St. Clair College is happy to report an in-person celebration will be returning as it gets set to honour its latest class of Alumni of Distinction recipients.
This from Vice President of College Communications and Community Relations John Fairley who says the event has forced to go virtual for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year's recipients cover a wide range of backgrounds from CEOs and executive directors to fashion designers and social media managers.
Fairley says, since 1992, the list of honourees has grown to 125.
"It's a good time to celebrate when people are looking where am I going to go for post secondary education? Going to college, can I ever be someone? If I take this kind of thing, could I ever run a company or be an executive director? And I think this year's list certainly proves that."
He says 2022's class is a great example of where you can go with a college education.
"Everyone started at the bottom. Everyone started working their way up. With the college experience, the hands on experience, and hearing some of these stories, they have just built on what they learned at the college."
Fairley says it's great to get back to some normalcy.
"It's so great to be able to have people back to the traditional dinner and having one together and having people with their friends, their co-workers and family together, saying how proud they are. Nothing beats being together and, boy oh boy, after the last couple of years we're really looking forward to this one."
The 2022 edition of the Alumni of Distinction awards takes place on April 29 at the St. Clair College Centre for the Arts in downtown Windsor — tickets can be purchased at stclairalumni.com.
The full list of recipients can be seen below:
- Michael Audet, Chief Executive Officer, E.L.K. Energy (Essex. Lakeshore. Kingsville. Energy), graduated in 1988 from the Business Common program. He is being honoured in the category of Business & I.T.
- Karen Bolger, Executive Director, Community Living Essex, graduated in 1985 from the Developmental Service Worker program. She is being honoured in the category of Community Studies.
- Tim Byrne, Chief Administrative Officer, Essex Region Conservation Authority, graduated in 1979 from the Civil Engineering Technology program. He is being honoured in the category of Technology / Engineering.
- Kristin Kennedy, President and Chief Executive Officer, Erie Shores Health Care, graduated in 1997 from the Nursing program. She is being honoured in the category of Nursing/Health Sciences.
- Tomoko Oxenfarth, Designer/Owner of Maison Louise, graduated in 2020 from the Fashion Design Technician program. She is being honoured as a Recent Grad.
- Chris Vadori, Social Media Manager – Canada, Skip the Dishes, graduated in 2010 from the Advertising program. He is being honoured in the category of Creative Arts (Media, Art & Design).