Alumna wins national award

An ACC alumna has received a national nod of recognition for her dedication to early childhood care.

Ruby Anne Chartrand was recently given the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Early Childhood Education, an annual award that honours early childhood educators from across Canada who display exceptional talent in encouraging early development skills of children under their care.

“I felt overwhelmed and honoured to receive this award,” said Chartrand. “I didn’t even know I had been nominated, so it came as a complete shock when I got the call from Ottawa. I’ll never forget it. Nothing will top this for a long time.

Chartrand travelled from Swan River to Ottawa to accept her Certificate of Excellence from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which was presented during a ceremony held earlier this month. The distinction came with a cheque for $5,000. This will be shared equally between Chartrand andChildren for the Future Aboriginal Head Start program in Swan River where she is currently employed.

“Ruby is a highly skilled and talented ECE who takes the time to encourage new early childhood educators in a professional manner,” said Cindy Streifel, an ECE instructor at ACC. “She has mentored several of our ECE practicum students since graduation and continues to successfully teach and guide other staff at her centre.”

Chartrand began working towards her diploma with the ACC Camperville cluster Early Childhood Education (ECE) class in 2008 and graduated from the program in 2012. This classified her as an ECE ll in the Province of Manitoba.

Certificates of Excellence in ECE are awarded annually to the five top-ranked nominees. An additional ten top-ranked nominees receive Certificates of Achievement.