News Archives: GPRC Awards Recognize Community
Tuesday, March 15th, 2016
GRANDE PRAIRIE– The annual Grande Prairie Regional College President’s Awards Luncheon today recognized several members of the community for contributions to excellence in education. The event was established in 2004, and honours volunteers, alumni and community builders and are the most prestigious awards presented by GPRC.
The Distinguished Volunteer Award is in recognition of exceptional contributions of time and energy dedicated to the advancement of GPRC and was presented to nursing student and Education Ambassador Laura Rotaru. Rotaru is a key member in the current group of Education Ambassadors who have shown initiative to support existing college activities, create new events, and be a support for their fellow students while building their leadership abilities. This is the first time in the 12-year history of the award that GPRC recognized a current student.
The Steps to the Greater Alumni Award recognizes the outstanding achievements of GPRC alumni early in their careers. Runner Fiona Benson is this year’s recipient. She represented Canada at the 2015 World Cross Country Championships in March 2015. In July 2015 she won the Canadian Championship in the 800m. She’s achieved Olympic qualifying times in both the 800m and 1500m for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. She ended 2015 ranked 10th in the world in the one mile, 31st in the 1,500 metre, and 41st in the 800 metre.
Alumni Awards of Excellence recognize specific, recent accomplishments of Alumni. This year’s recipients include curler Tom Sallows and runner Mirelle Martens. Sallows was a member of Team Canada that won the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier and won bronze at the 2015 Ford World Men's Curling Championship. Martens represented Canada at the 2015 World Cross Country Championships in the Junior Women’s race, at the 2015 Pan American Junior Track and Field Championships where she won the silver medal in the 3,000 metre with a personal best time of 9:41 and won bronze in the 5,000 metre at the 2015 Canadian Junior Track and Field Championships.
The Distinguished Alumni Award was established to recognize GPRC alumni for outstanding accomplishments in their professions, and/or in service to their community, society or GPRC.
GPRC honoured a ground-breaking alumnae in Dr. Dana Goedbloed with the award.
Goedbloed graduated from GPRC in 1975 with a certificate in Secretarial Science. She later completed her Bachelor and Master of Education degrees and eventually completed her PhD in Policy and Leadership. Goedbloed’s career took her to Kwantlen College in BC where she became the first female Dean of Apprenticeships in Canada in 2008.
The Board of Governors Award of Distinction is the College’s highest tribute to individuals or groups within our community. This award has been established to honour individuals whose actions have made exceptional contributions to our community and to the advancement of higher education. Michael O’Connor is the 2016 Award of Distinction recipient.
O'Connor served as a member of the GPRC Board of Governors starting in 2002 and became board chair in 2008. O'Connor has also been very active in the community as a volunteer with numerous community groups including Grande Prairie Live Theatre, Camp Tamarack, Alberta Wine Education Society, Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce, Alberta Chambers of Commerce, Swan City Rotary Club, Crystal Centre Advisory Committee and the Christ Church Anglican vestry.
The event also inducts new members to the GPRC President’s Council, which consists of individuals who have completed service to GPRC on the Board of Governors or Alumni/Foundation Board of Directors, have volunteered as Chair of a major fundraising event, have made a planned gift to the College, or have received a distinguished award at GPRC. At this year’s event 10 new members were inducted.
Over 150 guests from GPRC and the community were present for the ceremonies, held today, March 15, 2016 in the Teresa Sargent Hall of Montrose Cultural Centre.
GPRC is a comprehensive community institution, publicly supported to provide opportunities in post-secondary education in northwestern Alberta. Established in 1966 in Grande Prairie, GPRC now includes campuses in Fairview and Grande Prairie, and learning centres in Edson, Grande Cache, Hinton and Jasper. GPRC offers a wide variety of career certificates and diplomas, pre-employment and apprenticeship trades, university transfer studies, and several opportunities for on-campus degree completion at baccalaureate and master levels through collaborations with four-year universities. For more information visit gprc.ab.ca.
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For more information, please contact:
Mark Evans
GPRC
Corporate Communications
Phone: 780-539-2951