A St. Clair College graduate is being awarded with the 2025 Premier's Award.
Walter LaPlante, a recent recipient of the St. Clair College Alumni of Distinction award and a graduate of the Mechanical Engineering Technology - Mechatronics program in 2009, has been selected to receive this provincial award.
The Premier's Award is an annual award in Ontario that celebrates outstanding achievements of college graduates.
Since graduating with distinction from St. Clair College and obtaining further education at three additional university's, LaPlante has become a leader in the field of vehicle control and connectivity and is sought after for his innovative ideas.
LaPlante is a Deaf leader at Ford Motor Company in Michigan and is known for leading technological improvements in product quality across 20 factories globally. He created MAIVS, an AI-based system detecting manufacturing defects.
His achievements include several awards, two patents in vehicle inspection, and advocacy for the Deaf community, including legislation for better education in sign language for parents of children with hearing loss.
LaPlante says he was shocked and humbled to see he won.
"Very blessed for the nomination and for being selected, which was... it came as a surprise, so very proud for what St. Clair College has accomplished, what we have accomplished together. So, it's been a fantastic nomination and an award."
He says as a Deaf individual, his career wouldn't be possible without St. Clair College.
"It's been a fantastic career journey, and I really want to say that it's because of St. Clair and that hands-on learning because as you go into university... that hands-on is limited, it's more of how you apply to the theory."
He says advocacy for the Deaf community is very important to him as his daughter is Deaf as well.
"Now she's eight years old, and her vocabulary has been at a rapid rate, and seeing her mathematics... I mean you're talking about dad who's in engineering so I'm a little bias, but mathematics and she's able to pick all of that up thanks to sign language."
LaPlante is only the fifth St. Clair College graduate to receive this honour, and it marks the first time a St. Clair graduate has received the honour in the category of STEM Innovation.
The award will be presented to LaPlante at a special event in Toronto on November 24, 2025.