Assiniboine Alumni Association announces 2023 Alumni Award recipients

Assiniboine Community College’s Alumni Association has announced the recipients of this year’s alumni awards for the Brandon region. A total of six awards will be presented at the Advancement Dinner this fall.

This year’s Distinguished Alumni Awards will be presented to Chuck Judd and Karen MacDonald. The Distinguished Alumni category is presented annually to graduates who have distinguished themselves in both their chosen profession and their community.

Chuck Judd graduated from the Electrical program at Assiniboine Community College in 1980. He has been a long-time supporter of the college, specifically the Construction Electrician program, and has served as an advisory committee member. He has hired and mentored a number of graduates throughout his career, prior to his retirement from his business, Jamieson Judd Ltd. In 2022. Chuck continuously donates his time and expertise in support of the industry.

Karen MacDonald is currently the Vice President of People and Culture for Mazergroup. She graduated from the Business Administration Program in 1989 and continues to be an ambassador for Assiniboine Community College. She has been involved in numerous committees and task forces supporting the HR profession and employment initiatives in the Westman area. She has been highly involved with CPHR Manitoba, has sat on the Board of Directors for the Brandon Chamber of Commerce and chaired the Workforce Development Committee.

This year’s recipients of the One to Watch Award are Andrew Blair and Kailan Dreolini. The One to Watch award recognizes graduates who have made exceptional achievements and significant contributions to their profession and community since graduation.

Andrew Blair, a member of the Sayisi Dene First Nation, was always interested in designing, building, and repairing machines and complicated systems. He completed his Power Engineering certificate at Assiniboine in 2017, graduating with honours. He went on to pass his provincial Power Engineering exams with high marks. While Andrew was studying at Assiniboine, he got a part time job as a casual labourer with the City of Brandon, and was offered employment as a facility operator at the Brandon Sportsplex upon graduation. Three years later, he was offered a position as a Boiler Operator for the city, and in 2022 was awarded the “Rookie of the Year” award at the annual awards banquet for the Manitoba Water and Wastewater Association.

In a few short years, Kailan Dreolini has taken the skills she gained in the Business Administration program and masterfully applied them to building her own growing company. After graduating with the class of 2020, Kailan took her passion for painting and refinishing furniture to the next level by starting Refreshed + Refurbished, a painting contracting business, in October of 2021. Through her social media presence, showing her process and before and after shots of her projects, her company has quickly grown and she’s added three employees to her team to keep up with demand.

The Excellence in Education Award honours an Assiniboine staff member or retiree for extraordinary contributions to teaching and the student experience. This year, the award goes to two outstanding instructors—Akaps Mweemba and Pam Nightingale.

Akaps Mweemba joined Assiniboine in 2009 and is currently the Academic Coordinator and Instructor at the Centre for Adult Learning – Brandon. He has dedicated much of his career and personal time to the community of Brandon, and truly values being engaged in community life and enhancing the lives of the staff and students. He has served on the board of Samaritan House and believes in giving his students opportunities to learn and be successful, in much the same way that others have given him opportunities to develop his gifts and talents over the years.

Pam Nightingale, recently retired, brought a wide range of professional experience to her role as an instructor at Assiniboine Community College. Previously, she was a teacher for Brandon School Division and for Junior Kindergarten at Brandon University. She was an instructor for the Roots of Empathy program, and a facilitator for Drop-in Playtime at the Elspeth Reid Centre while simultaneously being the owner/operator of the Nightingale Nest Preschool. In 2020, she was awarded the Teaching Excellence Stellar Award from Assiniboine.

The dates and venues for the Advancement Dinner events, where these recipients will be presented their awards, will be announced at a later date.

For event details, sponsorship information, or tickets contact Lisa Huston, Alumni Relations Co-ordinator, at 204.725.8700 ext 7124.