Fleming College Alumni Nominated for Prestigious Premier’s Awards
Peterborough, ON – (October 19, 2022) – Fleming College is pleased to announce that six alumni have been selected as nominees for the 2022 Premier’s Awards. The awards were launched in 1992 and are administered by Colleges Ontario, the advocacy voice for the province’s 24 colleges.
The annual awards honour the important social and economic contributions that graduates make in the province and throughout the world. Colleges can nominate their alumni in seven categories: Apprenticeship, Business, Community Services, Creative Arts and Design, Health Sciences, Recent Graduate, and Technology.
“It is inspiring to see so many Fleming graduates on such a distinguished list,” said Fleming College President Maureen Adamson. “The good work these alumni have done in their chose fields and in their communities is a testament to the education they received here at Fleming College. We are proud of each nominee and offer our congratulations to everyone.”
The 2022 Premier’s Awards nominees representing Fleming College include:
BUSINESS
Tom Froggatt, Business Administration – Marketing, ‘85
Tom Froggatt became the inaugural Chief Commercial Officer at the Royal Canadian Mint in 2019, a position with a vast portfolio overseeing over 140 staff and responsible for all sales and marketing activities in Canada and around the globe. Leading through a pandemic, Tom made key decisions which kept essential production going and met the needs of Canadian Mines and Financial Markets, as well as commitments to Canadian Circulation coins and other countries. With Tom’s business expertise, 2021 was one of the best financial years for the Royal Canadian Mint, with a 40% increase in profits from 2020.
COMMUNITY SERVICES
Kevin Wilson, Fitness & Health Promotion, ‘14
Kevin Wilson is the Founder and Executive Director of the National Basketball Youth Mentorship Program (NBYMP), a non-profit organization that provides youth with meaningful mentorship from Canadian professional basketball athletes and coaches. Founded in 2018, Kevin has grown the organization, attracting over 45 high calibre mentors, supporting over 2,000 youth nationally, free of charge. Kevin has expanded the NBYMP globally, opening a UK division in 2021. On top of his work with the NBYMP, Kevin is an Athletic Performance Coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the National Basketball League (NBA), a job he started in May 2022.
CREATIVE ARTS & DESIGN
Caroline Cox, Ecosystem Management Technology, ‘05
Caroline Cox is a successful TV and film producer and co-founder of the media company, Copper Quartz Media. Copper Quartz Media has contributed over $750,000 to the Northwest Territories economy by hiring local and Indigenous crew members on their projects. She produced her first feature length film, “Food for the Rest of Us,” which investigates the poverty and health crisis facing marginalized communities and examines historical land-use, colonization, and eco-racism. The film was an official selection at the DOXA Documentary Film Festival, the American Indian Film Festival (AIFF) and has world-wide educational distribution with Collective Eye Films of Portland, Oregon.
HEALTH SCIENCES
Dr. Michelle Acorn, Nursing, ‘87
Dr. Michelle Acorn is the inaugural Chief Nurse of the International Council of Nurses, a federation representing 130 national nursing associations and 28 million nurses worldwide. Dr. Acorn was the Provincial Chief Nursing Officer in Ontario, where she was instrumental in establishing a Nurse Practitioner (NP) led model of primary care within the corrections system to advance health equity across all 25 Ontario correctional institutions. This model provided consistent primary care and leadership to narrow the health equity population gap. Dr. Acorn was inducted as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Nursing and the American Academy of Nursing.
RECENT GRADUATE
Ashley Wynne, Recreation & Leisure Services, ’20 and Early Childhood Education, ‘11
Ashley opened Sage and Sunshine Culture-Based Private School in 2021, the only school providing full-day, culture-based education in Nogojiwanong-Peterborough. The school offers a one-of-kind educational experience for children, providing the opportunity to learn Indigenous language and culture alongside the Ontario curriculum. In her first year of operation, Ashley surpassed her fundraising goal, raising $25,305, enough to fully subsidize tuition for eight children for the 2021-22 school year. The damage from the residential school system in Canada has caused generational harm. Ashley’s goal with Sage and Sunshine is to undo the losses caused by the Canadian residential school system and restore those losses within the next generation of Indigenous children.
TECHNOLOGY
Steve DeRoy, Geographic Information Systems – Cartographic Specialist, ‘98
Steve is an award-winning Anishinaabe professional and entrepreneur with a strong background in mapping and geographic information sciences. He is the director and co-founder of the Firelight Group, which provides community-based research and technical support to Indigenous Peoples. Steve founded the Indigenous Mapping Collective with technology partners that include Google, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. Since 2014, the Indigenous Mapping Collective has trained over 2,500 Indigenous community mappers on emerging geospatial tools, becoming the largest global Indigenous geospatial network. More than 3,000 Indigenous communities in Canada have been added to Google Maps and Google Earth thanks to Steve’s work.
The Premier’s Award nominees will be recognized at a gala event in Toronto on November 28, 2022, where the winners will be announced. To nominate a deserving Fleming graduate for a 2023 Premier’s Award, please contact the Advancement and Alumni Relations Office at 705-749-5530 ext. 1197 or email alumni@flemingcollege.ca.
A picture of the nominees is attached. Top row, moving from left to right is Tom Froggatt, Kevin Wilson and Caroline Cox. On the bottom row, moving from left to right is Dr. Michelle Acorn, Ashley Wynne and Steve DeRoy.
About Fleming College
Fleming College respectfully acknowledges that we are situated on Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg lands and territory. Located in the heart of Central Ontario, Fleming College has campus locations in Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg and Haliburton. Named for famous Canadian inventor and engineer Sir Sandford Fleming, the college features more than 100 full-time programs in Arts and Heritage, Business, Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, General Arts and Sciences, Health and Wellness, Justice and Community Development, Skilled Trades and Technology, and Continuing Education. Fleming College has more than 6,800 full-time and 10,000 part-time students, and 80,000 alumni.
For more information, please contact:
Sarah Deeth
Communications Officer
705-749-5530 ext. 1161
| Peterborough Sutherland Campus 599 Brealey Dr. Peterborough ON K9J 7B1 Ph: (705) 749-5530 | Lindsay Frost Campus 200 Albert St. S., Box 8000 Lindsay ON K9V 5E6 Ph: (705) 324-9144 | Haliburton Haliburton Campus P.O. Box 839 Haliburton ON K0M 1S0 Ph: (705) 457-1680 |
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