Fleming College

Each year, Colleges Ontario presents six Premier’s Awards to outstanding college graduates chosen from nominations submitted by Ontario’s 24 colleges. Alumni nominated for a Premier’s Award demonstrate commitment to career success and significant contribution to their community. The award categories include Business, Community Services, Creative Arts and Design, Health Sciences, Recent Graduate and Technology. This year, 114 Ontario college graduates nominated for the awards will be honoured at a gala event on November 24, 2014 at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto where a final winner from each category will be revealed.

Fleming College proudly nominated six remarkable alumni for a 2014 Premier’s Award:

PREMIER’S AWARD – BUSINESS
David Cain, Business Administration – Data Processing, 1978
David Cain is an inspirational change champion. He is retired as the Founder and President of TeamCain, a company specializing in distribution and warehousing solutions for businesses in Canada, the United States, and Europe. David raised business standards in his field by building his company to reflect his personal morals of integrity, caring and customer satisfaction. Since retiring from TeamCain in 2006, David volunteers as President of Friends of Honduran Children. He inspires positive change in Central America by focusing on delivering sustainable programs that provide necessary aid, supplies and skills that allow Hondurans to obtain self-sufficiency and personal fulfilment.

PREMIER’S AWARD – COMMUNITY SERVICES
Lorrie Baird, Early Childhood Education, 1985
An expert with 30 years of experience in early childhood education, Lorrie cares for and educates our youngest citizens. She spent many years exploring the Reggio approach to learning and applied this pedagogy and engagement in reflective practice to transform early childhood education.  She is the Associate Executive Director for Kawartha Child Care Services in Peterborough where she championed the implementation of Reggio Inspired Emergent curriculum into 25 sites when this innovative approach was rarely considered. Lorrie is a contributing author in Ministry of Education documents that support early learning. She shares expertise worldwide, most recently inspiring Ontario’s First Nations communities.

 
PREMIER’S AWARD – CREATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN
Barb Bolin, Recreation Leadership, 1972
Barb brings visual art to life throughout Ontario. She is a catalyst for new education and community economic development initiatives related to the arts. After 35 years, Barb retired as the Principal/Dean of Fleming College’s Haliburton School of The Arts where she grew a small part-time education centre to a nationally recognized institution. Barb is the founding Chair of the Haliburton Sculpture Forest and the Haliburton Highlands Arts Council. She is the epitome of volunteerism and community involvement. Barb’s work over 40 years has positively shaped the creative arts and cultural landscape industry-wide in the province.

PREMIER’S AWARD – HEALTH SCIENCES
Julie Cordasco, Nursing, 1989
Julie’s 25 year nursing career took her from caring for infants at SickKids to seniors at Prime Care Family Health Team. A Registered Nurse, Julie was Milton, Ontario’s first aging-at-home visiting nurse to help seniors stay home longer with health and dignity. Julie cared for thousands of patients during two medical missions to Guatemala to help natives from Merendon Mountains and is a trained volunteer with GlobalMedic/GlobalFire to assist in disasters worldwide. A Rotarian with Burlington North, Julie fosters youth programs and received the highest honour Rotary can bestow on a person—the Paul Harris Fellowship Award.

PREMIER’S AWARD – RECENT GRADUATE
Joshua See, Environmental Visual Communications, 2013
Joshua is a visual journalist helping society understand our interactions with the natural world. Primarily using photography and videography, Joshua helps organizations reach their education, conservation and communication goals. Based on connections through Fleming College’s Environmental Visual Communications program, Joshua has photographs and articles published in Royal Ontario Museum and Alternatives Journal magazines; he contributed significant video content to the TVO documentary series, Museum Diaries; and travelled to destinations in Guyana, Costa Rica, and Western Mexico to film.  With a background in natural sciences and photojournalism, Joshua is in a unique position to better communicate science and environmental stories.

PREMIER’S AWARD – TECHNOLOGY
Eric DenOuden, Civil Engineering Technician, 1979
As the Founder, Owner, and President of the award-winning Hilden Homes, Eric has a gift of being a natural-born leader. Eric chaired the $1 million Children’s Safety Village and Home Build for Health Care projects to unite the community to support youth, education, and health. As President of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association and 2nd Vice-President of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, Eric is the voice of thousands of residential construction professionals across Canada advancing a $42 billion industry in Ontario. He has championed community builds through volunteering to construct or help fund community centres, churches and schools in developing countries.

To recommend a Fleming College graduate for the 2015 Premier’s Awards, please contact Fleming College Advancement and Alumni Relations Office at alumni@flemingcollege.ca.  The Fleming’s Premier’s Awards Selection Committee will review all nominations and recommend finalists for each award category.

View all 114 Premier’s Awards nominees from Ontario’s 24 colleges online at www.co-awards.org.

ABOUT FLEMING COLLEGE ADVANCEMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS

Fleming College Advancement and Alumni Relations is proud to serve more than 68,000 graduates of over 100 full-time academic programs. Alumni services include career counselling, special events, locator services, awards and recognition, online bulletins and print publications.

– 30 –

For more information:
Paula Walton, Alumni Officer, 705-749-5530 x 1390 or paula.walton@flemingcollege.ca
Laura Copeland, Communications Officer, 705-749-5530 x 1370 or laura.copeland@flemingcollege.ca
www.flemingcollege.ca/alumni-relations