earhart was one of my heroes, so I decided to be a pilot.”
Being practical, Ross knew she should be able to fix her own plane if she was going to fly in the bush. She spent the next two years struggling to pay for her tuition and fund flying lessons at the same time. “It was tough, but I always knew I was a smart person and it felt so good to be accomplishing something.”
During her last semester at SAIT, Ross took a course in non-destructive testing (NDT) — using x-ray technology to test the inside of structures, like aircraft engines or pipelines, to assess their safety. That one course dramatically changed her career plans. “I loved the idea of being a pilot, but I knew that I needed to take a detour.”
She spent the next six years working in the male-dominated NDT industry, testing manufactured products for oilfield and construction companies. “As a woman, I stuck out like a sore thumb, but I focused on working and keeping my clients happy.”
Her meticulous work ethic paid off. “Clients were asking for me directly and I started thinking about opening my own company. It took me about three months, but when I got my radiation license, I knew I could do it.”
Ross bought the cheapest truck she could find and, after running into endless roadblocks with traditional business financing, racked up five empty credit cards to fund Gamma Tech Inspection.
“I had a detailed business plan, but I couldn’t get anywhere with the banks. I got the credit card companies to raise my limit, bought the equipment I needed and then negotiated lower interest rates.”
Radiating strengthSAIT ALUMNA DEBRA ROSS HAS MADE A NAME FOR HERSELF in the male-dominated industry of non destructive testing thanks to hard work, tenacity and a very timely bingo jackpot.
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Ross worked hard to pay off her debts, but ended up back in survival mode only five months later — juggling receivables to cover costs and debt. ”I was struggling and depressed and really thought my company wasn’t going to make it. A friend invited me to play Satellite Bingo on New Year’s Eve and I won $12,500.”
After her big win, things started coming together, but Ross says she took it hard and heavy from the competition for the next five years. She soldiered on, building her company’s reputation on a strong work ethic and excellent service. Today, Gamma Tech Inspection has 20 employees, is one of the biggest players in Calgary’s NDT industry and is turning down work all the time.
“Getting clients was easy, but hiring good employees wasn’t. I was careful to hire conscientious, family-oriented people and that really paid off. I know I’ve succeeded because I really don’t even need to be here anymore.”
Ross’s advice to other women in non-traditional industries? “Stick to your morals, do your work with integrity and grow a second skin. You may get picked on a bit in the beginning, but you’ll come out the other side better off. I know I did.”
MICHELLE WOODARD
Deborah Ross’ company Gamma Tech Inspection is one of the biggest players in Calgary’s non destructive testing industry. It’s also one of the few Canadian companies of its kind with a woman in the driver’s seat.
“ STICK TO YOUR MORALS, DO YOUR WORK WITH INTEGRITY AND GROW A SECOND SKIN...YOU’LL COME OUT ON THE OTHER SIDE BETTER OFF. ”
— DEBRA ROSS, ON HER ADVICE FOR WOMEN IN NON TRADITIONAL FIELDS
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What would you cook if President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper were coming for dinner?
Vanessa Mendoza (PKC ‘96) knows exactly what to put on the menu. Planning and preparing meals for world leaders is
all in a day’s work for the sous chef at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Ottawa. Her lunch and dinner guests regularly include heads of state, royalty and diplomats from around the globe.
“We use French cooking techniques, but with a Canadian flair. Our menu emphasizes ingredients native to Canada — from coast to coast to coast,” says Mendoza. “I am from Calgary, so I try to incorporate Alberta beef or Innisfail lamb whenever I can.” Other go-to ingredients include cheeses from Quebec, Saskatoon berries, Atlantic and Pacific salmon, and of course, maple syrup.
Dreaming up uniquely Canadian concoctions may be a regular part of Mendoza’s day now, but she didn’t start off her career creating entrees like Québec duck leg confit in Niagara red wine, potato galette and Byward Market vegetables.
“You have to walk before you can run,” says Mendoza. “When you start out in this career, you’re at the very bottom of the totem pole and you need to master the basics before you can get creative. I spent my first day as an apprentice scooping ice cream and piping meringue in the freezer of the Delta Bow Valley Hotel in Calgary.“
What Mendoza says is certainly true, but according to SAIT chef instructor Gerd Steinmeyer, she is also incredibly humble. Early on in Mendoza’s career, she was travelling the globe, starting with two one-month stints as an exchange student in France while studying at SAIT. Over the years, she competed internationally both for Team SAIT and as a professional chef
Looks who’s coming to dinnerin places like Singapore, Germany, Scotland and Japan. “In competitions, the judges were in awe of Vanessa’s personality, organization and professionalism,” says Steinmeyer. “She is always humble about what she does, her knowledge and her success.”
During her ten years in Ottawa, Mendoza has accumulated an impressive guest list and many stories, but she says that teaching the Governor General of New Zealand how to make sushi and chatting with the Emperor and Empress of Japan after their two-day visit were some of the most memorable. “Every day I get to meet and shake the hands of people that I would otherwise only see on TV. It’s very stressful at times — there is simply no room to make mistakes — but it’s very rewarding too. I’m so blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from SAIT’s incredible chefs. I am able to do what I do because of what they taught me. ”
What does the future hold for Mendoza? “I want to go further, but it will be hard to find a job that tops this one. I’m really blessed — not everyone gets to cook for influential people that run the world, but I get to do it all the time. Every day is different and exciting.”
MICHELLE WOODARD
Vanessa Mendoza prepares uniquely Canadian meals for world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited Canada in August 2012. “When she was about to exit the room, she turned around and saw me,” says Mendoza. “I was peeking through the door to see what she looked like. When she spotted me she asked for a picture with me. I called the whole team together and we had our photos taken with the Chancellor and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.”
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A chef abroadSAIT culinary instructor shares hospitality skills in Honduras.
In 2011, when Ian Cowley (PKC) packed his bags to tackle a volunteer position in what’s known as the murder capital of the western world, he admittedly felt a little dubious.
However, the SAIT Professional Cooking instructor says what transpired that summer in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, and the following in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, ended up being a deeply rewarding learning experience — as much for him as for his hosts.
“The hospitality industry there really wants to grow and attract more people but the country is really unstable,” says Cowley, who volunteered as a culinary and hospitality advisor with the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO). “Tourism is almost non-existent.”
It’s exactly this kind of situation that CESO aims to support. While it strives to strengthen economic and social well-being in Canada, CESO also engages skilled Canadian volunteers to help foster long-term economic growth and self-reliance in countries abroad.
So, to foster growth in the Honduran tourism and hospitality industry, Cowley spent two weeks in July 2011 advising at a 13-room hotel and three weeks last summer at a 190-room hotel. The assignments, he says, called on both his expertise as a chef and with front-of-house hospitality. He worked with the Hondurans on everything from housekeeping to menu planning and food preparation. Some of the challenges he encountered, he says, were totally unique.
“I’m always talking to our students about guest expectations. I tell them ‘Put yourself in the guests’ shoes. What would you want if you sat down in a restaurant?’” says Cowley. He soon learned that the challenge in Honduras was that most of the staff had never been to a restaurant. They simply couldn’t afford it.
Cowley also had to adapt his culinary ideas to Hondurans’ tastes and to the quality and availability of food and resources. Bony, tough Honduran cattle meant ideas about tender, rare-cooked cuts weren’t really possible. So Cowley taught them braising methods and the benefits of low, slow cooking. When it came to the idea of changing up breakfast
buffet offerings, he quickly learned that what might be boring for Canadians is sacred to Hondurans. They actually do want to see the same fried plantains, refried beans and tomato sauce at every breakfast buffet, he says.
Despite cultural differences, language challenges and resource realities, Cowley says the Hondurans applied good will, desire to learn and a strong work ethic to the effort. They quickly learned things like how to create more visually appealing food displays and they completely got how better service leads to more sales, more tips and more customer loyalty.
For Cowley the experience was intensely fulfilling, in some ways life changing. Beyond coming home with new recipes, these postings renewed his pride in and gratitude for all Canada has to offer. And, he says, it galvanized his desire to continue to reach beyond this country’s borders to help.
“Sometimes I think Hondurans are happier than Canadians even though they have virtually nothing,” says Cowley. “I can see myself retiring one day so that I can do this CESO work a lot more - do several trips a year. It’s very rewarding, eye opening and educational. You feel like you make a difference.”
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SAIT culinary instructor Ian Cowley took his hospitality teaching skills to Honduras in 2011 and ended up learning more than he could have imagined.
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cenovus.com New ideas. New approaches.
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Striking a chordIT WAS ALL THE BUZZ AT THE 2012 CALGARY FOLK FESTIVAL:
“Have you seen the cool cigar box guitars in the craft area? You have to check ‘em out.”
SAIT instructor Mark Kost started turning cigar boxes into guitars on a whim but his “accidental hobby” has been striking the right chord with guitar players, particularly last summer when Mark’s unique creations were flying off the shelves at a booth he set up at one of
Calgary’s most popular music festivals.“I took 25 guitars (to the Folk Festival). I sold 19,” Kost says with a smile.
“I also have all kinds of custom orders still coming in… “It’s an experience Kost hopes to repeat at next year’s Folk Festival in
July 2013. For the time being, he will continue to display his guitars at local music stores and galleries and online, and continue to enjoy the process of crafting the instruments.
The 15-year veteran SAIT aircraft structural repair instructor says he’s no musician, and he didn’t become a builder because he’s fanatical about guitars.
“I sort of dabble (at playing guitar) but I’m not very good at all.” It was the urge to build things that drew Kost to this hobby and he was introduced to this particular “thing” completely by chance. His friend and fellow instructor appeared at his door one day holding a cigar box guitar built following plans downloaded from Internet. It caught Kost’s imagination. “I liked it and I thought ‘heck I can do that’ so I also found some plans online. I built one, then I built two and then three and since then I’ve built 81 of them.”
Kost gets his cigar boxes from a tobacco outlet in Calgary, which also displays his instruments. Each container is selected carefully for its design and size; the boxes have to be at least ten inches long to become one of his four-string guitars. He hunts down high quality maple for the necks. The grain has to be just right. Kost electrifies each of the guitars with a pickup so they can be plugged into an amplifier. Each one takes him around 18 hours to build,
but he is emphatic that he doesn’t consider himself a luthier — a maker of fine guitars. He will, however, admit to being a stickler for quality.
“I make every one like it’s going to be mine… “ says Kost. “When I build one, it’s like I’m going to keep it. But I don’t, I sell it. And then I build the next one as if it’s for me to keep.”
Kost also says he enjoys adding extra creativity to his craftsmanship. He cuts the sound holes in different shapes and in different places to enhance the unique box designs, making each guitar a one-of-a-kind.
He doesn’t make a great deal of money from the guitars, which sell for between $300 and $400. The profit he makes just goes into the next guitars he builds. Though the process of crafting the guitars is an end in itself, sometimes the satisfaction he gets comes from knowing he can help people with his instruments. He has donated his guitars to raise money for charities like the Calgary Food Bank. He also packed one up and sent it to the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan.
While his guitars remain in high demand, Kost isn’t ready to give up his day job. “Building the cigar box guitars is a lot of fun, plus it’s a good alternative to being a couch potato and watching TV after work.”¬ WWW.WINSTONANDFIDEL.CA
ERIC ROSENBAUM
(Left to right) SAIT instructors Allister Schreiber (AMET ‘90) and Mark Kost play with Rick Brown (Avionics
‘77) on the cigar box guitars that Kost crafted and sold at last summer’s Calgary Folk Festival.
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sait-promising-futures.ca
October 25, 2012 SAIT Polytechnic recognized the visionary leadership provided by Irene Lewis, President and CEO, during her 15 years at SAIT. Since her appointment in 1998, she has been instrumental in the transformation of SAIT to one of Canada’s premier polytechnics, while changing society’s perceptions of the value of trades and technology education along the way. She is also the driving force behind the new $400 million Trades and Technology Complex.
TO OUR SPONSORSThis celebration would not be possible without your valued support.
media SPONSOR:
Calgary Herald
SUPPORTiNg SPONSORS:
Mark Staffing Solutions Inc., Mawer Investment Management Ltd.Three Streams Engineering Ltd., West Direct Express Courier
SPecial ThaNkS
SAIT Polytechnic School of Hospitality and Tourism
chamPiON SPONSORS:
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AP TO RECOVERY P34ACCESSIBLE BOBSLEDS P35CLEAN WATER TECHNOLOGY P36INNOVATION
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CHALLENGE: In Fort Simpson, NT., about 1,800 kilometres north of Calgary winters are cold and dark, electricity is costly, and local service companies capable of maintaining high-tech systems are non-existent. The same goes for on-demand replacement parts. Normally, the Green Building Technologies Office of SAIT’s Applied Research and Innovation Services (ARIS) would embark on a high-tech approach with elaborate energy management systems. That wasn’t going to work for their industry partner, Derek Erasmus of GBM Construction in Fort Simpson. HOW DO YOU DESIGN AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT HOUSING OPTION THAT’S COST-EFFECTIVE TO BUILD AND MAINTAIN IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES?
SOLUTION: BRING TOGETHER PASSIVE AND ACTIVE DESIGN ELEMENTS FOR THE ULTIMATE IN SUSTAINABLE HOMES.
Passive design involves orienting the structure in a way that makes the most of the environment. It’s about utilizing a southern exposure to let the sun help heat and light the indoors, or installing a concrete floor, which can help minimize temperature swings inside the house.
Active design introduces features that manipulate the environment to achieve better energy efficiency. In the Arctic House, features like a double wall system and plenty of insulation are examples of this.
When active and passive design elements come together, the payoff is exponential.
APPLIED RESEARCH ON A ROLLHigh-efficiency wood fire boilers
generate hot water, with radiant heat warming the interior surfaces — and occupants. Warm water circulating inside a closed loop of small tubes spaced evenly in the floor provides additional radiant heating throughout the house. Embedded floor sensors designed to detect solar heat, trigger a small electric pump to redistribute the hot water to a cooler zone elsewhere in the home.
“We’ve tried to achieve high-performance through as low tech (means) as possible,” said Ryan Amies, the project’s Principal Investigator and Intern Architect in ARIS. “That’s something new for us as an office, and arguably a better direction in general when it comes to sustainability.”
Life in the far northern hemisphere factored into the sustainability challenge at every turn. The team considered local availability of construction materials (it turns out there really isn’t any), shipping costs and construction waste diversion strategies. Long hours of daylight in the summer months could potentially offset the void of winter so that, ideally, the house might approach a net zero scenario.
Affordability of the build itself was another challenge for the team.
Fort Simpson has a mix of private homeownership and the kind of government-subsidized housing typical in the Northwest Territories. To compete in that market, GBM Construction needed a range of price points for their design. “We’ve come up with a method of construction that can be provided at different levels of economy,” said Amies.
It makes the construction process itself sustainable in various markets.
With the construction drawings near completion, Derek Erasmus could start building the Arctic House as early as this coming spring.“We’ll have brought the project to a close in just under a year,” said Amies. That too has proven efficient.
JULIE SENGL
ARIS investigator Ryan Amies is helping to take SAIT’s Green Building Technology know-how to the Northwest Territories.
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CHALLENGE: Every 10 minutes in Canada someone has a stroke and, as any of the 300,000 Canadians living with the effects of stroke could tell you, the road to recovery is long.
“The most important element of stroke rehabilitation is constant repetition of exercises,” explains Ana Gollega, research coordinator at the Association for Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured (ARBI). “But exercise prescriptions and rehabilitation plans need to be modified in different ways to meet each patient’s needs.”HOW DOES A STROKE SUFFERER GET THE KIND OF INDIVIDUALIZED PLAN THEY NEED TO ACHIEVE RESULTS WITHOUT LIVING AT THE PHYSICAL THERAPIST’S CLINIC?
SOLUTION: ENTER MORGAN MOE (EMT ’10). SHE’S ON A MISSION — USING HER PASSION AND HER iPAD — TO MAKE THAT ROAD SMOOTHER FOR PATIENTS AND THERAPISTS.
Moe was first inspired to help patients recovering from traumatic brain injury and stroke during a practicum at ARBI. She developed new strategies and video tools to train volunteers, but it was when she got her new iPad in the fall of 2011 that inspiration really struck.
“I started thinking about how this technology could help me further what I had started at ARBI,” explains Moe. “There are lots of mobile health initiatives out there that give patients more independence and ownership over their health, but stroke is one area that didn’t have a lot available.”
At about the same time she started dreaming up innovative ways to use her iPad, Moe was selected for The Next 36 — a program that provides Canada’s next generation of high-impact entrepreneurs with seed money, mentorship and resources to develop innovative ventures.
Once teamed up with three other young entrepreneurs, it didn’t take Moe long to infect them with her passion for health care. Two months, a lot of research, and many sleepless nights later, they had a rough prototype of StrokeLink, an iPad application for stroke patients.
Using the new tool, therapists can provide patients with a digital toolkit that includes a customized library of photos and videos of exercises, voice and text instructions, tools to track progress and a direct communication link between patients and therapists.
“The better we can equip volunteers, family members and support workers to help stroke patients in their therapy, the better their outcome will be in the long run,” says Moe.
Standing at the junction where the road to success and the road to recovery meet, Moe says the possibilities are endless. “Moving forward, things only get bigger and better.” The group is adding a web portal for therapists that will allow them to create, prescribe and modify programs for rural patients who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access care.
“There is a tremendous amount of interest in and demand for what we’re doing. Now it’s a question of being able to secure funding so we can continue executing our vision.”
MICHELLE WOODARD
STROKE OF GENIUS
Morgan Moe, chief innovation officer with StrokeLink, is finding innovative ways to combine the solid skill set in emergency medicine she developed at SAIT with her bachelor’s degree in kinesiology. The result? A new tool to help stroke survivors on their long road to recovery.
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CHALLENGE: DIFFICULT AS IT MAY BE TO IMAGINE, THERE JUST AREN’T THAT MANY YOUNG ATHLETES WILLING TO GO HURTLING DOWN NARROW, TWISTING ICE TRACKS IN A METAL TOBOGGAN AT SPEEDS OVER 100 KM/HOUR. PARTICIPATION IN THE SPORT HAS BEEN LOW, SAYS THE ALBERTA BOBSLED ASSOCIATION. CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR DISABLED ATHLETES TO PARTICI-PATE IS ONE WAY THE ASSOCIATION HAS TRIED TO GROW THE SPORT. IT’S A VIABLE IDEA, BUT IT LEFT THE ASSOCIATION WONDERING: HOW CAN DISABLED ATHLETES BE SAFELY INCORPORATED INTO THE SPORT OF BOBSLEIGH RACING IN CANADA?
Bobsleigh racing is held as a promising sport for disabled athletes. While the driver role is seen as potentially appropriate for paraplegic or quadriplegic bobsledders, their limited core strength and control can prevent them from ducking into the sleigh in the event of a crash. Sled adaptations, therefore, have to be made to ensure the safety of disabled athletes who want to participate in bobsleigh racing.
SOLUTION: THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND DESIGN, MEMBERS OF SAIT’S APPLIED RESEARCH AND INNOVATION SERVICES (ARIS) TEAM HAVE DEVELOPED AND FABRICATED AN ADAPTIVE BOBSLEIGH WITH A PROTECTIVE ROLL CAGE THAT CAN MEET THE NEEDS OF ABLE-BODIED AND DISABLED ATHLETES.
According to Alberta Bobsleigh Association president, Alan Morash, an adaptive sled will help the association train and retain new able-bodied racers as well as racers who are disabled. The association approached ARIS’s Sports and Wellness Engineering Technology Institute to come up with a design.
When ARIS presented the design project as a potential assignment to SAIT’s 2012 engineering technology class, then-student, Emily Chrysanthou, jumped at the chance. She had no previous interest in bobsleigh racing, she says, but was inspired by the challenge. She and three project partners set to work, designing a sled with a roll cage that could withstand the types of crashes typical in bobsleigh racing.
“The biggest challenge… was the lack of available resources about design requirements and the safety requirements for a world-class bobsleigh,” says Chrysanthou. “There was no previous research done on a roll cage of this type before...”
Chrysanthou looked at automobile roof-crush statistics and created unique computer simulation testing to determine the required strength and deformation of the roll cage in relation to its aerodynamics. Her team’s design, called Sled 1, was the follow up to ARIS’s Sled 0 — a regular bobsleigh retrofitted with an externally attached roll cage. Sled 1 is specially designed to allow the roll cage to attach directly to the sled’s internal roll bar. The design was fabricated and delivered in March 2012 and faced its first test run on the track at Canada Olympic Park last October.
According to Chrysanthou it’s possible the design of Sled 1, the only known functional adaptive bobsleigh in the world, will become the international standard if bobsleigh becomes a Paralympic sport. There is work to be done, she says, but the International Paralympic Committee plans to see bobsleigh in its 2018 games.
“I think there’s a lot of potential for this sport,” says Chrysanthou. “I would like to eventually see this project through to 2018 and beyond.”
CHRISTIE SIMMONS
APPLIED RESEARCH ON A ROLLSAIT alumna Emily Chrysanthou wasn’t interested in the challenging sport of bobsledding until it was proposed to her as a design challenge that she could engineer.
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INNOVATION
CHALLENGE: THERE ARE PLACES WHERE CLEAN, SAFE DRINKING WATER COMES AT A PREMIUM, IF IT COMES AT ALL. Water covers two-thirds of the planet. It’s the most abundant natural resource on earth. However, most of the world’s water contains salt, which renders it undrinkable. And hundreds of millions of people around the globe continue to suffer from a lack of clean water and sanitation.
For Calgary businessman Chris Ramgopal, CEO of Trilogy Environmental Systems Inc., the combination of such abundance and deprivation was unacceptable. His challenge? How to generate potable water in an affordable manner for those who need it most.
SOLUTION: TAP INTO THE OCEANS — AND NEW TECHNOLOGY — TO PRODUCE ENOUGH FOR EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE.
Large-scale, multi-million-dollar desalination plants are in operation around the world, but they haven’t solved the problem of water supply and demand.
They’re traditionally expensive and hard to distribute to where they’re needed.
So Ramgopal approached SAIT’s director of Applied Research and Innovation Services (ARIS), Alex Zahavich, to help develop a new kind of desalination; one that can produce large volumes of clean, safe drinking water efficiently and less expensively, with very little waste, anywhere in the world.
“SAIT has a good name worldwide,” said Ramgopal. “I knew they’d be able to bring my vision to life.”
Energy consumption accounts for approximately 40 to 60 per cent of the cost of making drinking water from ocean water. “We’re trying to get the maximum fresh water output with the least amount of energy resources,” said Vita Martez, the project lead of the Energy and Environment group at ARIS.
The Trilogy Hybrid Water Desalination System™ (Trilogy HWDS) recovers the energy used during the desalination process and reuses it to drive internal pump systems. The result is an energy savings of between 30 and 60 per cent.
WATER, WATER EVERY WHERE
Chris Ramgopal of Trilogy Environmental Systems partnered with applied research at SAIT to bring to life his vision of technology that could generate safe drinking water affordably for those who need it most.
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IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL HWANGThis time last year, LINK published an Innovation story on the 2011 winners of SAIT’s annual business plan competition: LAUNCH (“An idea that sells itself,” Fall 2011, p.43).
Information Technology Network System students Michael (Ho-Seok) Hwang and Ryan Hermansonn took home the award money for their marketing business idea called AdLotto.
This past August, tragedy struck while Hwang was climbing on Castle Mountain near Pincher Creek, Alta. While rappelling down a 600-foot vertical on the west face of the mountain, he ran out of rope and fell to his death. He had been climbing alone.
“Michael was a risk taker by nature,” said his AdLotto business partner and classmate Ryan Hermansonn. “He liked a challenge and never let obstacles get in the way of success. The news of the accident was a really sad thing to hear.”
Earlier in the year Hwang auditioned to pitch AdLotto on the Dragon’s Den, a Canadian reality TV show where business entrepreneurs woo a panel of wealthy investors. He was still waiting to hear back from the producers of the show.
Hwang was 44 years old and leaves behind a wife and four young children.
JULIE SENGL
“It’s a proprietary hybrid, blending advanced clean technologies within the water treatment train,” said Martez. SAIT alumni Brian Brunning and Lifeng Zhao also participated in its development.
But it’s not just what’s inside that counts here. Traditional desalination systems tend to be stationary water treatment plants with large footprints. The Trilogy HWDS is a modular system that comes fully housed inside a portable 14-metre shipping container.
“This system has the ability to be rapidly deployed to almost any location,” says Martez. “It turns sea water or brackish groundwater into reliable drinking water for small communities, industrial or construction sites, military bases, hospitals and disaster relief centres, on-site and on-demand.”
Trilogy HWDS was inducted as an honoree in the category of Outstanding achievement in Technology and Innovation at the 2012 ASTech Awards event in Edmonton on Nov. 2, 2012.
JULIE SENGL WITH FILES FROM NICOLE SHEPHERD
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CONTACT US CALL: 403.210.4340 EMAIL: [email protected] REGISTER TODAY AT SAIT.CA
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
DIGITAL MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION
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Recipes for a cold provinceRecipes
for a cold province
Soy honey duck breast with Saskatoon berry compote
and balsamic lentils
LINK CAMPUS
DOWNTOWN
On almost any given weekday at noon, SAIT Polytechnic’s Culinary Campus in downtown Calgary is chock-a-block with patrons seeking fresh, affordable and often gourmet lunches to go.
Though we highly recommend letting our chefs and culinary students do the cooking for you, sometimes it’s too cold to venture out and you have to fend for yourself. With that in mind, try this menu suggested by Culinary Campus instructor Chef Michael Dekker (PKC ‘01). It’s one specifically chosen to delight your palette and ward off the winter blues.
Soy honey duck breast4 6-7 oz duck breasts, scoured and trimmed of excess fat½ cup soy sauce½ cup red wine
½ cup white wine¼ cup honey2 tbsp juniper berries2 tbsp black peppercorns
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Marinate breasts for minimum overnight and a maximum of 3 days.
To cook duck breasts, place fat side down in cold lightly oiled fry pan. On medium heat slowly begin to render off the excess fat. Leave on fat side for approximately 6-8 minutes, moving the breast around slightly to prevent sticking. Then flip breast over onto flesh side and finish cooking (approximately 4-5 minutes) Allow meat to rest at least 5 minutes on a clean plate tented lightly with tin foil.
Balsamic lentils2 tbsp olive oil½ onion, fine dice½ carrot, fine dice½ stalk celery, fine dice1 c black lentils, rinsed
1½ litres chicken/vegetable stock¼ cup balsamic vinegar2 tbsp honeySalt and Pepper to taste
Sauté vegetables in olive oil until just tender, add in lentils and stock. Cook until lentils are tender (about 35-40 Min) Strain lentils and reserve liquid. Combine cooking liquid with balsamic and honey; reduce by half. Add in lentils and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add fresh chopped herbs such as chervil, parsley or oregano if desired.
Saskatoon berry compote1 tbsp olive oil3 tbsp shallots, chopped fine3 tbsp sugar¼ cup white wine
2 tbsp red wine vinegar1 cup Saskatoon berriessalt and pepper to taste
In sauce pan, sauté shallots in olive oil until tender (about 2 minutes on medium heat). Add in sugar and stirring constantly, begin to caramelize the sugar and shallots until they are light golden brown. Immediately stir in remaining ingredients. Allow mixture to simmer on low heat until liquid is reduced by half and crystalized sugar is melted. Let cool to room temperature and serve with balsamic duck.
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CALENDAROF EVENTSJanuaryALUMNI AWARDSNominations open for the 2013 Distinguished Alumni and Outstanding Young Alumni awards.For information on past recipients or to nominate an alumnus/a for 2013, visit sait.ca and search alumni awards.
9
HIGHWOOD DINING ROOM RE-OPENS Reserve early. Spaces book up quickly.
10NEW YEARS BLESSING SMUDGE AND BANNOCK TACO FEAST12 – 3 pmChinook Lodge
14-18
FITNESS WEEK AT SAIT’S WELLNESS CENTREA week of free gym passes and drop in classes
11TROJANS VS. OLDS BRONCOS – BASKETBALLWomen at 6 pm Men at 8 pm Campus Centre gym
TROJANS VS. RED DEER QUEENS – WOMEN’S HOCKEY7 pm Campus Centre arena
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TROJANS VS. AUGUSTANA – VOLLEYBALLWomen at 6 pm Men at 8 pmCampus Centre gym
TROJANS VS. CONCORDIA – MEN’S HOCKEY6 pmCampus Centre arena
18TROJANS VS. ST MARY’S – BASKETBALLWomen at 6 pm Men at 8 pm Campus Centre gym
TROJANS VS. NAIT – WOMEN’S HOCKEY6 pmCampus Centre arena
19TROJANS VS. RED DEER –VOLLEYBALLWomen at 6 pm Men at 8 pm Campus Centre gym
TROJANS VS. AUGUSTANA –MEN’S HOCKEY6 pm Campus Centre arena
25TROJANS VS. BRIERQUEST – BASKETBALL Women at 6 pm Men at 8 pm Campus Centre gym
TROJANS VS. GRANT MACEWAN – MEN’S HOCKEY7 pm Campus Centre arena
26TROJANS VS. BRIERQUEST – BASKETBALL Women at 1 pm Men at 3 pm Campus Centre gym
27CORPORATE MIXER – EMPLOYMENT AND NETWORKING11:45 am – 12:45 pmChinook Lodge
February
1TROJANS VS. MEDICINE HAT – VOLLEYBALLWomen at 6 pm Men at 8 pm Campus Centre gym
TROJANS VS. PORTAGE VOYAGEURS – MEN’S HOCKEY7 pm Campus Centre arena
2TROJANS VS. MEDICINE HAT – BASKETBALLWomen at 6 pm Men at 8 pm Campus Centre gym
8&9SAIT OPEN HOUSE9 am – 4 pm dailyLearn about SAIT programs; take a tour and try-a-trade. On Saturday, visit the Alumni Lounge to rest your feet, have a snack and learn about
student awards and alumni benefits. Use computers reserved for alumni and their children to jump the line for online registration.
8GRADE 12 ABORIGINAL STUDENT SAIT OPEN HOUSE8:30 am – 5 pmChinook Lodge
TROJANS VS. GRANT MACEWAN – WOMEN’S HOCKEY7 pm Campus Centre arena
TROJANS VS. LETHBRIDGE – VOLLEYBALL Women at 6 pm Men at 8 pm Campus Centre gym
9TROJANS VS. NAIT – MEN’S HOCKEY6 pm Campus Centre arena
TROJANS VS. LETHBRIDGE – BASKETBALLWomen at 6 pm Men at 8 pm Campus Centre gym
sait.ca. for more info
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SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
15CAREER DIRECTIONS11:30 am – 1 pm Stan Grad CentreSAIT Student Services’ bi-annual career fair. Employers and professional associations talk about career opportunities to SAIT students and alumni.Email [email protected] for details.
TROJANS VS. RED DEER – WOMEN’S HOCKEY7 pm Campus Centre arena
27SPECTRA ENERGY CULTURAL LECTURE SERIES 11:45 am – 12:45 pm Chinook Lodge
March
18-22
TASTE OF ABORIGINAL CULTURE WEEK10 am – 3 pm Chinook Lodge
23ANNUAL REGIONAL SKILLS CALGARY COMPETITIONCompetitions include automotive service , heavy duty mechanic, culinary arts, IT office software, welding, and tv/video production. See sait.ca for details.SAIT main campus – various buildings
April
12ANNUAL REGIONAL SKILLS CALGARY COMPETITIONLocal high school students compete to make their mark in trades and technologies. Autobody repair competition. See sait.ca for details.Buck Crump Building, Mayland Heights Campus
May
2HERITAGE HALL SOCIETY HIGH TEABy invitationIn recognition of the Heritage Hall Society and SAIT’s Alive Centennial Society Donors. This tea is a chance for scholarship and award recipients to thank donors and share their stories.
4ANNUAL REGIONAL SKILLS CALGARY COMPETITION Competitions include carpentry and cabinet making. See sait.ca for details.Bob Edwards Building – Mayland Heights Campus
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
10SAIT ABORIGINAL GRADUATIONBy invitation
30-31
SAIT GRADUATION CEREMONIESBy invitationSAIT welcomes our newest alumni to the family.
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¬ EACH ISSUE the LINK will feature a photograph from our archives. Browse through the Heritage Photo section at saitalumnilink.ca for a view into our past.
FLASHBACK: During the warm days of September, the flags outside Heritage Hall were halted at half mast for weeks in honour of the passing of former Alberta premier, Peter Lougheed.Lougheed was a lawyer, a former Edmonton Eskimos player, a Harvard graduate and Alberta’s longest serving premier, leading the province from 1971-85. Lougheed, shown here before SAIT graduation ceremonies with Board of Governors chair Bruce Libin and other guests, received an honorary degree from SAIT in 1995. His state funeral service was held in Calgary Sept. 21, 2012 at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, just a stone’s throw from SAIT’s main campus. Several SAIT staff members were on hand to volunteer with traffic direction for the event, which drew nearly 1,000 attendees.
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ACHIEVEMENTSSAIT Polytechnic and its students, staff and alumni are making strides in the community and around the world. Here are some recent highlights:
ALUMNI
Alumnus cements shot at international titleMason Ken Rutley, who graduated from SAIT in 2004, notched his fourth victory Western Canadian Regional Bricklayer 500 competition at SAIT last November. He competed against six craftsmen, all of whom transformed 3,202 bricks into a half-dozen 26-foot long brick walls. Rutley put 722 bricks to mortar and emerged with the winning score of 672.The win earned Rutley the regional title and a berth in the 2013 International Bricklayer 500 to be held in Las Vegas in February 2013.
STUDENTS
Trojans triumphThe Trojan men’s soccer team brought home the gold medal late last fall, earning their first Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) championship.Trojans cross-country running teams captured two team medals last October during provincial championships at Camrose. The men’s team snared its first ACAC gold medal in 14 years, and the Trojan women brought home the ACAC team bronze for the second straight year.
SAIT
Trades and Technology Complex nets award hat trickSAIT Polytechnic’s Trades and Technology Complex earned three major awards late in 2012. The Southern Alberta Charter of the Project Management Institute declared the Complex Project of the Year in both the Engineering and Construction and Community Advancement categories. Alberta Construction Magazine also announced the SAIT Trades and Technology Complex as its 2012 Project of the Year.
Irene Lewis named Canadian power houseIrene Lewis, retiring President and CEO of SAIT Polytechnic, has been recognized as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women for the second time. Lewis was recognized in the Public Sector Leaders category of 2012 Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards, hosted by the Women’s Executive Network. She first received the award in 2010.Lewis also received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal last November in recognition of her tireless commitment to SAIT, the Calgary community and Canada.
Instructor awarded for innovative teachingPaul Norris, a SAIT Architectural Technologies instructor, has cultivated an impressive YouTube following and two teaching awards as a result of his AutoCAD instructional videos, which he posted online. Norris began posting lecture videos on YouTube three years ago and has since generated more than 40,000 hits from viewers in 162 countries. The videos also earned him an Excellence Award from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) and the 2012 Award for Innovation in Teaching from the Alberta Colleges and Institutes Faculties Association (ACIFA).
ARIS director named Industrial Research ChairAlex Zahavich, director of Applied Research and Innovation Services (ARIS) at SAIT, was named one of 14 Industrial Research Chairs by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The associated $1-million grant will be put towards the Sports and Wellness Engineering Technology Institute at SAIT.
SAIT project earns ASTech nominationApplied Research and Innovation Services industry partner Trilogy Environmental Systems Inc. was nominated for a 2012 ASTech Award for its mobile, hybrid water de-salination technology. This patent-pending technology will bring potable, Calgary-quality drinking water to the world, producing twice the amount of water and using half the energy of existing desalination technologies. Vita Martez led SAIT Polytechnic’s water team, including student Michael Su, on the successful project.
A royal honourMarc Bussiere, an instructor in SAIT’s Architectural Technologies program, has been recognized for his leadership and extensive efforts to bring international experiences to students. Last November, he received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
FIRST PERSON
IRENE LEWIS NOTHING MUCH HAPPENS WITHOUT A DREAM. I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED THIS.
A nd what I have learned in my time at SAIT Polytechnic is how the right community — in this case, just the right mix of passionate alumni, students, employees and partners — can transform that dream into something
greater than anyone had ever imagined, and then bring it to life.This type of magic is rare, but it has been my good fortune
to have found it at SAIT. With the vision and generosity of people like Marty Cohos,
Clayton Carroll, Art Smith, Keith MacPhail, John Aldred — and countless others — we restored Heritage Hall and built the Automotive Centre, the Aero Centre, two residence towers, the Stan Grad Centre (formerly known as the Heart Building), and the spectacular Trades and Technology Complex.
I have been asked many times if the new buildings are my greatest memories. They are, indeed, special — because they remind me of the people who made them possible, and the students whose lives will change within their walls.
My greatest memories will be the SAIT community, the SAIT family — the people so firmly dedicated to student success.
I will never forget the focus of our employees and industry partners who developed SAIT’s first two baccalaureate degrees, and those who piloted online apprenticeship training — a transformative way of learning.
I will never forget the dedication of the faculty and staff who devoted their days — and many of their evenings and weekends — to teaching and coaching our students, preparing them for rewarding careers (and sometimes even gold medals).
I will never forget the innovation of our applied research team, as they blazed a trail for other polytechnics to follow, from elephant tusk-caps and biodiesel to net-zero homes and Olympic skeleton sleds.
I will never forget the way our community shone on the international stage — as co-host of the 40th WorldSkills Competition and as providers of transformative education for women in Afghanistan and workforce development for countries around the world.
Together we have forever changed perceptions about the value of trades and technical education, and enhanced the reputation of SAIT as a premier polytechnic, one of Canada’s finest.
This community has changed lives. It will continue to change lives.
It has certainly changed mine. To every student, every graduate, every employee, and
every friend of SAIT, thank you for making dreams come true. IRENE LEWIS WILL RETIRE IN MARCH 2013, AFTER 15
YEARS AS SAIT’S PRESIDENT AND CEO.
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Nexen SAIT alumni advert 13985.indd 1 11/16/2012 11:02:50 AM
I¬G¬LEWIS FUND
SAIT Polytechnic is proud to announce the creation of a new endowed emergency fund for students. The I.G. Lewis Fund will provide students with financial help and counselling during times of personal financial crisis.
The fund has been established as a tribute to SAIT’s President and CEO Irene Lewis on the occasion of her retirement. The I.G. Lewis Fund continues the legacy of President Lewis’ passion for education and student success.
I.G. Lewis Fund recipients will be mature students, often single parents, who attend SAIT to provide a better life for their families. An unforeseen crisis can put students at risk of leaving school. A small amount of financial aid can make the difference between dropping out and reaching graduation.
PLEASE gIvE TO THE I¬G¬LEWIS FUND
For more information contact Brian Bowman, Director, SAIT Polytechnic Alumni and Development [email protected] 403.284.7011
sait.ca
