Durham College (DC) is delighted to announce that four alumni have recently been nominated for a 2022 Premier’s Award, which honours outstanding college graduates who are making an impact through social and economic contributions in Ontario and beyond.

The awards have been presented by Colleges Ontario since 1992 and recognize Ontario college graduates every year in the following seven categories – Apprenticeship, Business, Community Services, Creative Arts and Design, Health Sciences, Recent Graduate, and Technology.

“Our nominated alumni continue to showcase in their careers the solid foundation of excellence and innovation that they first developed as students at Durham College,” said Don Lovisa, president, DC. “I’m extremely proud of each of their accomplishments, and take immense pride in knowing that DC was a stepping stone for their exceptional work in our communities. I wish each of our nominees the best of luck at this year’s awards!”

DC’s nominees include:

Kristin Atwood – Culinary Management, 2016 and Advanced Baking and Pastry Arts, 2017

Kristin Atwood has been combining her passion for food and filmmaking since graduating from DC’s Culinary Management and Advanced Baking and Pastry Arts programs in 2016 and 2017.

She created an award-winning independent production company called Chef Studio, where she produces cooking tutorials and web series that bring the joy and magic of cooking to digital streaming and video-on-demand platforms. Atwood has been recognized by several prestigious awards organizations, including winning Best New Filmmaker by the Canadian Diversity Film Festival in 2021, as well as receiving a nomination for a James Beard Foundation Award and an Emmy® Award in the Outstanding Single Camera Editing category – just to name a few.

Atwood currently works for LS Productions, an agency specializing in commercials, film and TV, music videos, and fashion and sports shoots in the United Kingdom. She is nominated for a Premier’s Award in the Recent Graduate category.

Brandon Bird – Level 3 Plumber Apprentice Certificate, 2012

Brandon Bird completed his Level 3 Plumber Apprentice Certificate in 2012 in order to prepare himself for future leadership at his family’s third-generation plumbing and heating company. As a licensed Red Seal plumber, Bird worked his way up the ranks, always looking for ways to grow the business. This included overseeing the acquisition and amalgamation of John McKenzie Plumbing with Bird Mechanical Ltd. in 2014, allowing the company to offer more services and expand into new markets. In 2016, at just 28 years old, Bird became the youngest CEO in the company’s history.

Today, Bird manages a team of 200 people, including 135 tradespeople. Under his guidance, the business has doubled its annual sales revenue to $56.4 million thanks to his new approaches to service. As CEO, he oversees projects ranging from $5,000 to $20 million. Clients include Cape Breton Regional Health Centre, Queen’s University, Dalhousie University, Infrastructure Ontario and Cadillac Fairview. Bird is nominated for a Premier’s Award in the Apprenticeship category.

Dr. Nicole Blackman, DNP, MN, RN – Registered Nursing, 2004

Since graduating from DC’s Registered Nursing program in 2004, Dr. Blackman has continued her academic path, attaining her Bachelor of Science degree, as well as a Master of Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Practice, both with a specialization in Indigenous Health. As a proud member of Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation, she has dedicated her advanced practice nursing career to enhancing the health of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada.

After devoting more than five years to improving Indigenous health in Moose Factory and surrounding communities, Dr. Blackman returned to the Durham Region, accepting an Indigenous lead position for the Durham Region Health Department, and was hired in 2019 as the health director for the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation. More recently, she was hired as provincial director of the Indigenous Primary Health Care Council. Dr. Blackman is nominated for a Premier’s Award in the Health Sciences category.

John Draper – Journalism, 2005

Entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker, John Draper champions diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion through Together We Rock! Inc., the organization he founded in 2006. Supported by a team of employees, consultants and volunteer advisors, Together We Rock! realizes its vision through presentations, learning resources and leadership initiatives. Through his lived experience as a person with a physical disability who is an augmentative communication user, Draper presents a compelling case for change.

His leadership efforts have earned him provincial and international recognition, such as the 2007 Alumnus of Distinction award from DC, and the David C. Onley Award in 2017 for Leadership in Accessibility, presented by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. In 2017, he was also named Businessperson of the Year by the Whitby Chamber of Commerce. Draper is nominated for a Premier’s Award in the Community Services category.

The entire DC community wishes our nominated alumni the best of luck. This year’s Premier’s Award winners will be announced on November 28, 2022.

Durham College (DC) alumnus, Cody Partridge, has been recognized for his success in music management at the 2022 Canadian Sync Awards. Launched in 2019, the Canadian Sync Awards celebrate music supervision in filmed Canadian media. On June 9, Partridge took home four of the 14 awards, including:

• Best Sync – Sports Program or Sports Promo
• Best Sync – Soundtrack, Original Film or Episodic Series for Streaming
• Best Sync – Scene, Feature Film or Documentary Film
• Best Sync – Soundtrack, Episodic Series

“I am very honoured and humbled,” says Partridge. “It has been a dream of mine to become a music supervisor ever since watching The OC and wondering who gets to put music in TV. Flash forward 11 years, and now I’m being honoured with four awards for achievement in my field. I say it all the time, but I really am living the dream.”

Partridge, who graduated from DC’s Music Business program in 2011, began his professional journey as an intern with Katalyst Licensing & Promotions Inc., which he landed with the help of his professor, Tony Sutherland, during the program’s field placement course in his third year. This led to a music supervisor position with Supersonic, later renamed Supergroup, providing him with the skills and confidence to eventually launch his own company, Pear Tree Music Supervision, in 2020.

“DC was an incredible kickstart to my career. I learned a lot about different aspects of the industry, some that interested me and some that didn’t,” says Partridge. “I find a lot of the success I’ve had until now has come from networking and building relationships. Most of the opportunities I’ve had are from being connected by a colleague or professor, which led to more opportunities and relationships. Without my education, the first door to the industry wouldn’t have been open to me, nor would I have the skills I need to thrive in my field.”

When asked what advice Partridge can offer current and future music business students, he stresses the importance of hard work.

“Don’t be afraid to grind. For three years, I worked three jobs, interned for free and built my reputation. I proved my work ethic, reliability and drive,” Partridge adds. “Take people in your desired position out for coffee. Find out what they do not like to do in their role and get really good at that aspect. Embrace it, and you’ll make yourself irreplaceable.”

Congratulations to Cody on his incredible success at the Canadian Sync Awards!

Kristin Atwood, an alumna of the Durham College (DC) Culinary Management program, has been combining her passion for food and filmmaking since graduating in 2017. What began as a freelance gig creating media content for local restaurants, has since evolved into an award-winning independent production company called Chef Studio, where she produces cooking tutorials and web series that bring the joy and magic of cooking to digital streaming and video-on-demand platforms.

With more than 5 million views on her channel, Kristin has been able to turn Chef Studio into a thriving full-time job, allowing her to showcase her creativity and skill in cinematography, as well as her culinary prowess as she helps others learn to cook. It’s also landed her two incredible nominations.

This week, her At Home Pasta series was nominated for an Emmy® Award – which recognizes outstanding achievement in daytime television – in the Outstanding Single Camera Editing category. The seven-part series was inspired by the lack of kitchen staples available in grocery stores during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic, when “panic buying” was at it’s worst. Using a few simple ingredients, Kristin was able to develop unique recipes, like beet pasta or egg yolk and ricotta ravioli, and created short films that explain how viewers could easily replicate these meals at home.

Chef Studio is up against five other programs in this category from Netflix, Hulu, and the Food Network, with the winner set to be announced at the 48th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Lifestyle Programming ceremony on Sunday, July 18 at 8 p.m. ET. The series was also recently nominated for two Webby Awards in the Best Food and Drink and Best How-To, Explainer and DIY categories.

Prior to her Emmy nomination, Kristin was also recognized in 2020 with a prestigious nomination for a James Beard Foundation Award – America’s most coveted and comprehensive honour for chefs, restaurants, journalists, authors and other leaders in the food and beverage industry – for her series The Crumby Bits. With a focus on creating something beautiful and delicious out of ingredients that would have normally been considered scrap, waste, wilted or worthless, Chef Studio’s Cricket Macaron episode received its nomination in the Online Video, Fixed Location and/or Instructional category for its innovative take on culinary sustainability.

Kristin was also recently the recipient of an Alpha Female+ Grant. For her grant project, she intends to create a five-part series called Flight of the Bumblebees which will celebrate the beauty of spring and summer, and highlight the important work honeybees do during those seasons.

Congratulations to Kristin for her incredible culinary and filmmaking successes – your DC family is cheering you on from home!

Watch one of Kristin’s Chef Studio videos below – Making an Edible Forest Floor, as part of her Best Laid Schemes cooking series inspired by the lands and lochs of Scotland, where she currently resides.

For Tianna McFarlane, a Durham College (DC) Supply Chain and Operations – Business (formerly Business Operations) alumna, starting her own company had always been a lifelong dream – but the opportunity to create something significant didn’t present itself until 2019, when she was inspired during a simple trip to the drugstore to buy bandages.

As she searched for one that could cover a cut on her own leg, the lack of products for people of colour was striking. While there were plenty of nude, pink and even purple colours, there was nothing that she felt would blend in with her skin tone.

“In that moment I knew I had an opportunity to bridge the gap and create my own brand of adhesive bandages for Black and brown skin,” recalls Tianna, who spent the next two years laying the groundwork for her company Heal in Colour.

Finding a trustworthy and reputable manufacturer was her first test as an entrepreneur. Creating bandages in these shades has rarely been done, and never in Canada – because of that, finding a manufacturer who could create the product was challenging. She also faced additional barriers in the shipping industry, which was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Tianna worked to get her product to market, she leaned into grit and perseverance, as well as the knowledge gained during her time at DC, to make her dream a reality. Her project management training aided in the creation of timelines and action plans to keep the project on track, and she analyzed the seven Ps (product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning and people) to determine a strategic launch and marketing plan to reach her target audience.

The hard work paid off quickly, with Tianna receiving impressive news coverage soon after the product launch in April, and already more than $3,500 in sales. With Heal in Colour now available in the Canadian and U.S markets, consumers across the continent are already rallying around this innovative new product.

“We’re revolutionizing the way people shop for bandages, and it’s already had such a powerful impact,” explains Tianna. “I’ve had teachers reach out to express how happy they are to be able to give their students bandages that match their skin tone. It’s something so small, but will hopefully lead to something much larger.”

Tianna is continuing to dedicate herself to making Heal in Colour a household name – with a strong growth and expansion plan already in place to offer new products in the near future, such as athletic wraps and waterproof bandages. She also hopes to provide bandages to hospitals, long-term care facilities, universities and colleges, elementary schools, daycares and more.

“At the end of the day, I hope Heal in Colour will inspire others to be innovative and create products that promote inclusion,” says Tianna. “It’s our goal to encourage young Black women by showing them that they too can bring their own ideas to life through hard work and determination.”

Heal in Colour’s bandages are currently available for purchase at www.healincolour.ca.

Durham College (DC) students and alumni from the Journalism – Mass Media program won big this year at the Ontario Community Newspaper Association’s (OCNA) Better Newspaper Competition (BNC), an annual competition that recognizes the outstanding work produced by the OCNA’s member newspapers.

Taking first place once again in the General Excellence – College/University category, DC’s student-produced campus newspaper The Chronicle was praised for its professionalism, photography and layout, as well as its “solid stories and editorial”.  Durham also finished third in Best College/University Newspaper Website category.

Four DC alumni were also honoured for their stories, three of whom placed first, including Sam Odrowski (Fort Frances Times) in the Best Business and Finance Story category, Sarah Hyatt (Northumberland News) in the Best Rural Story (circulation over 10,000) category, and Reka Szekely (Oshawa This Week) in the Best Feature News Series (circulation over 10,000) category. Additionally, alumnus Chad Ingram (Minden Times) placed third in the Best News Story (circulation under 9,999) category.

DC’s journalism program was introduced more than 40 years ago and since then, our students and graduates have won dozens of OCNA awards, including the student-produced news publication The Chronicle, which finished first last year in the General Excellence Newspaper – College/University category and second in the Best College/University Newspaper Website category.

The OCNA is a non-profit industry association focused on helping community newspapers prosper by promoting and enhancing the image of the industry among readers.

Congratulations to DC’s Journalism – Mass Media students and alumni on this recognition of their hard work and dedication to their craft.