Spring 2014 HOMEBREW CLUB P. 12 • CHEF SHOWS OFF CULINARY CHOPS P. 20 • 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOMS P. 38
A PUBLICATION OF LETHBRIDGE COLLEGE
Editor’s message T
hose of us who have had the good fortune to have worked at, attended or visited Lethbridge College know one of the many benefits of being on campus is the ability to go to a cafeteria with delicious offerings every day. From freshly-prepared sandwiches and salads stuffed with local produce to delicate desserts created that morning by students in the pastry class, the college’s food court offers anything but stale, canned fare. Exceptional care about cuisine extends into the Garden Court Restaurant, too, where culinary students put their sautéing, searing, sifting and simmering skills to the test with creative offerings throughout the year. But the college’s connection to food ranges far beyond the offerings of the Culinary program, and this issue of Wider Horizons highlights just a few of these savory stories. Dive in to an in-depth profile about Charlie Shultz, one of the world’s experts on aquaponics training and research, who joined Lethbridge College as an aquaponics researcher last year and is researching ways to improve sustainable food technologies. Soak up the story about a local homebrew club whose members include many current and recently-retired instructors who gather together to concoct and distill memorable beverages – and lasting friendships as well. Follow along with the adventures of two students from the Blood Reserve who travelled to Peru last summer as part of a class that was working to build greenhouses to provide fresh produce to school children in a small mountain village.
selected to appear on the Food Network’s hit show, Chopped Canada , as well as a Victoria chef who is gaining a following for his “pop-up” restaurant that features a new menu at a different location each night. We’ve also included some personal essays from college students and staff about food and eating, including words from an instructor who loves to bake, from an international student who writes about comfort foods from home, and from two Environmental Science instructors whose hunting trips fill up a freezer each year. You’ll quickly see that this issue is loaded with recipes, too, including favourites of the students, staff and industry partners we have featured in these pages. People feel passionately about food, and creating this issue has fueled the culinary fire in all of us in the Marketing and Communications office at the college. If you are so inspired, please email us (whmagazine@lethbridgecollege.ca) with your own favourite recipes and we’ll post them on our website. We hope you enjoy our creation – and that you find this special issue to be as satisfying as a delicious meal shared at a table with great friends. Bon appetit!
Lisa Kozleski Managing Editor
You can also read about some of the successes of our Culinary grads, including a Claresholm chef who was
People feel passionately about food, and creating this issue has fueled the culinary fire in all of us.” Lisa Kozleski
What’s inside Vol. 7, No. 3, Spring 2014
Glorious: the food issue
Students and volunteers plant and tend the LCSA garden on campus each year and donate the harvest to the LCSA food bank. This issue’s cover photo features some of last fall’s colourful crop. There are countless places and spaces on campus that focus on food – and not just in the kitchens. In this issue, read all about chefs, home cooks, hunters and more, all of whom (like George Bernard Shaw said) could argue “there is no love sincerer than the love of food.”
Wider Horizons is Lethbridge College’s community magazine, celebrating the successes and accomplishments of its students, employees and alumni by promoting them throughout the community and around the world. This publication aims to educate its readers, engage stakeholders and recognize donors through compelling stories and images that relate to, and resonate with, its readers. Wider Horizons is published by the Lethbridge College Advancement Office. We thank you for picking up this copy and we hope you enjoy the read. If you would like to suggest a story or find out more about our magazine, contact us. Wider Horizons c/o The Advancement Office 3000 College Drive South Lethbridge, AB T1K 1L6 WHMagazine@lethbridgecollege.ca
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College’s aquaponics researcher in search of innovative answers to food production questions.
Lethbridge College students make connections, build community in summer trip to Peru.
In every issue President in action.........................2 Campus in season.........................4 From our kitchens.......................28 Office intrigue.............................30
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publisher: Dr. Paula Burns executive editor: Carmen Toth managing editor: Lisa Kozleski designer: Dana Woodward photographers: Rod Leland, Rob Olson, Jonathan Ruzek, Gregory Thiessen magazine staff: Leeanne Conrad, Elisabeth Morgan, Diana Prakash, Shawn Salberg, Kasha Thurston, Gwen Wirth contributors: Melissa Belter, Bob Cooney, Shelby Craig, Megan Shapka
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In addition to free distribution to our regional community, Wider Horizons is also mailed to all Lethbridge College alumni. Alumni are encouraged to stay connected to the college by emailing alumni@lethbridgecollege.ca or by updating their contact information at the Alumni Relations website: lethbridgecollege.ca/alumni.
Celebrating our stars. 2014 Honouring Excellence award recipients.
Q&A...........................................32 It’s a family affair........................43 Where are they now?..................44 News and notes..........................46 Noted online...............................52
To share this issue with others or access even more content, visit us at widerhorizons.ca. To change the address where you recieve Wider Horizons, email WHcirculation@lethbridgecollege.ca.
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President in action
Dr. Paula Burns came out to root, root, root for the home team last November and cheered the Kodiaks basketball teams on to victory against the SAIT Trojans. Joining her in the stands were members of the Kodiaks soccer team (and brothers) Matteo, Dario and Nico Pasquotti. Dario rejoined the basketball team in the new year after soccer season finished and went on to lead the league in the number of assists per game. 2 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
Photo by Rob Olson
Both the men’s and the women’s basketball teams had strong seasons, with the men finishing with 15-5 record, placing them third in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) regular season. The women’s team finished with 17 wins and 3 losses in the season, placing fourth in the ACAC. Kodiak Dom Coward was named the ACAC’s 2013-14 Men’s Basketball Player of the Year and coach Avery Harrison was named Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year. 3
Campus in season
Springtime and its accompanying colours are always a welcome sight in southern Alberta, as the ice, snow and winds of winter make way for lush leaves, blooming flowers, quickly-growing grasses and budding trees that are ready to soak up the sun. 4 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
Photo by Rob Olson
This willow outside of the Technologies building is one of the oldest trees on campus, and likely was planted in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Criminal Justice students inside the mock court room can catch a glimpse on this tree if they look up while practicing their testifying skills. 5
A FISH
(AND VEGETABLE)
TALE College’s aquaponics researcher exchanges tropical winds for Chinooks in search of innovative answers to pressing food production questions
By Bob Cooney
While Charlie Shultz has been influencing the
development of aquaponics in Alberta for more than 15 years, he just arrived in the province, and at Lethbridge College, in 2013. Shultz is one of a handful of researchers in Canada who works in the aquaponics field, a research discipline named by combining the words aquaculture – farming fish or other aquatic species such as shrimp, lobster, mussels or oysters – and hydroponics – growing plants in a soilless medium by feeding them nutrient-rich water in a controlled environment and using either natural or artificial light. He’s taken the bold step of relocating from the tropical U.S. Virgin Islands to Lethbridge College to further a research question that he
6 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
absolutely cannot answer on a warm Caribbean island: How do various aquaponics systems work in colder climates? It turns out that Lethbridge, with its well-established aquatic technology program at the college, intense summer sun, winter chills and wildly-variable and wind-driven weather throughout the year, is a perfect spot for Shultz to test his theories. “When I was at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), I didn’t have to spend a penny on a greenhouse, I didn’t have to spend any money heating, no money on lighting,” Shultz says. “Success there was relatively straightforward, but I wanted to push myself and find out how to make aquaponics
Photos by Rob Olson
work in a temperate climate.” Shultz also spent two years at Kentucky State University working on a project that tested different types of lighting for aquaponics systems, with a goal to determine how efficient various types of lights are in both commercial and home-based systems. Shultz says his Alberta connection began in the late 1990s with an international course offered at UVI to people interested in learning more about the aquaponics process. “We had people from around the world attend, including some people from Alberta Agriculture. A researcher from the Brooks, Alta., research station took our course, learned our techniques, went back to Brooks and got the money to build a pilot project UVI system in a greenhouse.”
So much of what we do is industry driven. I am asking them if there is a need for our programs and our people. I am getting a lot of ‘yes!’ answers.” Charlie Shultz
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Being on the leading edge of a new type of farming or sustainable food technology has as many advantages as it has challenges. Shultz says that there is a significant amount of interest from people who are looking to either start an aquaponics operation or diversify their aquaculture businesses, but there aren’t many people trained to properly blend the two types of food production. “This is one industry bottleneck that we are going to help solve,” Shultz says. “People are calling me and asking, ‘Who can we hire? No one has this experience…’ so we are going to be developing courses and other types of programming that will see Lethbridge College emerge as the premiere location for this type of training in Canada.” With only one other program of its kind in North America, Shultz says the potential to train undergraduate students and offer professional development or certification to existing and potential business owners will bring a significant benefit to the industry. “Because we are at the early stages of our program development, what I am doing right now is putting out feelers to industry,” Shultz says. “So much of what we do is industry driven. I am asking them if there is a need for our programs and our people. I am getting a lot of ‘yes!’ answers.”
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An Innovation Enhancement Grant of $200,000 over two years from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) was the first piece of the puzzle to fall into place to support Shultz’s research, teaching and the aquaponics business development program. Partners in the project include Trimark Engineering Ltd. of Lethbridge, Dr. Nick Savidov of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development and the Alberta Aquaculture Association. Additional funding is being sought from other sources to enhance the lab and greenhouse spaces, and add capacity to the fish breeding and growth areas. The other aspect of Shultz’s operation with an industry connection is research that supports the development of new products. He expects to increase the working relationships with import regulators, food inspection agencies and the Alberta government to ensure that any new market fish species introduced into the province meet strict standards. Shultz adds that the college’s Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (ACE) is uniquely positioned to work with Alberta Agriculture to move industry-focused projects forward once approval is received, since Alberta Agriculture representatives are already key members of the facility’s working group.
Dr. Edith Olson is Chair of Agriculture and Life Sciences and has been involved in research in soil and water quality. She says the partnerships, the researchers’ enthusiasm and the possibilities brought about by adding people and resources to the aquaponics program will have many benefits beyond fish and plants. “We have an engaged and enthusiastic number of researchers at Lethbridge College who are working on very tangible projects that not only meet rigorous scientific standards, but have an equal amount of value to the community as potentially commercial inventions, products or services,” Olson says. “Our ACE facility and the aquaponics program is just one instance of how we combine learning and applied research,” she adds. “The same concepts extend to our Engineering Technologies, Environmental Sciences, Agriculture and Wind Turbine Technician programs, among others. Our research is also different from, and can potentially complement, the pure research taking place at the university. We are finding that there are a number of challenges, and no shortage of interesting projects, for our researchers to consider.”
Our ACE facility and the aquaponics program is just one instance of how we combine learning and applied research.” Dr. Edith Olson Olson added that the model for courses and professional development programming in the works for the aquaponics program could be easily transferred to other programs. “This would not only benefit current students, but industry representatives, our own researchers and possibly other community partners,” she says. “We are always looking for interesting opportunities to diversify our programming.”
Want to learn more about the basics of aquaponics? Curious about what happens to some of the waste water created by the aquaponics systems (as well as college kitchen scraps and coffee grounds)? Turn the page to read a story about just how aquaponics works as well as a feature about the hard-working worms on campus and the nutrient-rich soil they are producing.
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AQUAPONICS 101
By Bob Cooney
A basic introduction to the recirculating growing systems that can efficiently and safely produce fish and plants year-round
The aquaponics process is pretty simple: Fish need water. So do plants. Commercial-scale aquaculture requires controlled temperatures and a filtration system to ensure the fish are healthy. Plants grown in a hydroponic environment need those same things. However, instead of chemicals mixed into the water to encourage plant growth, in an aquaponics system the water is infused with…well, fish poop – but not just any kind of fish poop. It is fish poop that has been biologically converted to remove some naturally-occurring chemical compounds harmful to plants and fish, such as excessive ammonia or nitrites, and recirculated through several deep-water culture troughs in the greenhouse to provide the proper types and amounts of nutrients to the plants.
The filtration process also takes care of a common concern of people unfamiliar with the aquaponics process: Will my salad greens or tomatoes taste fishy? Not at all. As the plants take up the nutrients from the water, the growing plant roots also act as filters, extending the number of times the water can be recirculated instead of pumped back into the environment as wastewater. Plants are very selective in what they carry across their cell walls, ensuring there will never be a fishy tasting vegetable. When these two processes are connected, the outcome is what Lethbridge College researcher Charlie Shultz refers to as a “balanced system,” where the fish tank is right in (or next door to) the greenhouse, along with a smaller scale filtration system and a waste removal process. “Eventually, we will be testing individual systems, like a homeowner could have,” says Shultz. “This could go a long way to addressing food security issues.”
To address the interest in home-scale aquaponic food production, Shultz and his team at ACE are conducting two-day, hands-on, “build-yourown aquaponic system workshops.” If you would like to learn more about the aquaponic process or attend an upcoming workshop, contact Shultz at 403-320-3202 ext. 5358 or email him at charlie.shultz@lethbridgecollege.ca.
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Photo by Gregory Thiessen
WORMS AT WORK:
By Bob Cooney
Vermicomposting takes ‘green waste’ from college kitchens and turns it into nourishing fertilizer for plants, soils and more
Apparently, all it takes to keep worms happy is coffee – and other snacks like vegetables, sawdust, egg cartons and cardboard. In return, the hard-working red wigglers provide valuable, nutrient-rich fertilizer for plants in Lethbridge College’s Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (ACE) facility and the college’s applied researchers with a menu of ideas for future projects. The worms at the college’s vermicomposting facility are thriving on waste from campus kitchens, coffee grounds from the Tim Hortons kiosk, and a host of other food items that applied researchers like John Derksen will be testing over the next few months. As an adjunct recycling process to the aquaponics facility, vermicomposting was suggested as a way to manage the filtered waste left over from the aquaponics system. “We’ve been talking about setting up composting for ages,” says Chef Doug Overes (Professional Cooking 1987, Distinguished Alumus 1992), chair of the college’s Culinary program. “And it just all fell into place with our colleagues in Aquaponics.” Thanks to the worms, “we’ve been able to take about 125 pounds a week of produce waste from the kitchens and keep it from the landfill,” Overes adds, and get a nutrient-rich product in return. With the help of a local vermiculture company, Earthy Matters, Derksen, a biologist and the head of research at
the Aquaculture Centre of Excellence, acquired a small commercial vermicomposting unit to add to the cycling and recycling of water and other materials at the centre. As the worms consume their food, they move from the bottom to the top of the composter, always moving upward to the new food source. A built-in blade slices off the bottom two inches of useable compost material. “Each week, the worms are currently generating approximately 50 pounds of castings – a polite term for worm poop – which is rich in nutrients and can be used for a variety of purposes,” Derksen says. The abundance of composted, nutrient-rich material is exceeding their expectations, and also providing additional food for thought for related projects. A simple idea like getting worms to eat waste materials – and scientifically testing the processes behind the idea to verify the best practices – can spin off in a variety of directions, Derksen says, and is a perfect example of the type of applied research he and his colleagues like to do. “We are looking to do something that is practical and relevant and that can be taken out to the real world to solve problems and make a difference. As simple as it is, this project is one which shows and tells about that process.” 11
Lethbridge Werthogs Homebrew Club
GOOD F O R W H AT
ALES you A group of well-versed beer makers prepares to sample the next round of homebrew, a strong ale. It is supposed to smell like a lakeside cabin, and that distinctive description carries with it some high expectations. The steward delivers the brew. And as the group inhales before taking a sip, they’re transported back to their childhoods, sitting on the cabin porch gazing at the lake. It’s a beer lover’s heaven. By Megan Shapka
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Photos by Rod Leland
In 1999, a group of likeminded beer enthusiasts came
together to form the Lethbridge Werthogs Homebrew Club, and the members have been concocting and distilling memorable beverages and lasting friendships ever since. Veryl Todd, a retired Communication Arts instructor, says they started with a group of mostly beginners who were eager to share ideas. “Over the years the club has become home to some pretty accomplished beer brewers,” he says. The club, which has always had between 15 and 20 members, includes several people with connections to Lethbridge College, including D’Arcy Kavanagh, a recently retired Communication Arts instructor, Ian Hepher, a recently retired Corrections instructor who is still teaching as a casual instructor, and Stephen Deppisch, a Civil Engineering Technology and Interior Design instructor. Kavanagh says they meet once a month for two hours to sample and discuss homebrews and to share ideas about the process, including important topics like cleaning agents. “We’ve always made it clear to potential members that it’s not about drinking beer; it’s about making beer.” There are two methods for homebrewing. The simplest way, which about half of the Werthogs use, is to use a kit.
The other method is to do everything from scratch. These brewers boil their own grains and hops. Both techniques can produce outstanding beer. Most of the club members brew according to their own specific tastes. Kavanagh, for example, likes stouts, dark ales and Belgian fruit beers. “I’m just a little out there in terms of concocting recipes,” he says. “Sometimes the beers turn out great and sometimes I’m the only one drinking them because they’re just a little too adventurous,” like the time he saw a beer milkshake on television and decided to try to replicate it. The art of small craft brewing has grown tremendously in North America in the last decade. According to The Brewer’s Association, the number of craft brewers in the United States has gone from eight in 1980 to 537 in 1994 to over 2,300 in 2012. Todd says there are craft beer pubs in Calgary that have over 100 beers on tap, which is a testament to how much the beer market has evolved. “Times have changed so much that beers are now paired with food — something that used to be reserved just for wines,” he says. “Beer drinkers are adventurous and love choice and new beers.”
We’ve always made it clear to potential members that it’s not about drinking beer; it’s about making beer.” D’Arcy Kavanagh
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The quality of the beers is better every year because there are so many people in Canada in clubs just like ours — brewing their own beer and doing it very well.” Veryl Todd Some of the Werthogs’ brews are of such outstanding quality that they last well beyond the expected shelf life for beer. At a club meeting this winter, Kavanagh says Todd served a brew they had made together in 1999, which was set aside and forgotten about. “When we opened it up and gave it at the club, everyone loved it,” he says. “Now it was getting near the end, but because of its strength and alcohol content – it was probably 13-14 per cent – it tasted fantastic.”
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Every March, the Werthogs host a homebrew competition. They’ve been doing it for 13 years and Kavanagh says they now receive over 100 incredible brews from across Canada to sample and judge. “If we went back to our first year, we had some pretty good beers, but the beers we get now are fantastic, and not just in the quality, but in the variety.” The judges follow standards and rules set by the Beer Judge Certification Program, which is an organization based in the US that sets the standards for each style of beer. Todd and the Werthogs’ president, Mark Whitehead, are certified under the program. Club members judge under the supervision of the certified judges, which often include guests from Calgary. They judge the homebrews on their unique characteristics, deciphering the types of grains, hops and flavourings used. “The quality of the beers is better every year because there are so many people in Canada in clubs just like ours — brewing their own beer and doing it very well,” says Todd. “Much of the beer we sample and judge in our annual competition — and some in our club too — is of professional quality.” Homebrewers can’t sell their products, so only friends can sample one of the brews concocted by a Werthog member. But anyone interested in joining the club is welcome to contact Veryl Todd toddvi@telusplanet.net or club president Mark Whitehead mark@werthogs.com. Cheers!
Food, glorious food
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD
Fill your plate with tales and treats from college students, staff and alumni
There’s a lot of love for food in southern Alberta. That love starts with the region’s agricultural roots, and many of those who care most about what’s on our plates come from families who have been working this land for generations. That love continues on with newer arrivals to the region, those who are dedicated to providing fresh, local, quality products to their community – as well as some specialities from around the world. The lives and work of many Lethbridge College students, staff and alumni revolve around food – including the chefs, writers and outstanding home cooks who are featured on the following pages. But this group of food enthusiastis extends far beyond those whose stories are included in this issue. It also includes family farmers like Dave and Joanne Harris (Agricultural Mechanics 1992) of Harris Farms in Coaldale. Their Lethbridge Farmers’ Market stand always has a long line of devoted customers seeking their exceptional eggs and prized poultry, as well as pork and grass-fed and finished beef.
It includes the many business owners working to bring unique and local products to the community, including Cheryl Meheden and Ling Liu. Meheden is an instructor in the Business Administration program who created the Urban Grocer by transforming a historic local grocery store into an outlet for local food, gluten-free and organic products, and artisan snack foods and drinks. Liu (Business Administration 2009) opened up L.A. International Foods in Lethbridge in 2011 to bring high quality imported foods from different parts of the world as well as exceptional local products to her customers. And it includes people like Cornelius Mans (Business Administration 2013), who grew up on an organic farm and now is a part owner of Galimax Trading, Inc., which supplies fresh produce to restaurants and stores in Calgary, Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise. For these and so many members of the Lethbridge College community, food is about more than sustenance. It’s even about more than a well-made meal. It’s a way of life, and it’s something to love. 15
Dude, where’s your restaurant? College culinary grad starts successful pop-up restaurant in Victoria
One night, Chef Cam Picyk’s menu at his Diyu Underground restaurant in Victoria might include a main dish of bison with beet, blackberry, juniper and cocoa. Another night, guests will instead be offered pheasant with aged farmhouse cheddar, broccoli and brioche. A starter of green beans with devilled duck egg and wild rice will be offered one night, while another night will feature leek with lemon, lardo (a cured meat) and the herb lovage. In November, Picyk served a dessert of sesame, chocolate, pear and cloves, but back in June, when the strawberries were perfectly ripe, guests savoured a last course of strawberries with hibiscus, goat cheese and the nasturtium flower. If Picyk’s menu sounds like no other, that’s because the offerings at Diyu Underground – as well as the location – change each time dinner is served. For five fantastic nights in 2013 and starting again in April, the 2003 graduate of Lethbridge College’s Culinary program opened up his restaurant at various Victoria locations, serving 12 to 30 guests a one-of-a-kind meal that features the best of wild and local produce in the region.
“The feedback has been outstanding and I feel like every one has gotten better,” he says. “It’s about conceptualizing dishes for that particular season and having that evolve and improve every year.” Picyk uses his website – diyuunderground.com – as well as Facebook and Twitter to publicize the events about three weeks in advance. He takes reservations and from there, the dinners are usually sold out although occasionally last minute seats are available. He posts menus on his website as soon as a firm date is set as well as answers the most-asked questions, including “Are you a real chef or just some guy?”, “What’s with the name?” and “Dude where’s your restaurant?” Picyk is in fact a “real” chef, who after graduation went on to work at top restaurants in Calgary; Sydney, Australia; London, England; and, most recently, Vancouver and Victoria. He says he’s “been working toward opening my own restaurant since I left Lethbridge, before I knew how to cut an onion,” he says. “But the more and more I see, the more I can tell I want to be in the right situation before I do that, and you can’t really put a timeline on that.” The pop-up restaurant, he says, lets him try out new recipes and challenge his culinary chops. “It’s not necessarily a model I’d recommend to become a millionaire,” he says with a laugh. “But if it’s something where you really want to explore the possibility of doing something new, it’s a huge opportunity to learn.” Lethbridge College’s Chef Doug Overes, chair of the Culinary program, says his former student has taken an innovative and exciting approach to his career. “Cameron has always pushed the envelope,” says Overes. “He is creative, outgoing and passionate. I think this is a cutting edge idea and I have no doubt he will succeed.” Picyk says there are challenges – from finding a space that can be used and making sure it is properly inspected and that all licenses are in place to keeping the menu fresh. “I don’t want to regurgitate dishes I did at restaurants in the past,” he says. “But in the pastry area in particular, you have to be so exact and there is very little room for error, so I do sometimes go back to those recipes and change the flavours.”
Photos by Lillie Louise Major
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It’s about conceptualizing dishes for that particular season and having that evolve and improve every year.” Cam Picyk
He says he still draws on lessons he learned as a student, especially the foundational skills. “At the end of the day, everyone needs to learn how to work clean, be organized and have a skill set,” he says. “When I was a student at Lethbridge College, I learned the nuts and bolts of how a kitchen works, how to keep it clean and organized, how to fillet a fish and chop an onion. And every single day I use those skills.” This spring, he’ll be calling on those skills – as well as the others he has picked up in kitchens around the world – to plan the next pop-up restaurant, which will be held on April 26 at the Victoria Public Market. He hasn’t decided on his menu yet, but Picyk knows it will “celebrate the culture of Vancouver Island with a hands-on approach.” He also knows he’ll be using the best produce and products he can find in his new hometown – as well as more items from his own garden.
2 cups rotini, macaroni or any short pasta 2 tablespoons butter 1 cup milk ¼ cup heavy cream 4 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour 1 tablespoons whole grain mustard 1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoons Franks red or Louisiana hot sauce 1 tablespoons soy sauce 1 cup grated aged cheddar cheese ½ cup grated gruyere cheese ¼ cup grated grana padano or parmesan cheese ¼ cup bread crumbs salt and black pepper to taste
Food, glorious food
Cam Picyk’s recipe for Mac and Cheese
Cook pasta in boiling salted water for roughly two minutes less than advised on the package. (It should still have a slight crunch to it at this stage as it will be cooked further.) Strain pasta and toss with two tablespoons of butter. Reserve at room temperature. Melt four tablespoons of butter over medium heat until it starts to bubble, then whisk in the flour and reduce heat to minimum. Cook flour and butter for two minutes, stirring constantly. Gently pour in the milk, whisking constantly and turn the heat back up to medium. Stir constantly and as the sauce begins to thicken, add all of the seasonings, except salt, and return the pasta to the pot. Stir the pasta and sauce until coated, then stir in the cheddar and gruyere. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand for two minutes. Uncover and stir gently. Adjust the seasoning to taste, add salt and transfer to an oven proof dish. Top with bread crumbs and parmesan and broil (CAREFULLY) until the top has a light golden color.
Enjoy.
To find out when Chef Cam Picyk will open Diyu Underground in Victoria next, check out his website at diyuunderground.com or follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
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Photo (left) by Rob Olson
Tales from the kitchen:
Jennifer Davis, an instructor at Lethbridge College, writes about why she loves cooking
I have always loved cooking, especially baking. Perhaps loved is not quite the right word. Let’s go with obsessed, pathologically obsessed. One of my earliest memories as a toddler is of sitting under the kitchen table with a bowl and spoon pretending to make bread, which I did a lot of with my Mom. When I was six, I suddenly announced one day that I was going to make cookies all by myself. I made cookies. I did not use a recipe. My father liked to tell the story of how he mentally prepared himself before biting into one, so that no matter how awful he would be able to smile and tell me how good it was, and how surprised he was that it was actually really good. I spent the rest of my childhood baking, a lot. Somewhere around my early teens I started actually using recipes. I had my fair share of disasters along the way, like the infamous Tang omelette of 1978, or that time, in 1981, when I didn’t get the bottom of the springform pan in quite right. But mostly things turned out OK, and every mistake I made, I learned from. When it came time to graduate from university, I found myself deciding between a PhD program in Psychology (my
18 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
major) or cooking school. I chose the PhD program, but I didn’t stop baking. Instead, I took my newly developed analytical skills and applied them to food. I would pick a dessert, like chocolate mousse or carrot cake, collect 10 or 12 different recipes for it, analyze the ingredient ratios, and make a test batch of each one to compare them and decide which ratios work best. I do this for fun. Over the years I have had small baking gigs. I make wedding and birthday cakes for friends. When I lived in Germany I developed a few recipes for a Jewish bakery in Berlin. I was one of the recipe testers for the new edition of Joy of Cooking. I’ve published an article in Fine Cooking magazine on how to make caramels. And back when my daughter was born, I quit my tenure track university job to start my own chocolate company. I worked as a chocolate maker for nearly three years, before going back into academia as an instructor at Lethbridge College, where my students have pointed out that I use an unusually large number of foodrelated examples in class. I still make chocolates from time to time on the side, and my colleagues in my second floor hallway have been conditioned over the years to expect me to arrive at work every Monday morning with a red tin filled with homemade treats.
Sue B. was a woman who posted on a cooking forum about a chocolate cake recipe she liked but was having trouble with. She liked how quick and simple it was, but it had a tendency to fall in the middle. Since I love tinkering with recipes I took it and reworked it to fix the problem and thus the Sue B. cake was born. That was back in 1999.
I spent the rest of my childhood baking, a lot. Somewhere around my early teens I started actually using recipes.” Jennifer Davis
Food, glorious food
Sue B.’s Amazing Chocolate Cake – By Jennifer Davis
The internet picked it up, and it went viral. Google Sue B.’s Chocolate Cake and you will see what I mean. You can find my original version at the finecooking.com website. The beauty of this cake is its simplicity. It’s as quick and easy as a cake mix, but it tastes much better. Even if you’re not a baker, you can make this cake and it will be delicious.
GROUP 1 ¾ cups ¾ cups
cocoa powder (the darker the better) boiling water
GROUP 2 1 cup 1 cup 4 1 teaspoon
plain yogurt, or buttermilk, or sour cream oil large eggs vanilla
GROUP 3 2 cups 2 cups ½ teaspoon 2 teaspoons
sugar flour salt baking soda
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour cake pans (two 9-inch round, or one 9x13, or cupcake pans). 2. Stir group 1 ingredients together. Set aside. 3. Stir group 2 ingredients together. Set aside. 4. Stir group 3 ingredients together. 5. Stir group 3 into group 2. Stir in group 1. 6.
Bake at 350F until cake springs back when lightly pressed, about 30 minutes for 9-inch rounds and 35 minutes for a 9x13 pan. For cupcakes start checking after 15 minutes.
Yum.
19
Showing his culinary chops: Claresholm chef concocts truly creative meals on Food Network show By Melissa Belter “You’ve been chopped.” Those are the three dreaded words that contestants on the Food Network’s Chopped Canada do not want to hear. For Kieth Carlson, a ‘94 alumnus of Lethbridge College and the chef and owner of Roy’s Place in Claresholm, they were the words that came too soon in his exciting attempt to win a cool $10,000 in March on the popular show. “I enjoyed the experience of going to Toronto and competing on Chopped Canada,” says Carlson. “Working with such a high caliber of chefs and the team that produce the program was excellent.” Carlson started his culinary career in the little town of Bow Island, where his employer and mentor encouraged him to pursue the culinary arts. This pushed him to not only pursue his culinary education at Lethbridge College, but to further his studies to attain his Red Seal certification as a chef. “College was great,” says Carlson. “I had a great group of instructors and with the class sizes being smaller, there was a lot more one-on-one attention.” Since the earliest days in the kitchen, Carlson had always dreamed of owning his own restaurant. In 2008, he had the opportunity to make that dream a reality when Roy’s Place, a full-service “dining diner,” came on the market. Much has changed both on and off the menu since the restaurant first opened over 19 years ago. “We took the menu right
20 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
back down to 90 per cent fresh and from scratch,” he says. Among the favourites of his regulars are his famous dill pickle soup and pound-and-a-half cinnamon buns. Carlson had owned the restaurant for about five years when some of those regulars started emailing him to encourage him to put his name up on the chopping block for the Food Network’s Chopped Canada television program. So he did. “We filled the paperwork out and weren’t expecting too much out of it, but we got a call a week later,” he recalls. Carlson went up to Calgary, nailed the interview and was asked to showcase his culinary talents on Chopped Canada. Producers searched far and wide for chefs equipped with skill and ingenuity to feature on the first Canadian edition of Chopped. With four chefs competing and three courses to be judged, competitors have one chance to win or lose it all. Each chef must create an unforgettable meal before time runs out. They are judged on presentation, taste and creativity. The catch? They are presented with a basket full of mystery ingredients that must be incorporated into their appetizers, entrees and desserts. The chef who concocts the most memorable meal walks away with $10,000. In Carlson’s episode, he faced a “lunch lady” from Kitchener, Ont., a dinner theater chef from Port Coquitlam, B.C., and a daughter from Toronto looking
Photos courtesy of Food Network
Those judging the dishes that were made on the fly included Lynn Crawford, a well-known Canadian celebrity chef, Chuck Hughes, the only Canadian to beat Bobby Flay in an Iron Chef competition, and Susur Lee, an internationally acclaimed chef. Carlson says he literally lost his breath when the judges were presented to the competitors. “Susur was one of the toughest critics of the episode, but they were all accommodating and great people,” he recalls. Carlson made it all the way to the final round with what would look like an award-winning dessert: an apple crisp with a dark chocolate crostini with his mystery basket ingredients of creton, which is a Quebecois spiced onion and pork pate, breadsticks, apples and sumac, a salty, floral and citrusy spice. “I went with a ‘go-to’ dessert that I make all the time at Roy’s place,” explains Carlson. “By adding the pork fat, it makes the crumble feel sexy.” Unfortunately the dark chocolate crostini would be the component of the dessert that got Carlson chopped. One judge in particular, Susur Lee, said it felt as though it was more of a meat pie and less of a dessert. “Not all desserts have to be sweet,” says Carlson. “My dessert is as sweet as my smile.” Despite the stress and anxiety of the show, Carlson says he’d do it again “in a heartbeat. I’m not generally a competitive person, but it was a great way to get my culinary brain going again and see if I still had the chops to come up with something spectacular.” In the meantime Carlson plans on “doing what we do each day at Roy’s Place, which is put out the best produced, made in-house, food between Lethbridge and Calgary.” To see Carlson’s episode of Chopped Canada, go to learn.lc/choppedvideo.
Kieth Carlson’s Pulled Pork Flatbread Pulled pork 8 pounds ¼ cup ½ cup ¼ cup 3 tablespoons 1 tablespoon 1 tablespoon 1 tablespoon 2 tablespoons 2 tablespoons
pork shoulder smoked paprika kosher salt brown sugar garlic powder mustard powder Cayenne cumin onion powder black pepper
Food, glorious food
to make her mom and partner proud. Carlson, who was labelled as the small town chef with big city dreams, created dishes for some pretty heavy hitting culinary masters. In the end, Torontonian Missy Hui was named the winner.
Mix the spices listed above together and rub about eight pounds pork shoulder with dry rub. Let it marinate overnight in a cooler. Place in a roasting pan with one bottle of liquid smoke and two cups water. You can safely seal with plastic wrap and with foil and place in oven and cook for four hours at 325F or until pork can be shredded with two forks. Shred and allow the pork to cool in pan juices. Pizza dough 1 ½ cup 1 teaspoon 1 package 1 teaspoon 3 ¾ cups ⅛ cup
warm water sugar dry yeast kosher salt flour olive oil
Dissolve sugar and yeast in water. Let rest for 15 minutes. Mix in flour, salt and oil. Mix dough until smooth, about 10 minutes. Let rest and rise until the dough doubles in size. Punch down the dough and let it rest. Roll out until the dough is roughly 1/8th-inch thick. Place on a pizza pan dusted with cornmeal. Top with pulled pork, goat cheese and caramelized onions, and drizzle with BBQ sauce. Bake on the bottom rack of an oven preheated to 400 to 425F until golden brown, usually between eight and 12 minutes.
Bon Appetit.
Working with such a high caliber of chefs and the team that produce the program was excellent.” Kieth Carlson
21
And the meat is the bonus:
Lethbridge College instructors share motivation behind lifelong love of hunting
Kerry Edwards (Renewable Resource Management 1983) and Terry Kowalchuk, both instructors in Lethbridge College’s School of Environmental Sciences, know each other well from academic seasons as well as from hunting seasons. These avid hunters of game and waterfowl discuss the many different kinds of satisfaction that come with hunting, including the value of knowing the exact source of meat you are eating. KE: Hunting was a part of our life from the start. The first hunting memory I have was when I was probably four years old and was out in a goose blind with my grandfather and father. I couldn’t believe there were that many stars in the sky.
22 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
TK: My first memory of hunting was waterfowl hunting with my dad, uncle and grandpa. I wasn’t old enough to hunt, so I carried the shell bag. That was my job. The shells were lead and heavy, and my dad would be shooting and I’d be passing him shells and picking up the hulls. I can remember it so well. The first time I took my daughter out, it was early in the hunting season and she was probably six years old. She was so excited to be going, even though it was very early in the morning and we were up and at it. We had permission to hunt from a landowner, and after we had the kids go and thank them. We wanted to instill in them the fact that you need to be appreciative of the people who will let you go out and hunt on their property. It was a great day.
Terry Kowalchuk KE: I think the part I enjoy the most is the camaraderie – and the meat is the bonus. You get the dogs out there and your friends and family. I guess I could go golfing in my free time, but I can go hunting and get a lot of the same satisfaction – then have meat for a barbeque afterwards, too. TK: Hunting waterfowl is an especially social thing to do. When you’re hunting big game, it’s a lot more solitary. When you’re in a deer stand you don’t want a lot of talking with your friend. But with waterfowl and even fishing, you can be very successful as a group. KE: And you see things you wouldn’t see if you weren’t out there. I was once in a canoe in the middle of a marsh and a bald eagle was flying so low we could almost touch it. You’re out there at the most optimal time to see wildlife. TK: Yeah, there is just so much to see. You’re still, quiet, trying to blend in, and you see all kinds of wildlife – I’ve seen coyotes trying to sneak up on our duck decoys. KE: I’ve seen eagles hit our decoys on three different occasions – a golden eagle and two bald eagles. Seeing that – you’d never see that otherwise. TK: And like Kerry said, the meat is a bonus. A lot of people are trying to eat more local foods and there’s been a lot more people interested in hunting lately – because when you sit down to eat after hunting, you know exactly where that meat on your plate came from.
Food, glorious food
A lot of people are trying to eat more local foods and there’s been a lot more people interested in hunting lately.”
Kerry Edwards’ favourite recipe for grilled duck Recipe by Don Morrison, reprinted with permission from the fall 2004 Delta Waterfowl magazine
4 to 6 ½ cup ½ cup 1 cup 6 1 tablespoon 3 tablespoons 1½ tablespoons 1½ tablespoons
duck breasts (ideally with the skin on) soy sauce red wine vinegar olive oil cloves of minced garlic sugar grated Parmesan cheese oregano fresh ground black pepper
Combine the ingredients for the marinade. Marinate the duck breasts in the refrigerator in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for several hours or even several days. Make sure the meat is completely covered by the marinade. When ready to grill, remove the breasts from the marinade and allow them to sit until they reach room temperature. Reserve the marinade for a sauce. On a hot grill, sear the breasts skin-side down for four to six minutes, depending on the thickness. Searing skin side down allows the excess fat to drip off. Turn the breasts and grill on the other side for another four to six minutes until the meat is medium to medium rare. Don’t overcook the duck. Heat the sauce, taking care to not overheat or the cheese will separate from the liquid. Remove the meat from the grill and let it rest. Slice it into diagonal strips and drizzle some of the sauce over the meat.
Bonus.
23
Comfort foods from far away: College student shares some favourite recipes from his Hyderabadi home
Lethbridge College Business Administration student Abdul Raqeeb discusses the food of his hometown as passionately as he talks about Indian politics and the economic situation of countries around the world. “I grew up in India in the city of Hyderabad, which is very famous for its food,” he says, describing succulent meat and rice dishes that are often cooked at low heats for many hours. “The Hyderabadi cuisine has many influences,” he adds, including the cuisine of Persia, Mongolia and Turkey, as well as the cooking done by royal chefs for the kings of centuries past. Raqeeb says one of the most famous dishes of Hyderabad is biryani, which can be made with chicken, beef, veal or lamb. There is a saying in Hyderabad that cooking patiently is the key, so the biryani he enjoys at home starts with the marinating of the meat with spices overnight and then soaking the meat in yogurt before cooking. “We have a unique way of preparing biryani,” he adds, describing how the meat is placed on top of fragrant, long-grained basmati rice and cooked over steaming coals. The dish is sealed with dough and simmers gently over a low fire, which increases the absorption of the aromatic spices. “The instructions must be followed precisely,” he says, and when they are, a truly memorable meal is created. “When you do, it is the most delicious meal you can eat. If the
Photo by Gregory Thiessen
24 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
biryani is prepared by your own enemy, you can forgive him… it is that good.” In Lethbridge, Raqeeb is more likely to make a meal of dal, a lentil soup which “can be prepared by everyone and eaten many times a week. It is a very common food that does not take much time to make.” In southern India, dal is usually eaten with rice, while in northern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, dal is eaten both with rice and with roti, a wheat-based kind of flatbread. His favourite recipe for dal includes tamarind juice, which is another hallmark of Hyderabadi cuisine and provides a blend of sweet and tangy or sour flavour. “Anywhere you go in India, whether it’s in a five-star hotel or a cheap restaurant, you’ll find dal on the restaurant menu,” says Raqeeb. “It’s a common staple food – and it’s delicious.” Before coming to Lethbridge, Raqeeb worked as a restaurant manager for Silver Spoon Takeout and Catering, based at the head office in Mississauga. There, as part of his studies, he learned about restaurant management and the business of catering, and he spent plenty of hours in the kitchen. “I learned many skills while working at Silver Spoon,” Raqeeb says. “They trained me for everything as part of my studies. I learned how to manage and lead the workforce, and I learned theory but got to apply it in real time. I learned how
When you do, it is the most delicious meal you can eat. If the biryani is prepared by your own enemy, you can forgive him… it is that good.” Abdul Raqeeb
to perform under pressure – it was a very busy restaurant.” Raqeeb says after he completes his studies at Lethbridge College, he plans to return to India for a holiday and then come back to Canada to continue his management studies and one day work and travel around the world. Raqeeb is one of more than 170 international students from more than 40 countries studying at Lethbridge College this spring. He is one of many active international students on campus this year, taking part in some of the fun and interactive events organized by International Services – including cooking events, salsa dancing and trips to Waterton, Writing-on-Stone and the Crowsnest Pass. Many of the international students also attended the annual Bridging Cultures event on campus on March 27. That event, which draws hundreds of people to Centre Core each year, showcases food, art and culture from around the world. International students at Lethbridge College are encouraged to engage with each other, but also with the larger campus community. “We offer interactive events for our international students that allow them to find community on campus,” says Karis Pauly, the college’s International Services student advisor. “And Lethbridge College benefits immensely from the increased diversity of ideas and experiences. International students are here for their post-secondary education – but we also have the opportunity to learn from them.”
For the dal 1 cup 4 1 1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon 1 teaspoon ¼ teaspoon To taste
yellow, red, or a mix of lentils roughly chopped small green chilis roughly chopped medium tomato finely chopped garlic finely grated ginger red chili powder (adjust to taste) turmeric powder salt
Food, glorious food
Abdul Raqeeb’s family recipe for dal (lentil soup)
For sourness 2 to 3 tablespoons tamarind juice or tamarind concentrate, or lemon or lime juice For the baghaar (tadka)/tempering 2 teaspoons canola oil 2 teaspoons cumin seeds 2 garlic cloves, cut lengthwise in two 2 dried red chilies, each broken in two 8 fresh or dried curry leaves 2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro Wash and soak the lentils in water for two to three hours. Drain and wash in fresh water. Cook in a pressure cooker with about three cups of water, turmeric powder, tomato, chili powder, green chilies, garlic, ginger and salt until the dal is soft. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, bring lentils, tomatoes, chili, seasonings and water to a boil in a pot on the stove. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Remove from heat and puree in a blender or by using an immersion blender. Meanwhile, heat oil in a small non-stick frying pan at medium heat. Add the cumin seeds. As they begin to splatter, cover with a screen and reduce heat to medium low. Add the remaining ingredients for tempering and remove from heat. Bring the pureed lentils back to a boil, either in a pressure cooker or on the stove. Add the tamarind juice (or lemon/lime juice) and the ingredients for tempering. Stir to mix. You can add additional water to achieve the consistency you desire. Adjust salt, and serve with rice.
delicious.
25
The Girl can Cook
How a Lethbridge College Alumna has been spreading the joy of cooking
Cinda Chavich’s second cookbook, High Plains: The Joy of Alberta Cuisine, received more awards than she could have hoped for, including being named the best cookbook in Canada in 2002 – but it also shed light on a growing problem. “I was constantly meeting people at book signings who would say ‘It’s such a beautiful book, but I can’t cook,’” Chavich says. She realized that she could write the most beautiful cookbook in the world, “yet the average person wasn’t going to cook.” So this tenacious 1981 Lethbridge College Communication Arts graduate set out to change that. Her next two cookbooks, The Girl Can’t Cook and The Guy Can’t Cook, focused on three themes to encourage non-cooks to brave the kitchen: sustenance (recipes for easy, everyday meals), decadence (recipes to pull off a whole dinner party), and observance (recipes to mark occasions ranging from Thanksgiving to an important football game). The cookbooks were a hit. “I really believe people should just cook,” she says. “Find something you love – I don’t care if it’s chicken nuggets or kale – but find a way to cook that at home by yourself from scratch. Look at something in season at the supermarket, bring it home, do some research, and find a couple of ways to cook it. Getting people cooking is the most important thing.”
Much of the work Chavich has done since the days she was editing the Endeavour and working nights and weekends at the Lethbridge Herald has been to further that effort, to encourage everyone to cook, eat, travel and drink well. Chavich, an award-winning writer who now works as a fulltime freelance journalist and photographer for newspapers, magazines and online publications around the world, provides deliciously descriptive stories of good cooking and good eating – most of which involve local foods. Whether she’s writing about making your own mozzarella for Maclean’s or building a better burger for CBC’s Alberta@Noon (where she was radio food columnist for many years), Chavich says her goal remains to “continue to raise the bar as one of the country’s premiere travel and food writers, and to find new publications around the world to tell Canadian stories.” Chavich got her start at the college in part because the University of Regina – her hometown – didn’t have a journalism program. “I went to journalism school because I loved newspapers,” she says. “I still love newspapers.” And the college was the perfect place to hone her skills. “It was great to be in a small college that just focused on newspapers,” she says. “We put out the Endeavour every week and went out and learned very, very practical skills.” After leaving Lethbridge, Chavich embarked on a journalism career that has literally taken her around the world on assignment – although she has covered food, eating, travelling, dining and wining in Alberta and western Canada more than any other region. She has had reporting jobs for the CBC and reporting and editing jobs for the Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald, where she worked as a feature writer, food editor and wine writer. She moved from Calgary to Victoria about a year ago and most recently has been writing about food and travel for Victoria’s city magazine, Boulevard, as well as freelancing for publications around the world. She came to food writing while she was at the Sun when the previous food writer left. After volunteering to add that beat to her other duties, “I approached it like every other journalism job,” she says. “I asked a lot of questions and went and interviewed people and hung around in chefs’ kitchens and took cooking classes at night and covered everything I could to become a food expert – which I am now.” Chavich turned to freelancing in 2000 following the “brutal” nine-month strike at the Calgary Herald. In the end, the move
26 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
Find something you love – I don’t care if it’s chicken nuggets or kale – but find a way to cook that at home by yourself from scratch.” Cinda Chavich to freelancing has offered her great professional satisfaction, but it was a challenge. “I went from nothing – nothing – to where I am now just by working my tail off,” she recalls. “I wrote all my books during that period. I didn’t imagine I’d be writing for the Globe and Mail or Wine Spectator or Maclean’s. But I had to pitch and I had to sell myself and I was just very tenacious.” That resolution and commitment to hard work could be noted early in her career, said D’Arcy Kavanagh, a recentlyretired Communication Arts instructor and former Herald colleague of Chavich’s. “Cinda came into her first newsroom as a young reporter with a sharp mind and a strong desire to learn,” Kavanagh says. “She excelled right from the start – and continued to excel there and elsewhere. As a freelancer, she has done remarkably well in a tough field.” Kavanagh adds that he uses two of her cookbooks and he credits her with leading him to discover where the best pie in Canada is to be found – close to home at the Broxburn Café near Coaldale. “After reading her article in the Globe and Mail about places to find great pie in Alberta, I cycled out there and tried the pecan pie,” he says. “Off the charts. I quickly got a couple of cycling buddies hooked on riding there and chowing down on the pecan pie. Now there’s a group of Lethbridge College cyclists who regularly go out there on what is now called ‘the pie ride.’ I think about Cinda every time I see that pecan pie before me.”
1 pound asparagus 4 cups low-salt chicken broth 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 medium onion, finely chopped 1 ½ cups Arborio rice or medium-grain white rice ½ cup dry white wine 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary 1 ½ cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese salt and freshly ground black pepper
Food, glorious food
Cinda Chavich’s asparagus risotto
Trim the tough ends from the asparagus, discarding the bottom third of each stalk. Cut off the asparagus tips and reserve. Cut the stalks into 1/4- to 1/2-inch-long pieces. Set aside. Heat the broth to boiling in a small pot. In a wide sauté pan, melt the butter with the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender but not brown, about eight minutes. Add the rice and stir for one minute, until all the grains are coated and shiny. Add the wine and stir until absorbed, about one minute. Add a ladle of hot broth (about 1/2 cup), along with the chopped rosemary. Simmer until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often. Continue adding broth, 1/2 cup at a time until it’s absorbed, and cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes. Add the asparagus stalk pieces and continue adding the broth until the rice is almost cooked, about 10–15 minutes longer. The rice should be al dente (still slightly firm) and the risotto should be loose and creamy, not gummy or dry. Add the asparagus tips and continue cooking until the rice is just tender and the mixture is creamy, adding broth as needed and stirring often, for about five minutes longer. Stir in one cup of the Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve in shallow rimmed bowls, topped with the remaining Parmesan and a grinding of pepper. Serves two heartily as a main dish, or four with other courses. Recipe from The Girl Can’t Cook, which along with its follow-up The Guy Can’t Cook, is a perfect handbook for all of those “just starting out” cooks at and after college, and anyone who wants to enjoy more fresh, local, healthy food by cooking from scratch.
joy.
27
From our kitchens
Recipe by Chef Kenny L. Kain
Quick braised pork chop Lethbridge and southern Alberta are
chicken and beef that could be used in this
great places to find local products, such as
recipe. If you are looking for a straight-
savory cheeses, fresh, full-bodied yogurts,
forward, sure-fire meal that is certain to
seasonal fruits and vegetables and succulent,
please every time, consider starting with
sustainably-raised meat. You can start by
locally produced pork chops to prepare this
checking out the farmer’s market that starts
quick and satisfying meal. To see videos of
up this year on May 10 or stopping by some
Lethbridge College chefs preparing this and
of the many shops in the region that carry
other recipes, go to widerhorizons.ca.
locally produced food, including the pork,
Enjoy!
28 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
Photo by Jonathan Ruzek
Ingredients
Method
Pork chops.................................6, each about ¾” thick Canola oil................................................. 2 tablespoons Flour................................................................as needed Diced carrot......................................................... ¾ cup Diced onion.......................................................... ¾ cup Ground garlic........................................... 2 tablespoons Cider vinegar....................................................... ½ cup Crushed tomato................................................1½ cups Chicken stock....................................................1½ cups Honey................................................................... ⅓ cup Salt and pepper...................................................to taste Butter................................................................... ⅓ cup
1. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper. 2. Place a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Add oil. 3. Lightly dredge chops with flour and place in hot pan. Do not move until brown crust forms around bottom of chop. Turn heat to medium and flip to brown opposite side. Remove from pan, set aside. 4. Turn pan to medium low, add carrots, onions, and garlic powder. Sauté. 5. Add vinegar to deglaze the pan. Then add tomato, chicken stock and honey. 6. Return chops to pan and heat to an internal temperature of 60C (140F), or desired doneness. Season the sauce accordingly. 7. Remove chops and bring the sauce to simmer. Remove sauce from heat and swirl in butter. Serves six. 29
Office intrigue
The spaces and places of Lethbridge College
Student chef checking the internal temperature of the meat
AAA Alberta sirloin steak on the grill, ready to be served with spinach and blue cheese dressing and gaufrette chips
“Rational SelfCooking Centres” – ovens with onboard computers featured in Fall 2013 Wider Horizons
Roasted butternut squash with bacon and apple soup, garnished and ready to go
30 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
The fixings for a coconut and basil chicken sandwich
Chef’s knife and sharpening steel
The culinary kitchen attached to the Garden Court Restaurant is an “office” that buzzes with activity throughout the year, as student chefs put into practice the cooking and serving skills they learned in their earliest classes…but now with real (paying) customers. Chef Jamie Williams is like the conductor working with a roomful of musicians, each one focused on making sure his or her part of the meal is perfect. Using the tools of the trade found in professional kitchens around the world, Chef Jamie strives to ensure his students get a glimpse into the stress and satisfaction that comes with making a memorable meal. To learn when the next Garden Court meals will be served, call 403-382-6999.
jamie.williams_02@lethbridgecollege.ca Photo by Rob Olson
Deep freeze
Student chef assembling a delicious pear and pomegranate spinach salad – complete with champagne vinaigrette
Dessert station stocked with poached pears, dark chocolate terrines and Greek yogurt cakes
Student server waiting for salads to take out to his table
31
Q&A Q&A
WITH
Dave Haight
By Megan Shapka
It’s late October, and three friends from Environmental Sciences, Dave Haight (Renewable Resource Management 2005, Fish and Wildlife Technology 2006), lab coordinator, Terry Kowalchuk, chair, and Dave McRae (Renewable Resource Management 1984), instructor, are gathered in Haight’s garage. The room is filled with meat cutting and sausage making equipment. Three or four pigs have been expertly cut into steaks, roasts, pork chops and bacon, and the trimmings, along with the trimmings from recent wild game hunts, are ready to be turned into pepperonis, salamis, smokies, garlic coils, summer sausages and more. Earlier this year, Dave sat down with Wider Horizons to discuss his at-home sausage-making operation.
Wider Horizons: Where did you learn to make sausage?
WH: Who do you make sausage for now?
Dave Haight: When I got out of the military, my uncle who I hunted with all the time said that if they [the military] are going to pay for you to go back to school for a bit for retraining, go retrain as a butcher and then you can always work in the fall if you have to or make money on the side if you have to. So I did that and I enjoyed it. I worked for a while and then took a level 2 meat curing and sausagemaking course in Vancouver. After that I worked as the primary sausage maker for Tenderland Meats on Granville Island.
DH: It’s a family affair. Our kids hunt with us and help us in the garage. They like to get their hands dirty. I only do it for friends and family and usually the friends have to be there. They can’t just drop meat off and expect to get sausages back. They’ve got to help. I’d rather visit than have them drop it off and come back because then it’s just work. I love doing it but if I really wanted to do it as a job I would be a meat cutter somewhere.
32 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
WH: Working at home, what kind of procedures do you need to follow to ensure your meats are safe? DH: We have to sanitize everything. I have food safety and sanitation training from SAIT. When we’re done with everything, we sanitize all the tables, floors — everything. Then, I put it away. When we go to do it again, I’ll re-sanitize before we start cutting just to make sure there is no chance of anything happening.
Photo by Rob Olson
WH: What makes your sausage different from those you could buy in a grocery store? DH: I reduce the salt in all of ours, putting in the minimum amount of salt you need, and our fat content is around 20 to 25 per cent. We know what’s in there, especially the sausages, salamis and sandwich meats. We make all that stuff for our kids. We put a lot of fresh stuff in; we don’t just rely on the spices. We use fresh garlic, fruits, wine and lots of onions. Fresh spices make a big difference too. We also control the amount of water that goes in. And we don’t use any binder.
WH: What are your favourite varieties? DH: My favourite sausage to make is green apple cheddar. My kids love it because it’s kind of got that sweet taste to it. I also like our cheese smokies. I make a hot chorizo that I love. We also do a red wine with peppercorns and a landjäger, which is a square, uncooked specialty sausage. Goose salami is one of everybody’s favourites. It is also something most people have never heard of before so there is a little bit of a wow factor when they try it.
Students in Lethbridge College’s Environmental Science program who are new to hunting can take advantage of a mentored hunt for waterfowl and/or a mentored hunt for deer each fall. During the last hunting season, 22 students took part in the waterfowl hunt, which has been organized for the past six years by staff members as well as Ducks Unlimited Canada, Delta Waterfowl, Alberta Hunter Education Instructors’ Association and the Lethbridge Fish and Game Association.
33
Lethbridge College students make connections, build community in summer trip to Peru
BUILDING MORE THAN A GREENHOUSE
They felt like they were walking uphill
everywhere they went. They missed hot showers a little and their young sons a lot. But Lethbridge College students Constance Day Chief and Darcie Doore say they’ve never been happier than they were last summer. That’s when they were building a greenhouse where school children could grow vegetables year-round in a high mountain village in the Andes of Peru.
“We weren’t just there to build a greenhouse,” says Day Chief, who grew up on the Blood Reserve and is in her first year of the NESA Bachelor of Nursing program. “We wanted to help the people in the village so they could keep it going.” “There was lots of community involvement,” says Doore, who is in the second year of her General Studies program and also grew up on the Blood Reserve. “It is their greenhouse, and they worked to include the village in as much as they could.” Day Chief and Doore were two of four Lethbridge College students who travelled to the Yanico-Cuturi community of Arapa, a village located in the Azangaro province of Puno,
34 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
Peru, last July. They worked with a group from the village to prepare the foundation, dig up and prepare the soil and put the roof on. The following week, a group that included Lethbridge College NESA Bachelor of Nursing student Tia Franiel and Criminal Justice student Tessa Staples planted the food, hung the door and placed the sign. The students learned about the opportunity from Lethbridge College microbiology instructor Thomas Graham, who has been partnering with Centro de Investigación de Recursos Naturales y Medio Ambiente (CIRNMA) in Peru since 2011 to help construct two 20-by-60-foot greenhouses at rural schools and several family greenhouses located in the Andes in villages that are often 4,500 meters above sea level.
We really connected with the people in the village, especially the children.” Darcie Doore
Photos by Robert Turner
There is no better feeling than knowing you are helping your students become global citizens and improving somebody’s life with something as simple as a vegetable.” Thomas Graham
“There is no better feeling than knowing you are helping your students become global citizens and improving somebody’s life with something as simple as a vegetable,” Graham says. The work of the students ensures that primary schools in Peru have adequate year-round food for their lunch programs, including tomatoes, carrots and cabbages. Day Chief and Doore were in Graham’s microbiology class when he mentioned the opportunity. As soon as they were selected, they started studying Spanish and preparing for the trip. The four students received financial assistance from a student association fundraiser last March, and Day Chief and Doore also received support from Red Crow Community College. Day Chief and Doore left their sons, then aged three and four, with their families so they could make the trip. While leaving them behind was difficult, they knew their sons were in good hands and that this was the kind of opportunity they should seize. “Sometimes even now it’s like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we did that,’” says Day Chief.
“We really connected with the people in the village, especially the children,” says Doore. “We played a lot of sports. They schooled us in volleyball, but we beat them in basketball.” The friends say they’d love to return to Peru on their own one day, and that the experience changed their own plans for the future. “I want to keep travelling,” says Doore. “It makes you realize that if you can incorporate those types of experiences into your life, you can make a difference.” Day Chief, who kept a journal of her time in Peru (p. 36-37), wrote that “I did not think it was possible to make a connection with people in that short amount of time, but I did, and not a day has gone by that I don’t think about my time at the village. …I want others to know and realize what a big world it is out there, and how much going to school and getting an education opens a window of opportunities.” Graham says he plans to take another group of students back to Peru in 2015 to help in the construction of another school greenhouse.
35
Excerpts from
T H E JOURN AL OF
CONSTANCE DAY CHIEF P ERU , J U LY 201 3
Day 1 Departure/Travel Day • Arrive at airport 6 a.m. I am so nervous and scared; I have no idea what this trip has in store for me. •
We arrive in Lima after 10 p.m. We grab a taxi, and I think that this driver is a mad man, but it just turns out that this is how everyone drives in Lima; they speed, drive in the middle of the road, and almost bump the pedestrians. On the way to the hotel I still could not believe that we were actually in Peru. It seemed like such a long road to finally get here.
Day 2 - Leaving Lima/ Arrival in Puno • We wake up early and grab a taxi to the airport. Once we arrive at the Juliaca Airport my heart is beating fast and my breath is hard to catch. •
We drive through Juliaca to get to Puno. It was a real eye opener; you can tell there is lots of poverty. There is garbage everywhere and stray dogs, and I noticed that on the top of most buildings there are wires.
• When we get to the hotel, which is small but very beautiful, I start to get light headed. I had no idea that the altitude would affect me this much. • Overall I am feeling sicker than sick, feeling lonesome for home, and it is freezing in our room. At this point all I want to do is go home.
36 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
Day 3 - Leave Puno and arrival at Yanico-Cuturi •
When we leave the hotel we head to CIRNMA’s headquarters. Once there we meet Carmen, who will be our supervisor at the village, and she introduces us to Enrique, the head of CIRNMA. He tells us a little about the company, and how they are trying to make Puno and area more self-sustainable.
• Later, we arrive at the school in Yanico-Cuturi, where we will be building the greenhouse. The children have prepared three dances for us, which they do in their traditional dress. •
Night time comes at around 6 p.m., and we congregate in the kitchen. Everyone else comes in there as well; it is nice to sit around and visit with no television or other electronics to be distracted by. It’s good to just have “people” time, something that is hard to do back home.
•
We then go to our room to visit for a bit. I feel a little better by this time, both physically and emotionally, but it scares me to think about how much time we still have in Peru.
Day 4 - Village/ Day 1 of Greenhouse • I wake up around 7:30 a.m. For breakfast I have more cocoa tea, hoping it will help with the altitude, and toast with jam. I pass on the quinoa drink, which the boys say taste yummy, but I can’t get past the texture of it.
By bedtime I am exhausted from the day’s events, and find myself feeling more at home. The people here are becoming more like family, and I am glad to be here.” Constance Day Chief •
We wait for the villagers before we go inspect the greenhouse; prior to us arriving, the villagers built the shell of the greenhouse. Darcie and I are walking around lost not knowing what to do, but we are soon put to work.
•
Later that night we all go to the kitchen again, and talk about the day’s events, and then Darcie and I head back to our room. My body has slowly started to get used to the altitude, and I’m starting to be more comfortable around the new people I have met.
Day 5 - Day 2 of Greenhouse •
We head to the greenhouse when the villagers arrive again. Today Darcie and I help dig up the roots on the inside of the greenhouse and dump them on the outside. I am feeling a lot better today, so I jump right in and get my hands dirty.
• By bedtime I am exhausted from the day’s events, and find myself feeling more at home. The people here are becoming more like family, and I am glad to be here.
Day 6 - Day 3 of Greenhouse • It is a lot cooler today. It starts to thunder and rain, and then it starts to snow. •
Sitting at the table with our group is bittersweet. I am glad that I had the opportunity to meet each of these people. After we are finished in the kitchen, Darcie and I head to our room to start packing. It is going to be hard to leave the people of this village tomorrow.
Day 7 - Day 4 of Greenhouse/ Last Day at Village • Showers are the one thing I miss most. Miriam says she can heat some water for us to wash up with, which is awesome. •
There is a ritual they have before they put the roof on the greenhouse, which includes killing a sheep and splashing its blood on the walls of the greenhouse. It was very interesting to watch the process of this; it was pretty much one woman who was gutting the sheep all while she had her baby boy on her back.
•
Both Darcie and I walk around and take pictures of everyone, because now everyone is more comfortable being around us. Manuel informs us that the villagers refer to us as “the smiling, laughing girls”, which I quite like, because it means we have left a positive impression on everyone.
•
When the feast is finished being prepared, it is time to go. I have been dreading this the whole day, and cannot stop the tears when I have to say my good byes to everyone. I cry most of the way back to Puno, and Roberto tells me it is ok, that “this village and people will forever be in your heart.” And he is right; I will never forget my time in Yanico-Cuturi.
To read Constance Day Chief’s full journal of her time in Peru, go to widerhorizons.ca.
37
STEPPING
A W AY F R O M T H E
PODIUM By Megan Shapka
Flexibility and freedom in 21 st Century Classrooms at Lethbridge College let instructors and students shape space to suit their needs
38 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
Photos by Rob Olson
Four students huddle around the small whiteboard attached The investment will optimize to the end of their shared table. They’ve pulled their colourful rolling chairs close to work on a chemistry equation together. Just as their collaboration intensifies, their instructor pulls up a chair to join the discussion. It’s an ideal environment for active learning, and one that Lethbridge College hopes to replicate in the coming years as they work to facilitate this contemporary teaching and learning model.
Although a well-structured, inspiring lecture can make for a memorable learning experience, the most effective teaching doesn’t necessarily take place when a teacher stands and lectures at the front of a classroom. New research on the ways students learn best shows that other ways of structuring a classroom — including switching to learner-centred environments — can lead to learning that stays with students long after they’ve completed a class. Trudi Mason, professional development consultant at Lethbridge College, says learners need to be active in what they’re doing to improve their ability to retain information. So with research to support its plans, Lethbridge College outfitted two new rooms on campus last semester. These 21st Century Classrooms are equipped with moveable furniture, easy access to whiteboards and group work tables, and appealing aesthetics. And in February, the College Leadership Council approved an Innovation Fund proposal that will bring the total number of 21st Century Classrooms on campus to 10 by the fall semester. “This initiative builds upon the active learning classroom project already underway and integrates with other initiatives including the tablet project and the curriculum mapping to 21st century skills initiative,” says Stuart Cullum, vice president academic and chief operating officer. “The investment will optimize learning environments and reduce barriers to innovative practice. It will also provide a critical mass for research which will inform the college regarding future practice in teaching and learning.”
learning environments and reduce barriers to innovative practice.” Stuart Cullum
Jesika Knoop, one of Hamilton’s former chemistry students, liked the active learning classrooms because the furniture was easy to restructure and the room was lively and more positive. “When you offer movement and a brighter decor, you’re turning a learning experience, into a fun, social, welcoming experience,” she says. Mason says the college’s Educational Enhancement Team will be working with instructors of all experiences and strengths to incorporate learner-focused learning strategies into their courses, whether they are naturals at that style of teaching or a bit more reluctant to embrace new teaching styles. “We want to continue spreading the ideas and concepts of active learning and send the message that active learning is the way many students learn,” she says. Leanne Nemeth, a General Studies instructor, was originally hesitant to try the classrooms. “Honestly, when I first heard about how the ‘classrooms of the future’ were going to be, I thought I wouldn’t like them, and that it just wouldn’t work for my classes,” she says. “After teaching in this classroom, I would prefer to teach in these classrooms over the regular lined-up desks classroom.” The Educational Enhancement Team regularly holds workshops about active learning. Instructors and students interested in discussing this topic and others related to teaching and learning can contact Trudi Mason at 403-320-3202 ext. 5797 or trudi.mason@lethbridgecollege.ca.
The classrooms are set up to evoke critical thinking, to encourage students to find solutions rather than the instructor providing all the answers. In contrast, Mason says that classrooms designed for traditional lectures can hinder active learning — sometimes by simply being too crowded. “Instructors are trying really hard to use active learning strategies,” she explains, “but when you have a classroom that’s jam-packed with desk and chairs, to move them is almost impossible.” Jeff Hamilton, a College and University Preparation instructor, has been teaching in the active learning classrooms since they opened in fall 2012. He says he loves being able to adjust the space to each class’s learning needs and notes that his students seem quite at ease in the lesstraditional spaces. “They naturally find groups with which to work and find it easy to move around and interact with each other,” he says. “As an instructor who likes to move around, the rooms are ideal. I can interact with each student easily and comfortably all at the same time.”
39
CELEBRATING our
STARS
Every spring, as Lethbridge College grads prepare to move from the campus to their new careers, they have inspiring examples to emulate. The four people chosen by Lethbridge College and celebrated on these pages are among the many accomplished alumni who credit their time at Lethbridge College as one of the secrets of their success.
By their dedication and excellence, they distinguish themselves and the entire Lethbridge College community. We are proud to call them ours. Here are the 2014 Honouring Excellence award recipients.
D i s t i n g u i s h e d A l u m n i A wa r d
Norman Kyle, P. Tech (Eng.), P.L. Eng. Civil Engineering Technology 1986 Norman Kyle is currently the Manager of Traffic Engineering for the City of Grande Prairie and has been ranked one of the 200 most highly qualified engineering technologists out of 17,000 in the province. Kyle has achieved the highest possible recognition from the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta (ASET) in addition to receiving the highest possible recognition from the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta. He is committed to his community by serving on the city’s health and safety innovation committees, working as a volunteer in public awareness through the city’s Municipal Government Day annually, chairing the Yellowknife and Grande Prairie Chapters of ASET and serving as the Past President/2nd Vice President of ASET. In addition, he
40 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
is one of the members of the Leadership Council of Technology Professionals, is a board member for the Road Safety Standing Committee with Transportation Association of Canada, and was the site coordinator for the Caribou Carnival Festival in Yellowknife. “Mr. Norman Kyle is known to his peers in the technology profession as a leader, a visionary, and as a man of great integrity and commitment,” said Barry Cavanaugh, JD, Chief Executive Office and General Counsel (ASET), in his letter nominating Kyle for the award. “He serves as a remarkable example of the caliber of Lethbridge College technology graduates, and is an example to students and the community of what can be achieved with the springboard of the excellent education the college provides.”
C a r e e r V i r t u o s o A wa r d
Kirk Elliott • Environmental Assessment and Restoration 2007 After earning his diploma from Lethbridge College, Kirk Elliott began his career at Trace Associates in an entry-level scientist role. Within his almost seven years at the company, he has progressed to environmental scientist and now partner, the youngest in the company’s history. Elliott is a coach and mentor for several of Trace’s junior scientists and is the senior reviewer of detailed site assessments and reclamation certificate applications in Alberta. Elliott’s co-workers and superiors have routinely awarded him Employee of the Month, and he has received
international recognition winning Rookie of the Year in 2008 and the President’s Award in both 2010 and 2012. “Kirk is a talented, loyal and committed professional that represents Lethbridge College in a humble, yet outstanding way,” said Darrell J.I. Haight, President and CEO of Trace Associates, in his letter nominating Elliott for the award. Carlene J. Schmidt, Practice Area Lead for Oil and Gas Reclamation at Trace, added that “Kirk is a role model for other employees. He is methodical and diligent and is a huge asset to our industry.”
C o m m u n i t y L e ad e r A wa r d
Jonathan Ruzek • Multimedia Production 2000 A first-generation Canadian, Jonathan was born and raised in Lethbridge. After graduation, he was hired by the college’s marketing and communications office, where he had done his internship as a student, and has worked on several important projects in the last decade. Jonathan is the creator of “Lethbian Love,” a blog that explores the city lovingly known as “Deathbridge,” which has garnered him attention from CBC Radio One, print and social media. He also volunteers for the Canadian Cancer Society’s “Jail-N-Bail” campaign as publicity coordinator, and has fundraised for Movember with Lethbian Love’s
“Moustache Mitten” contest. In 2012, he developed three NDP campaign websites. “Not only is Jonathan committed to Lethbridge College, he is committed to supporting the Lethbridge community through his volunteer work with community groups such as the Southern Alberta New Media Association, the Canadian Cancer Society, and his blog promoting Lethbridge, Lethbian Love,” said Brad Young, Communications Officer, Lethbridge School District No.51, in his letter nominating Ruzek for the award. “Jonathan is driven and enthusiastic about his profession and his community.”
R i s i n g S t a r A wa r d
Caitlin Power • Fashion Design and Marketing 2008 Caitlin Power is the founder and creative director of her own label, CAITLIN POWER Designs, which she began immediately after graduating from the college. The renowned tailoring, structure and leather details are a Caitlin Power trademark. Her brand is now carried by multiple boutiques across North America. Her eye for detail and high-end designs have allowed the brand to frequent the pages of magazines such as Elle, Flare, and Fashion, as well as TV programs such as ETalk and CBC. CAITLIN POWER is available internationally and shows twice a year at
World MasterCard Fashion Week in Toronto. “What Caitlin has accomplished during her career as a fashion designer at such a young age is nothing short of incredible,” said Deanna Rowley-Brouwer, Instructor, Fashion Design and Marketing at Lethbridge College, in her letter nominating Power for the award. ”Many designers work a lifetime to be able to maintain the status that she currently holds in the Canadian fashion scene. I am continually impressed at Caitlin’s commitment to her goals, work ethic, and amazing attention to precision and detail.”
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honorary degree
Keith Dys
Dys to receive honorary degree at 2014 Convocation Keith Dys went straight from the McNally School outside of Lethbridge to full-time work and never had the chance to pursue a post-secondary education. But that didn’t stop the founder and owner of Enercon Water Treatment Ltd. from achieving professional success in a career that took him from journeyman partsman to successful entrepreneur. Over the years, however, Dys says he had the chance to see and appreciate the different doors that higher education can open for people of all ages. He will be speaking about those opportunities at this year’s Convocation, where he will receive a Bachelor of Applied Arts honorary degree at the April 25 ceremony in the Val Matteotti Gymnasium. He will be the 14th person to receive an honorary degree from Lethbridge College since the recognition was first given in 1986. Stuart Cullum, Lethbridge College’s vice president academic and chief operating officer, says Dys was an easy choice for this year’s honour. “It was clear to the committee that Keith has shown great loyalty and dedication to the college, especially in his many leadership roles and the various ways that he has participated and contributed over the years,” says Cullum. “Lethbridge College is where it is today because of champions like Keith. We are thankful for his level of commitment.” The early days of Dys’ career were rocky, Dys says, and he was often broke from the time he left school until the age of 31. His first career change came when he moved from working as a partsman to taking over his father’s sign painting business when his father retired. “It was a disaster,” he recalls with a laugh. “I couldn’t paint a straight line.” Eventually, the business shut down, and in 1976, Dys found himself looking for a new job. “I had a chance to be interviewed for a job in chemical sales, but the interview was in
42 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
Calgary,” he says. “I had to borrow money from my mother for the gas to get there.” He borrowed the money, made the trip and was hired at CEK Manufacturing Ltd., later to become KEM Manufacturing Canada. In that first year, he says he became the first person at the company to earn over $100,000 in commissions. In the following years, he established a water treatment division for the company, teaching himself the business from library books. Within a half dozen years, he was named the national sales manager of Kemtreet. “Failure wasn’t an option,” he recalls of those early days in business. He kept up with a demanding schedule that had him travelling constantly from coast to coast for more than 14 years, but when the company was purchased by RDI Manufacturing from France in the late 1980s, he started to prepare and make plans for a new chapter. He and his wife Ellie formed Enercon Water Treatment Ltd. and when the bank foreclosed on RDI in January 1991, they were ready to shift to their own business. Keith and Ellie worked 16-hour days out of their house for the first years. Hard work and planning, he says, paid off. Over the years, Dys also supported many community organizations, including Lethbridge College. He first volunteered for the college’s Clayton Allan Wine Auction committee and then served as a member and later chair of the Lethbridge College Board of Governors. Seeing the workings of the college up close showed him first hand the ways education can pay off, too. “Education is so important,” he says. “It opens so many more doors.” The 57th annual Lethbridge College Convocation will take place on Friday, April 25, in the Val Matteotti Gymnasium. For more details, go to lethbridgecollege.ca/convocation.
It’s a family affair
THE PERLICH FAMILY
By Megan Shapka
Maureen Perlich says the Perlich family has been connected to Lethbridge College since the late 1960s when her father, Joe, was on the Board of Governors. Since then, five members of the family have attended agriculture programs at the college. She and one of her brothers, John, attended, and from the next generation, so have Nichole, Michael and Meagan. Maureen and Nichole say the college’s plant and animal programs offer significant hands-on experience, which has proven to be a valuable asset to their family business, Perlich Bros. Auction Market Ltd. Nichole says her time at Lethbridge College encouraged her to take on the large role she now plays within the family business. “It has influenced our family to choose careers in the livestock and crop industries,” she says. “Hopefully more of my generation will take part in the agriculture sector to keep it alive.” Michael adds that while attending the college he made some great connections and appreciated the skilled and respected instructors. “They took the time to explain the issues that mattered in modern agriculture and the small class sizes allowed for me to build not only friendships, but working relationships as well.” Maureen says the Perlich family continues to be connected with the college. “As a family business,” she says, “we have done many charity sales for the college and we have partnered with the livestock program, providing some bred cattle for the students to work with during the fall months.”
Maureen Perlich, partner at Perlich Bros. Auction Market Ltd. and in charge of advertising and promotion. (General Agriculture 1995, Lethbridge College Community Leader award 2009) John Perlich, partner at Perlich Bros. Auction Market Ltd. and broker/owner of Perlich Real Estate. (Enrolled in Agricultural Technology and other courses in the 1980s) Michael Perlich, currently in Australia working with Bayer CropScience. (Plant and Soil Science 2011)
Nichole Perlich, in charge of hog exports and horse sales, and also works in the cattle department for Perlich Bros. Auction Market Ltd. (Animal Science 2009) Meagan Perlich Currently enrolled in the Animal Science diploma program with plans to complete the Plant and Soil Sciences diploma as well. Go to lethbridgecollege.ca’s homepage to see a short video about Maureen and the Perlich Bros. Auction Market.
Are you a multi-generational Lethbridge College family? If at least three members across one or more generations attended Lethbridge College, let us know by emailing WHMagazine@lethbridgecollege.ca. We’d love to profile you in It’s a Family Affair. 43
Where are they now? Celebrating the successes of our alumni in their careers and throughout their lives.
DOWNTOWN DINING EDITION By Shelby Craig, Lethbridge College Communication Arts student
Lethbridge College students and alumni are cooking up some pretty creative culinary concoctions in downtown Lethbridge. The list below is just a small sampling of some past and current Kodiaks working at local restaurants and cafés. If you would like to be included in a future list of college chefs, cooks, servers or staff, email WHMagazine@lethbridgecollege.ca. Alisha Aspen, Practical Nursing student, will graduate in 2015 Employed at Botanica Restaurant for three years
Shaun Heck, Culinary Diploma and Apprenticeship Cook 2002 Sales Representative, Centennial Meats for 10 years
James Myer, Communication Arts student, will graduate in 2014 Employed at Two Guys and a Pizza Place for three years
Alyssa Borix, Communication Arts student, will graduate in 2014 Employed at Two Guys and a Pizza Place for one year
Joe Henke, Culinary Diploma and Apprenticeship Cook 1993 Sales Representative, Sysco Foodservices Canada for nine years
Evan Shea, Apprenticeship Cook 2011 Executive Chef, Firestone for three years
Katie Bretherick, Culinary Diploma and Apprenticeship Cook 2012 Employed at Mocha Cabana for four years
Riley Hobberstad, Apprenticeship Cook 2014 Executive Chef, employed at Plum for three years
Mat Daniel, Apprenticeship Cook 2011 Executive Chef at Prime Catering by Moxies for two years
Katrina Kellner, Cultural Studies 2008 Employed at the Tap House for six months
Heather Deibert, Communication Arts student, will graduate in 2014 Employed at Two Guys and a Pizza Place for two years
Hugh Makfugh, ESL 1991 Employed at New Dynasty for two years
Ming Fung, ESL 1991 Employed at New Dynasty for three years Marc Gedrasik, Culinary Diploma and Apprenticeship Cook 2007 Executive Chef, employed at Mocha Cabana for nine years
44 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
Kento Matsuzaki, General Studies 2003 Employed at the Lighthouse Japanese Restaurant for six months Cory Medd, Business and Marketing 2001 Has owned Two Guys and a Pizza Place for 12 years
Ryan Squire, Business Administration 2005 Employed at the Lighthouse Japanese Restaurant for two years Candice Klassen Watts, Culinary Diploma and Apprenticeship Cook 2007 Has owned Joey’s Restaurant in Lethbridge with her husband, Bryn, since November 2012 Ashley Wicks, Child and Youth Care student, will graduate in 2014 Employed at Botanica Restaurant one year Nadean Wutzke, Culinary 2013 Employed at the Owl Acoustic Lounge for one year Yifan Xu, Culinary 2012 Employed at Joey’s Restaurant since November 2012
2012
Lori Patterson, Central Sterile Processing Lori sent the college a Facebook update saying she found a full-time job in Edmonton less than two months after her graduation and that she is now studying to get her international certification which was based on the course materials she was taught at the college. “Who knows where this career will take me?” she wrote.
2008
Victoria Saville, Criminal Justice Victoria sent the following message to Wider Horizons: “I have actually been working as a Team Lead for Bylaw Services in Fort McMurray, along with three other Lethbridge College graduates! I have been employed with the department for the last seven years, and working in the Team Lead (supervisor) role since 2008. I have also found that a good portion of the people that I had taken the Criminal Justice Program with are now RCMP members who have been posted in Fort McMurray (it’s a small world for sure).” Victoria included a photo of several Lethbridge College alumni who all work as Peace Officers for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. They are: (L-R): Kelly Dyck (2008), Shelley Bodie, Victoria Saville (2008), and Peter Daley (2003).
2004
Rob Anderson, Hotel and Restaurant Management Rob was recently promoted to General Manager in the Ironwood American Kitchen at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Scottsdale, Arizona. After graduating from the college, he went on to Royal Roads University and graduated in 2008 in its first ever class of International Hotel Management. He was then hired as Food and Beverage Outlets Manager at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria and, two and one-half years later, was promoted to Director of Outlets of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts in Newport Beach where he was awarded Leader of the Year in 2011.
2003
Dylan Bennett, Computer Information Technology Dylan currently is based in Chile with Teck Resources South America and works as a Senior Real-Time Systems Specialist in charge of evaluation, selection, implementation, integration, and operational support of real-time mining information and control systems. After graduating from the college, he went on to earn a degree in computer science from the University of Lethbridge and was hired by Teck Coal Limited after he completed his studies in 2005. He worked in a variety of positions before moving to Chile to work as the lead for IS mining technology implementation, integration and support at Teck Resources South American operations.
2002
Shawna Van Uden, Practical Nursing Shawna wrote in to Wider Horizons with this update: “I graduated from LC’s Practical Nursing program in 2002. I followed a special interest in fertility and
reproductive health and began training to teach the Billings Ovulation Method in 2005. I became an accredited instructor in 2007. Since that time I have been providing fertility education to couples in southern Alberta and beyond. Billings is a natural way for women to manage their fertility, to overcome sub-fertility and to avoid pregnancy with 99 per cent effectiveness. My PN education has certainly been a strong foundation in this work!”
1991
Toni Gfrerer, Administrative Assistant Toni checked in with Wider Horizons and sent this update: “I am in the Crowsnest Pass and work as the Adult Education Coordinator for Crowsnest Pass Adult Education. I share space with Lethbridge College at the Lethbridge College – Crowsnest Pass Campus (but I am not an LC employee). It is a great partnership with our CCI.” Rick Maddison, Communication Arts Rick was featured in a column by John Thomson last summer in the Kelownabased Castanet website. Thomson writes about Rick’s career, which started at CFCN in Calgary during his practicum. Rick moved on to CHLW in St. Paul and later on to CHAT in Medicine Hat, where he worked in sales. He then moved on to a variety of jobs in Kelowna before opening his own business, Tempest Media, in 2001. Thomson writes “I have been in this business for 58 years and it is amazing to see the work these boutique houses produce for their clients today; how many outlets they use; and the end results of their ongoing campaigns. It is a new world in that profession today and you have to be aware of the changes taking place all the time.”
New baby? New job? New hometown? Tell your classmates all about it by emailing WHMagazine@lethbridgecollege.ca. Be sure to include your name, your area of study, the year you completed your program and a little bit about what you have been doing since you left Lethbridge College. 45
News and notes
More than $230,000 in proceeds from THE College Home project to Lethbridge College Ashcroft Master Builder and Galko Master Builder, along with their building teams, announced a $231,084 donation to Lethbridge College as part of The College Home project in March. The donation is the first of its kind from the unique partnership between the Canadian Home Builders’ Association Lethbridge Region (CHBA) and the college. “We were incredibly pleased to have Ashcroft and Galko Master Builders as the inaugural builders on this collaborative partnership between the college and the CHBA Lethbridge Region and its members,” says Lethbridge College President and CEO Dr. Paula Burns. “Their leadership in this initiative has furthered our work towards training skilled workers in southern Alberta. Lethbridge College will continue to work with its community partners to create innovative solutions wherever they are needed.” The College Home project involves two CHBA builders each year who work with their suppliers and tradespeople and commit to building two homes per year, with the proceeds from the sales to go towards the Trades and Technologies Renewal and Innovation Project. More than 70 different suppliers and tradespeople were involved in the building of these first two homes. Both homes were unveiled at the Parade of Homes last fall and have since been sold to local families. Each of the families received a $2,500 student award to Lethbridge College along with the purchase of these homes. “As much as this is about recognizing the donations being made by Galko, Ashcroft and their trade partners, it is
46 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
also about us recognizing the vital role that Lethbridge College plays in providing us with some of the best-trained tradespeople on the planet,” says Stephen Amonson, Ashcroft Master Builder. “It is our hope that the trades and technologies building is only the beginning of a broader and more expanded role in developing young people for careers in our industry.” Amonson goes on to say the dedicated tradespeople, suppliers and service professionals are committed to building some of the finest homes anywhere in the world. “And although it may seem like it is Ashcroft that is making this donation, the truth is we are only making it on behalf of all of these dedicated, hardworking and extremely generous partners of ours.” “It’s great to be in partnership with the CHBA and the college to help fund the trades and technologies building. This new facility will ensure well-trained workers for our industry and their quality workmanship,” says Bruce Galts, Galko Master Builder. “We are very proud to be a part of this program in its first year and thankful to all of the participating trades and suppliers who helped kick-start such an important program for our community.” Ground is expected to be broken on the Trades and Technologies Renewal and Innovation Project this spring. This initiative is included within the Possibilities are Endless capital campaign to raise $65 million towards the project. The completion date on the facility will be in the fall of 2017.
Wider Horizons cited for A PUBLICATION OF LETHBRIDGE COLLEGE excellence in magazine publishing
Lethbridge College adds millions to the economy
eCampus Alberta’s 100,000th online student from Lethbridge College
Lethbridge College Kodiaks shine in competition and in classrooms
LEARNING LETHBRIDGE COLLEGE P. 2 • HER WORK IS NOT FINISHED P. 8 • ENABLED SKIING P. 32
Lethbridge College’s magazine, Wider Horizons, received a bronze award Feb. 13 in Vancouver at the CASE District VIII 2014 Communication Awards ceremony. The award recognizes excellence in magazine publishing among colleges and universities throughout western Canada and the western United States. Recognized at the ceremony were managing editor Lisa Kozleski and executive editor Carmen Toth, both of Lethbridge College’s marketing and communications office, and designer Dana Woodward of Three Legged Dog Graphic Design of Lethbridge. Wider Horizons also received an Opportunity and Inclusion Endorsement in recognition of the many stories and photos in 2013 issues that highlighted the college’s commitment to opportunity and inclusion for people from diverse backgrounds.
eCampusAlberta is pleased to announce that it has reached a tremendous milestone by recently serving its 100,000th online student. eCampusAlberta is a consortium consisting of 19 Alberta post-secondary institutions, providing greater access to high-quality online learning opportunities. Lethbridge College’s Jaimie Bogstie, a resident of Calgary, was the lucky student who registered in the Youth in Criminal Justice course as part of her Correctional Studies diploma offered online from Lethbridge College. To celebrate this tremendous milestone, eCampusAlberta presented her with the eCampusAlberta Lifelong Learner Award. Jaimie plans to complete her diploma by April and afterwards would like to move into the applied degree program. To support Jaimie’s educational goals, eCampusAlberta will be providing her with tuition assistance for all future eCampusAlberta online courses. Since the first student logged on to eCampusAlberta in 2002, the consortium has seen unprecedented growth, including double-digit percentage growth of registrations in each of the past nine years. The online consortium now connects students to more than 900 online courses and 70 programs — from provincially approved certificates and diplomas to applied degrees — offered by 19 Alberta post-secondary institutions.
A recent study by Economic Modeling Specialists International shows that Lethbridge College and its graduates contribute significantly to the economic health of the city, region, province and country. The study, which involved eight Alberta colleges, shows that Lethbridge College and its students added $427.7 million to the economy in the Lethbridge region during the 2011-12 year. That number includes the economic impact of more than 1,500 students who moved to Lethbridge to attend college and added $6.5 million to the economy, as well as the accumulated contribution of former college students currently employed in the regional workforce, who add more than $357 million to the economy. It also includes the net impact of the college operations – a figure which tops $63 million.
Creating a focus on academics with an emphasis on athleticism was a goal of Lethbridge College’s Kodiaks Athletics this year. With 18 Kodiaks on the fall 2013 honour roll (which requires a minimum 3.5 GPA) and a total of 57 student-athletes maintaining minimum GPA of at least 3.0, that goal has now been achieved and is being celebrated on campus. Congratulations to the Kodiaks basketball teams, players and coaches who received several provincial honours the first weekend of March. The men’s team captured a bronze in the ACAC while the women’s team finished fourth. Both teams showed impressive leadership, skill, teamwork and grit. Well done. In addition, several others also received individual honours. Three of the 10 players on both the all-conference men’s and women’s teams were Kodiaks, including Deanna Dotts (1st team), Emma Lowry (1st team), Karli Brakes (2nd team), Dom Coward (1st team), Travis Butt (2nd team) and Chris Maughan (2nd team). Dom Coward was also named the ACAC’s 2013-14 Men’s Basketball Player of the Year. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition. And finally, congratulations to coach Avery Harrison, who was named Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year. This is his fourth Coach of the Year award with ACAC.
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News and notes
College research officer presents, publishes work on sports history
Robb Nash wowed the crowd at Lethbridge College
Staff and students at Lethbridge College were excited to host Robb Nash on campus Jan. 28 as he traveled from coast to coast sharing his dramatic and inspirational story. Nash had been scheduled to come to the college in early September but a broken down bus kept him and his band from making it. Nash was 17-years-old when his skull was fractured in a headon collision with a semi-truck; his injuries were so severe that paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. But before the ambulance arrived at the hospital, his pulse returned, and his long recovery began. After initially feeling overwhelmed with anger, self-doubt and depression following his accident, he eventually embraced a new outlook on life. Since then, Nash has been making music and speaking to young people around North America. Nash and his band have brought their presentation to more than 180 schools through 150 shows each year.
Lethbridge College students take second at Business Case Competition
Lethbridge College’s team of business students placed second at March’s 9th Annual Alberta Deans of Business Case Competition in Red Deer. The team was comprised of Meghan Cox, second-year Business Administration Marketing; Trong Phan, second-year Business Administration Marketing; Corey Zimmer, second-year Business Administration Management; and Michael Doughty, first-year Business Administration Marketing. The faculty advisors for the team were Rita Halma, School of Business Co-Chair, and David Orr, Business Administration instructor. Lethbridge College’s team received $2,500 for second place. Lakeland College’s team received $4,000 for first place and the Grande Prairie Regional College team received $1,500 for third place. There were 13 teams participating in the competition. Lethbridge College has sent a team to the competition each of the nine years and placed third in 2009. The event is organized each year by the deans of the business programs in all Alberta colleges.
48 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
Dave McMurray, a research officer who works in the college’s Centre for Applied Research and Innovation, has had several articles accepted for publication. The first article examines the historical role of British women in the sport of angling from the Renaissance to the mid-19th century and the transfer of this tradition to North America. This article was published in November 2012 in Sport History Review, a peer reviewed academic journal. The second article examines how white, middle- and upper-class North American women in the 19th century used the sport of angling to bypass many of the scientific and cultural views of gender that otherwise would have restricted their ability to explore and engage the natural world. This article was published in April 2013 in the International Journal of the History of Sport, which is also a peer reviewed academic journal. In addition, McMurray co-authored a conference paper in May 2013 with Dr. Robert Kossuth from the University of Lethbridge’s Kinesiology Department for the North American Society for Sport History’s (NASSH) Annual Convention. And finally, the two have been invited to present a paper at the North American Society for Sport History (NASSH) Conference in May. McMurray is the lead author of that work, which is tentatively titled “In the woods of Canada, equality with our brothers and husbands awaits us…: Gender and Class Constructions in the Sport of Angling on the Frontier Canadian West.”
Common Chord earns nominations and secures distribution deal
The locally-produced feature-length film Common Chord has garnered seven nominations for the Alberta Media Production Industry Association (AMPIA) Awards and has secured a worldwide distribution deal with Koan Inc. Lethbridge College instructor George Gallant was one of the producers of the independent full-length feature, which was shot in Lethbridge in 2012 and was a collaborative effort between the college and the University of Lethbridge and involved students, artists, designers, writers and actors from throughout southern Alberta. Gallant and his co-producer, Deric Olsen, were nominated for Best Dramatic Production (over 30 minutes). Gallant and Olsen are also delighted to announce their partnership with Koan Inc. to distribute Common Chord worldwide.
Tiffin Conference
Lethbridge College’s annual Tiffin Conference took place Jan. 22 in the Instructional Building on campus. The soldout conference examined challenges and issues facing the cattle industry, provided some strategies for sustainability and looked at how consumer demands are affecting food production. Speakers included Anne (Dunford) Wasko, Grant Taillieu, John Gilchrist, Todd Hirsch and Jim Wiesemeyer. The Tiffin Conference is made possible through the Ronald Tiffin Agricultural Endowment Fund, established in honour of Ronald W. Tiffin. The goal is to provide world-class learning opportunities to primary producers, agri-business and agriculture students.
Engineering Technologies Open House a success
The School of Engineering Technologies hosted a successful Career Day and Open House on Feb. 27 in Centre Core, where instructors demonstrated the cutting-edge equipment and software that students use every day, and students and visitors took part in interactive activities and lab demonstrations. Staff answered program-related questions and participants mingled with future employers and industry leaders. The Career Day portion of the event brought nine employers to campus to talk with more than 70 Engineering Technologies students, 15 Geomatics students, 45 high school students, and nearly 30 other parents, mentors, volunteers and visitors. The Open House included three tours that attracted about 115 visitors, including 75 high school students.
Family Orientation sessions planned Lethbridge College will host Family Orientation sessions this summer, giving parents and/or partners some tips on ways to support their new students through the growth and challenges ahead. Family members attending orientation sessions will receive a campus tour as well as a brief of how the academic system works including class structure, grading and registration. Students visiting with their families will also enjoy a campus tour and an opportunity to meet other students and faculty. The three sessions are scheduled for Aug. 8, Sept. 1 and Sept. 2. To register, email studentexperience@lethbridgecollege.ca.
Engineering Technologies helping others one can at a time
A team of Lethbridge College Engineering Technologies staff members, students and friends put their design skills to the test by creating a “Polar Vortex” in the annual Canstruction food charity event held at Centre Village Mall in February. The team received an honourable mention in the contest and donated their proceeds to the LCSA Food Bank. Canstruction is a design and build competition currently held in cities across North America that brings together teams of architects, engineers, designers, contractors and students mentored by these professionals to design and build giant structures made entirely from cans of food. A Canstruction event results in providing food for thousands of hungry people and raising awareness about hunger in communities. Among those who helped build Lethbridge College’s Polar Vortex were Tobi Baugh, Jim Pinches, Andrew Bowen, Mark Bohnert, Brandon Fabien, Mark Bester, Matthew Scotney, Dylan Miller, Adrian Pook, Ian Robertson, Alex Senneker, Mackenzie Bodie and Daniel Waeckerlin.
Justice studies instructor sees success as ringette coach
Ken Sauter, a Justice Studies instructor, is also an assistant coach for the under-16 and under-14 ringette teams in Lethbridge. This keeps some of his evenings and a lot of his weekends fairly busy. This silver medal was won by the U16s in the Esso Golden Ring tournament in January. He has been involved in coaching for five years for the Lethbridge Ringette Association. This is the U16s third medal this season, as the team also has won another silver and one gold. He has been involved with coaching some of these girls since they were in the U10 division. Sauter says “It has been pretty cool to see them develop into a pretty competitive and often successful team.”
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News and notes
Camps for kids at the college
Instructors, staff wiN awards, recognition
Several Lethbridge College instructors have won various awards and recognition, including:
• Deb Bardock, Dean of the Centre for Health and
Wellness, won the Alberta Nurse Educators Administrators award for Leadership in Practical Nurse Education last May.
• The National Institute for Staff and Organizational
Development celebrates teaching excellence yearly. This year, Kirsten Fantazir and Bill Anderson, instructors in the Criminal Justice program, were named the NISOD Excellence award recipients.
• Melanie Kalischuk, an instructor in Environmental
Sciences, was successful with her proposal on early detection of late potato blight. She received a three-year grant from the Board of Directors of the Potato Growers of Alberta to continue her work on “Early Warning and Prevention of Late Blight.”
• Correctional Studies instructor Jim Laing, a retired
RCMP Counterfeit Co-ordinator, was featured in an article in the winter 2013-14 magazine, AntiCounterfeiting Connections. He retired after 35 years as an RCMP officer before coming to teach at the college.
Lethbridge College offers a wide variety of summer camps for children and youth. Go to lethbridgecollege.ca/conted and click on “Camps for Kids” to get all the information you need about summer camps involving fashion, wind energy, cooking and baking, art, dance and more. In addition, you can enroll a child in sports camps including volleyball and basketball camps for middle school and high school athletes.
Residences open for tours on May 14
The community is invited to an Open House of new and old residences from noon to 3 p.m. on May 14. Visitors are asked to come to Kodiak House where there will be snacks and where tours of the different residences will start. If any community members would like a private tour of the residences, just email res.life@lethbridgecollege.ca to set a time.
college project inspires CIT paper
One of the Computer Information Technology projects completed in 2012 has resulted in a paper that will be published this year in the Journal of Open Source Software. Instructor Stephen Graham reports that alumnus Matt Forster submitted a paper about the group project he and his team developed as students in 2012. They received word in November that the article was accepted. The project involved developing lab management software for a lab at the local Agriculture Canada Research Centre. It allowed the students to engage with the larger research community by providing a useful product and provided the students with an educational opportunity as well as a chance to build their resumes with a peer-reviewed publication.
• Dr. Sandy Vanderburgh, dean of Applied Arts
and Sciences, has recently published two papers in academic journals. The first appeared in the journal Geomorphology. The second is titled “Late Holocene Geomorphology of the Columbia River Estuary, Oregon and Washington, USA” and will be published in the Journal of Geography and Geology.
• Karla Wolsky, chair of the Bachelor of Nursing (NESA)
program, and Melanie Hamilton, nursing instructor, will speak at the 11th annual Teaching Professor Conference. Their presentation is titled “I’ve Got a Funny Bone: Ideas for Student Engagement.”
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English instructor publishes 28th book
Lethbridge College English instructor Richard Stevenson just had his 28th book accepted for publication. The book is called Fruit Wedge Moon and it will be out in 2014 from Hidden Brook Press. It is a collaborative project Stevenson undertook with his friend, photographer Ellen McArthur. The book includes a collection of haiku, senryu, tanka, kyoka, zappai, various sequences, and other western forms of the Japanese imagist tradition mixed with black and white landscape photography.
Lethbridge College KODIAKS shine in province College wins gold and silver in ACAC track championships
The Kodiaks men’s track team won its first ever indoor track ACAC championship at Grant MacEwan University at the CFB Edmonton Garrison Fieldhouse/Track in Edmonton in March. Winning the men’s indoor title was a sweet revenge from the silver medal the team received in the cross country season. In total, the team ran away with one individual gold and five silver medals. Solomon Ngetich won gold in the 3000 metres, silver in the 1500 and fourth in the 400. Alex Andres won silver in both the 400 and 800 metre races as well as a team silver in the 4x400 relay with Matt Horgus, Jeremy Ferguson and Andrew Kimosop. Cross country champion Edwin Kaitany won silver in the 3000 metres and finished fifth in the 1500. Matt Horgus finished seventh in the 400 metre race. The women’s team repeated its silver team medal from the cross country season and team captain Caylee Vogel ran personal bests and earned two bronze medals along with a team silver for the 4x400 relay along with Sarah Makowsky, Rachel McKenzie and Hattie Kanyo. Hattie Kanyo also finished fourth in the 400 metre race, 1/100th of a second behind Caylee. Michaela York ran a seasonal best and finished fifth in the 3000 metre race. Rachel McKenzie finished fourth in the 800, sixth in 400 and seventh in the 1500. Sarah Makowsky came seventh in the 3000 and ninth in the 1500. The Kodiaks men and women won the combined overall title, where all 18 runners ran
their personal or seasonal best times. Three Kodiaks earned top six Grand Prix “all stars” recognition: Caylee Vogel, Alex Andres and Solomon Ngetich.
Kodiaks win Prairie Mountain Cup
The trophy for the Prairie Mountain Cup is a challenge cup between the Kodiaks and the Medicine Hat Rattlers. This competition began in 2009 as a challenge between the presidents at Medicine Hat and Lethbridge colleges. Each team receives points following matches between the two southern Alberta colleges, and the points are tallied throughout the academic and athletic year. The president of the losing college has to wear a sweater from the winning college for a day (or two). The Kodiaks won the cup from 2009 to 2012. In the 2012-13 academic year, Medicine Hat won for the first time with a combined final score of 20-14. This year saw some Kodiaks revenge as the Lethbridge College athletes combined for a convincing 24-1 final score. Medicine Hat’s only point this year came from a comefrom-behind tie in women’s soccer. We do not believe there has ever been a more dominant year in the six-year history of the cup – and we do not plan on ever giving it back. Congratulations to all of the Kodiaks, coaches, and fans who made this victory possible. 51
News and notes
Noted #online Here are a few highlights from Twitter and Instagram that we’ve seen
online these last few months. Stay connected to Lethbridge College all year long by following us.
Kris Hodgson @kriskross Jan 31 @LethCollege’s solar trailer was unveiled at launch of @EnviroLeth yesterday at @CasaLethbridge. A great day in #yql
Paul Kingsmith @paulkingsmith Jan 24
Alex
Making history, Lundbreck’s Lowry sisters are suiting up at @LethCollege in an ACAC first. At 6 on @GlobalLeth. #YQL
I’m finally official! Happy 1 month anniversary to me. #lethcollege
Troy Reeb @troyreebglobal
Huge congrats to @LethCollege #journalism student Taylor Oseen! She will soon head to Ottawa, Toronto as winner of @globalnews internship. Mar 27
SteelyC @SteelyC
@LethCollege Great meeting in #Claresholm last night! Thanks for coming to our community! Mar 26
Kara Oosterhuis @KaraOosterhuis
Fantastic day spent at @LethCollege checking out their #communicationarts program. Awesome experience. #studentforaday Mar 24
52 • WIDER Horizons/Spring 2014
mary did it
@akulas13 Feb 7
@maryinjune
All signed up for grad 2k14! Can’t believe it’s almost here! @lethcollege @ Lethbridge College Mar 14
Paul Kingsmith
@paulkingsmith
Katie Fetting of @LethCollege named ACAC second team women’s volleyball all-star! #YQL Feb 22
Janet Row
@_Thistledown_
Lots of proud #canucks at @LethCollege today as #Canadian women rock the #Olympics! Gold in #curling and #hockey #WeAreWinter Feb 20
Twitter: @LethCollege Facebook: /LethbridgeCollege YouTube: /LethbridgeCollege Instagram: @LethCollege
spalechek @spalechek Mar 5 Just enjoyed an AMAZING meal at the Garden Court prepared by 2nd year Lethbridge College students! Easily one of the most delicious, well presented meals I’ve had. Well done LC culinary #yql #lethbridgecollege
Mocha Cabana @mochacabana Feb 28 Apprentice Chef Sarah Hall meets Chef Chuck Hughes. #lethbridgecollege #chefs #mochacabana
Lethbridge College
@LethCollege
Screams and shouts heard across campus as @LethCollege employees put their multitasking skills to good use. #WeAreWinter #GoCanadaGo Feb 20
Joe Mauro
eCampusAlberta
@eCampusAlberta
eCampusAlberta celebrates its 100,000th online student from #yyc learning online from @LethCollege #abpse #cdnpse Feb 4
Troy Reeb
@troyreebglobal
@VisaCA @LethCollege Kodiak mens soccer team cheering loudly & proudly from Portugal for team Canada. @goCanada
@LC_Alumni @kriskross @PeteGingras Really excited to see all the great story ideas in the @LethCollege internship applications. #ToughChoice
Feb 18
Jan 31
@joemauroleth
Dave Hancock
@DaveHancockMLA
In #yql this morning visiting @ulethbridge & @LethCollege #abpse “@LethCollege: Our 2014 Distinguished Alumni have been announced!” Congratulations to all. Well deserved
Todd Hirsch
@ABeconomist
At the kick-off of the famous Tiffin Conference on agriculture at Lethbridge College @LethCollege Jan 23
Feb 13
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Coming soon
A fresh look for new beginnings 14 SP RIN G 20 CLU B P. 12 HO ME BR EW OP S P. 20 ARY CH S OF F CU LIN SSROO MS P. 38 CH EF SH OW ING CLA RN LEA E AC TIV
Z O NGES} R H OHBRRIDI GE CO LLE W I DICAETIO N OF LET { A PU BL
WIDER HORIZONS { A PUB L I CAT I ON OF L ET H B R I DGE COL L EG E }
It’s spring, and that means it’s time for new beginnings and fresh looks. We are working on updating Wider Horizons this spring. We’ve stuck to the same style since our debut more than seven years ago and decided it was a good time for a change. Here’s a sneak peak at what you can expect in your mail this fall.