Adriano Magnifico

Baking with entrepreneurial verve

Students from the Louis Riel Arts and Technology Centre put a year’s worth of baking skills on the line during an entrepreneurial competition called The Bakers’ Den.

Connecting the dots at LRSD ATC

Steve Jobs’ infamous 2005 Stanford commencement address included this curious line: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward.”

Career pathing benefits from mentors

Andre Bazin, a 2016 Nelson McIntyre Collegiate grad, spoke at the annual Junior Achievement Manitoba Business Hall of Fame Dinner on Nov. 3 at the MET Entertainment Centre on Donald Street.

Students grapple with supply chain issues

“Hey, bro, I need 40 cases and you didn’t give me anything.”

Hamlet and the melancholy student

When Mrs. Axworthy introduced me to Shakespeare’s Hamlet back in the day, I was immediately absorbed in the melancholy Dane’s struggle, as he grapples with human and supernatural traumas beyond his control.

The new extracurricular activity: esports

Large computer monitors are arranged in a Canada -goose-like V-shape, with the apex pointed toward a large screen on the stage.

Nelson Mac Schulich winner is multi-talented

Grade 12 Nelson McIntyre student Marina Caracas Le-Fort, a 2022 winner of the prestigious national Schulich Leader scholarship, is no stranger to obstacles.

When her family completely uprooted their lives in Brazil to build a new life in Winnipeg in 2016, “It was really challenging being thrown into a whole new country without any support systems beyond my family and with poor English skills.”

Hard work, family support, teacher mentorship, and an insatiable curiosity for learning has helped her overcome those early struggles.

Schulich took notice, awarding a $100,000 scholarship to finance her entire undergraduate program for the next five years in computer engineering at the University of Manitoba.

Reflecting on career paths should be a priority

Considering its ubiquitous and highly relevant nature to every student in every K-12 school system, thinking about ‘careers’ surely gets serious attention in schools, right?

Not really.

Students are often left on their own to work out a career plan after high school. Schools prioritize completing the required 30 credits; there often isn’t time to help students figure out what to do with them.

And that’s a problem according to Grade 11 Glenlawn student C.J. Campbell, who felt that courses lacked discussion about how they connect to future skills and jobs.

Junior Achievement hints at future careers

High school is a busy and pivotal time in anyone’s life.

Students toil through 30 credits in a variety of disciplines that hopefully point them towards career paths.

Many also choose extracurricular activities that often make all the difference in answering the quintessential high school query: “What should I do after high school?”

Such an activity is Junior Achievement’s (JA) Company Program, operating at Windsor Park Collegiate and Nelson McIntyre Collegiate with support from teachers and community volunteers.

Students embrace virtual career fair

When the pandemic shut down Winnipeg’s annual Rotary Career Symposium at the RBC Convention Centre in 2020, a serious vacuum was created in the career development sphere.For 22 years, the symposium gathered hundreds of diverse career players in the same place at the same time, offering a unique venue for students to think about and plan for future pathways and careers. The void prompted Manitoba Career Prospects to move into the symposium domain for a second consecutive year, organizing and hosting the Manitoba Virtual Career Fair on Jan. 19. Over 1,700 high school students from throughout the province navigated 50 diverse ‘booths’ through the digital conduits of MS Teams, Zoom, Google Meets, Facebook, Airmeet, and Cisco WebEx. The 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. program offered live and taped half-hour presentations from universities and colleges, sector councils, businesses and non-profit organizations. Manitoba Career Prospects coordinator Jackelyn Tsouras believes that students “need to be aware of all the various careers and education in Manitoba… it’s more important than ever to give our youth hope for the future.”  The day was an eye-opener for many high school students, most of whom see great value in career planning opportunities.Ridhwanlai Badmos, a Grade 11 student at Windsor Park Collegiate, explored university science programs. “Many students my age don’t know what career path to pursue or have vague ideas without plans on how to follow through,” he said. Chahat Sharma, also in Grade 11 at WPC, attended an RBC Future Launch talk on social media practices to complement her post-secondary options. “At my age, learning about the many post-secondary programs offered in Manitoba and how to qualify for them is very important,” she said.Keira Media, a Grade 12 student from WPC joined a session by Manitoba Music that “pushed me to think twice about my first-action steps” to support her post-secondary plan.Ruth Beitler of the applied business program at the Louis Riel Arts and Technology Centre was ‘pleasantly surprised to find out that attaining a degree in fashion design is actually not as impossible as I thought.”Pondering the medical field, Grade 12 student Dana Santander from Collège Beliveau checked out Volunteer Manitoba to seek community experiences, noting that “many of us struggle with finding what career path would work best.”Grade 12 student Mackenzie Barkman from CB, who is interested in web design, had a ‘eureka’ moment. “I’m now planning on going to Robertson College after attending its live session,” she said.Will future career fairs go virtual? “Not necessarily,” Tsouras said. “We are still gathering feedback but may continue to offer this event virtually after the pandemic.”Many recorded livestream sessions at the symposium are still available for students and parents to view at www.manitobacareerprospects.ca/manitoba-career-fair-videos.aspAdriano Magnifico is a community correspondent for St. Boniface. You can contact him at anomag60@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: @AnoMagnifico

When the pandemic shut down Winnipeg’s annual Rotary Career Symposium at the RBC Convention Centre in 2020, a serious vacuum was created in the career development sphere.

For 22 years, the symposium gathered hundreds of diverse career players in the same place at the same time, offering a unique venue for students to think about and plan for future pathways and careers. 

The void prompted Manitoba Career Prospects to move into the symposium domain for a second consecutive year, organizing and hosting the Manitoba Virtual Career Fair on Jan. 19. 

ATC broadcast media program builds skills

“Can we set up in the press box instead of the truck?”

“Who will be doing the hand-held on the field?”

“Are the snakes organized and wound properly?”

“Who’s the director? The producer? The scorebug? The switcher?”

Helping kids navigate their futures

“I’m worried about losing my friends.”

“I don’t want to disappoint my family.”

“What if I wind up hating my post-secondary school?”

“I hope I don’t choose the wrong career path.”

Hallways of Indigenous inspiration at ATC

Walking through the off-white cinder blocks and drywalled hallways of a high school is not generally an engaging exercise.

Unless you happen to be in the Louis Riel Arts and Technology Centre.

And it’s all because of 2015 ATC hairstyling graduate Justine Proulx.

This fall, she has reshaped the look and feel of the school with a stunning, hallway-long mural and a variety of artworks in virtually every corner of the school.   

Norwood Honey brings extra buzz to the area

Carol Wenaus has been stung a few times.

She doesn’t mind. It’s part of the gig. She’s a beekeeper in Norwood.

In early September, Wenaus set up shop in her front yard, selling 880 pounds of this year’s Norwood Honey crop.

While beekeeping sounds like hazardous work, Carol sees it differently.   

Raising monarch butterflies the Manitoba way

It begins with a light cracking sound.

A tiny body squirms and twists. A small fissure winds its way around a translucent shell. Gently, the body slides through the crack. It sits quietly, unsure of its new world.

A white-speckled, black-and orange-winged male monarch butterfly is born.

His name is Patrick. He joins Moira, Johnny, David and Alexis, born earlier in the week.

Sewing the seeds of entrepreneurship

A small cluster of students sits at a corner table, solving problems regarding hem lines, collar styles and fastener options.

Some pull fabric through whirring sewing machines and sergers.

At large tables in the centre of the room, others cut patterns from cotton, polyester, or denim for projects that range from a quilt to a Fortnite stuffie.  

Julie Koch’s textile arts and design fabrication lab at is a popular class at Nelson McIntyre Collegiate.

Even tigers need to adapt to COVID-19

If you were expecting to read about Bengal tigers changing their lifestyles because of COVID-19, unfortunately, you’ve been misled.

These Tigers are human. They’re entrepreneurs.

For the past 12 years, they have been playing the role of Tiger-judges in Louis Riel School Division’s Tigers’ Den entrepreneurship conference.

A year ago, 100 students and 12 teachers gathered in the division’s Legacy Centre and immersed themselves in a day of business-plan ideas and problem-solving, culminating in a series of frenzied afternoon pitches to 30 business professionals.

Gen Z asking the right questions about money

What is an example of a good debt?

Does paying your credit card early help your credit score?

When is the best time to buy a GIC, a bond, or a mutual fund?

What are some good companies or things to invest in right now?

Red River Trail a refuge from the pandemic

2020-21 became the winter of our discontent, as a pandemic forced us all to hibernate in our homes, stare at screens and avoid most human contact.

I was becoming the fly in the Cronenberg movie - eye strain, neck aches, poor posture, and a sedentary lifestyle reshaping my body.

I looked forward to grocery shopping, just to get out. To be honest, though, going for any car ride got my tail wagging.

Encountering a shaggy-haired neighbour outside my bubble while walking the dogs this winter was a bonus (although I seemed to have developed safe-distancing angst).

Hackers welcome in info systems program

Being ‘hacked’ is becoming an all-too-common downside of living online.

The sheer number of victims is staggering. the 2014 hack of eBay involved 145 million users, Equifax’s 2017 attack 148 million, Marriot Hotels’ 2014-2018 assault 500 million.

In December 2020, hackers breached software tech company SolarWinds, gaining access to data in many U.S. government networks and private tech companies, including Microsoft.

Customer names, IDs, user names, passwords, debit and credit card information, social security numbers, birthdays, addresses, drivers’ license numbers - if it’s online, your stuff can be hacked.

Pandemic drives culinary program to improvise

Improvisation is a word often associated with drama classes, a creative state of continually inventing and iterating.  

The term aptly describes our state of COVID-19. We eat, walk, jog, gather, play, shop, work, and teach in ways we couldn’t fathom a year ago. Nothing is as it was. Rules continue to evolve.

No educational institution has had to improvise its programming more than the Louis Riel Arts and Technology Centre (ATC), a school that annually attracts over 200 students in 13 industry-driven programs who choose applied, ‘hands-on’ and technical training along with community internships.

‘Hands-on’ is especially challenging with social distancing and incessant handwashing.

Hockey Night in Norwood — pandemic style

COVID-19 has stopped much of life in its tracks.

Each season this year has been burdened with this albatross of a virus, curtailing normal activities Winnipeggers take for granted.

Retail stores and restaurants practice curbside pick-up to minimize human interaction, Christmas and New Year’s gatherings were supplanted by video conferences, schools continue to move more kids to virtual classrooms.

Canada’s national pastime became another piece of collateral damage inflicted by the pandemic with hockey teams and games outlawed to satisfy the code red Public Health mandate. Community centres were forced to close down their indoor and outdoor rinks.

Students go virtual to plan post-secondary options

For all high school students, exploring career options is an integral part of the high school experience.

At this time of year, representatives from the universities and colleges in Manitoba visit libraries and gymnasiums to promote their programs and answer questions.

Some of the smaller institutions set up booths in the hallways and connect with students on spares or during lunch hours.

Students and parents plan to visit career symposiums and job fairs to speak directly with industry and educational professionals.

Ready for an adventure in Careerland?

COVID-19 has changed the way we leave the house, shop, socialize, gather, walk the dog, eat, wash our hands, and otherwise lead our lives.

Virtually nothing has gone untouched by this relentless pandemic.

When we think we have the virus under control, it surges, reminding us to be ever vigilant.Schools have been at the forefront in this unprecedented environment, delivering programming with stringent social distancing and masking protocols, often with half-empty classrooms and scattered virtual classrooms.

The Louis Riel Arts and Technology Centre (ATC) bears the extra burden of delivering 13 applied learning and technical programs that specialize in ‘hands-on’ learning.