Alumni & Friends Network

Community Connections: DSW Cooperative reinvents support for people with developmental disabilities

It took a high school drama class for Lisa Murray to settle on a career. However, her decision had nothing to do with acting, directing, or production.

During the class, Murray volunteered to support two classmates with Down syndrome. She was amazed at the attitudes of the young men, the happiness they found in the smallest things.

“It really made me (question) why I was stressing about these big things in life when I could focus on a simple smile from a friend,” she says. “They really just changed my outlook on life so I decided to start doing this full-time.” Continue reading →

Digital dynamo: PR grad programmed for success

Just seven years after graduating from Algonquin’s Public Relations program in 2006, Kelly Rusk found herself working as a digital media expert at Banfield, a well-known Ottawa marketing and communications agency that’s been around since the word digital meant a wristwatch with flashing numbers.

Within two years of joining Banfield, she was a partner in the business and now serves as the agency’s digital director. If this seems like overnight success, don’t be fooled, says Rusk. Continue reading →

Smart Hands: Graduate scores with sports massage business

Basil Phillips learned a lot when he attended Algonquin’s Massage Therapy program in the late 1990s. But there was something missing, he says.

Thanks to the veteran massage therapist himself, the gap has been filled.

Phillips became interested in massage therapy because of his background in sports. He was looking for a business that would continue to keep him involved in athletics, he says. Continue reading →