Celebrating Excellence at the Pembroke Waterfront Campus
Posted on Sunday, June 2nd, 2019
Receiving an award is always special, but when it is unsolicited and put forward through a community-wide nomination process, it makes the award much more significant. It speaks to how the community views the individual or organization that is receiving the award, and in the case of Algonquin College’s Pembroke Waterfront Campus, it confirms the impact the College has on people’s lives.
For the second year in a row, Algonquin College’s Pembroke Waterfront Campus has received an “Excellence in Education” award from the Upper Ottawa Valley Chamber of Commerce. After nominations are put forward in various categories, the ultimate decision on who receives the award is left in the hands of the public through an online voting system. The Chamber says 114 nominations were received in the 13 award categories and more than 45,000 votes were cast to determine the winners.
The Chamber of Commerce is at the core of every business community and while receiving the award was wonderful for the College, what was more striking was the number of Algonquin Business graduates who had become part of the business community in various roles. Throughout the event, there were networking opportunities where graduates shared their Algonquin story of how they had attended the Pembroke Campus and where their career had led them since graduating.
When the time came to hand out the awards, there were several alumni who were highlighted for starting their own business or for helping their organization succeed. Some were now teaching courses at the college and others were active on program advisory councils, sharing insight into how their sector was changing and how the college might adjust its curriculum to meet emerging industry needs.
Given the number of business people who had ties to the Pembroke Campus, it was clear that Algonquin graduates were taking an active role in being business leaders in our community. For example, the President of the Chamber is Meghan Sutherland and the Vice-President is Dez Patel, both of whom graduated from the Business program and are now doing wonderful things in their respective careers and giving back to the community through their volunteer work with the Chamber of Commerce.
Winning awards is an outcome of hard work, efforts that are recognized by others as being exemplary. When Algonquin College wins awards it is an acknowledgement of the efforts of its employees to live the college mission of transforming hopes and dreams into lifelong success. The College has the ability to change lives and that was on display at the Chamber awards night.
It felt great to see these alumni thriving in their careers and watching them take the stage to present or receive awards was a reminder of how important the campus is to the Upper Ottawa Valley. It’s obvious that our community understands this importance and we are very grateful that so many people felt compelled to again recognize the college for an “Excellence in Education” award. It means a lot to the campus to receive this support from our community and we are sincerely grateful. A big thank you from everyone at Algonquin College.
Posted by Jamie Bramburger, Acting Dean of the Pembroke Waterfront Campus
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- Waterfront Campus Blog