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By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

LARGEST GRADUATING CLASS YET

Red Deer Polytechnic honours largest graduating class yet

Jun 7, 2024 | 3:41 PM

Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP) celebrated its 2024 graduates with families and community members on June 7 in their 60th annual convocation ceremony.

“They’re resilient. A lot of these grads have come through a pandemic, a lot of them have come through various challenges, and they’ve stuck through it and they’re here and they’re excited about the future… this is our community’s and our society’s future leaders,” said RDP president Stuart Cullum of this year’s class.

The group is the largest to cross RDP’s stage so far, with 800 of the eligible 1,853 graduates participating in the ceremony.

Guy Pelletier, chair of the RDP Board of Governors and a former student, reflected on how much the school has changed since he attended.

“The size and the breadth of the programming has changed and of course it always evolves with what the community needs, the employers need. It’s much different than it was back when I was a student, but the polytech brand has been a great change for us,” he shared.

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He also commented on the implementation of Work Integrated Learning, which has connected the institution with the community more strongly, and elevates student skills as they enter the job market.

During the ceremony, graduating social work student Catrina Amendt was awarded the Governor General’s Academic Medal for earning the highest academic standing among all of the diploma-level program graduates. She achieved a 4.0 GPA.

“I love achieving high things so it was really exciting and it just showed that, because I’ve been in school for a long time, that it paid off,” Amendt said.

Now that she has her social work diploma, she plans to get her bachelor’s degree in the subject at the University of Calgary, followed by a masters degree, and hopes to focus on the justice system.

“It was a lot of growth. In the social work program, they really challenge your beliefs and they try to get you to look at stuff differently than how you did before, so it was a lot of changing in how I viewed the world and how I viewed others,” she shared.

Two honorary degrees were also awarded; Sheldon Kennedy and Dr. George Littlechild both received honorary bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies degrees from RDP.

Kennedy, a former NHL player and youth advocate, received the honour thanks to his influential involvement in the development of the Sheldon Kennedy Centre of Excellence, building with wrap-around mental health supports for youth.

READ MORE: Sheldon Kennedy Centre of Excellence blazing a trail for youth mental health

“I think we all have a role and my role has been to try to help communities facilitate and move big projects forward, and this community embraced the need for this type of integrated practice work and I think you don’t ever do these things alone. This is not just the Sheldon Kennedy project, it’s not just about me at all. This is about community, this is about many people pulling on the rope to get to this point,” he said.

Littlechild is an RDP alumnus who conveys expressive messages through his art to showcase the pride, strength, and beauty of Indigenous Peoples. His artwork has been featured in more than 200 solo and group exhibitions and 40 public collections around the world, including at RDP.

He shared advice for any residents that also want to give back to their community in meaningful ways: “Number one, I think heal yourself first. Learn to love yourself before you do any of that because otherwise it won’t feel the same. Once you do the work on your own self, you can give, and give a lot. I really encourage — younger people especially — to look into their histories, learn to heal yourself, get out there and be an example, and that’s exactly what I did.”

Since 2014, RDP has bestowed honorary degrees to 13 individuals, including Littlechild and Kennedy.

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