June 1, 2015

Medicine Hat College (MHC) is currently planning for this year’s Convocation, which will take place on Friday, June 5, 2015 in the college gymnasium.

Two separate ceremonies will be held throughout the day. The 10:00 a.m. ceremony will see grads from the Division of Arts and Education and the Division of Business and Enterprise. The 2:00 p.m. ceremony will honour graduates from the Division of Science and Health.

A total of 592 students will graduate from certificate, diploma and applied degree programs, with another 133 apprentice students completing studies at MHC this spring.  Approximately 398 of these students plan to attend convocation.

Several awards will be handed out at the ceremonies, including the prestigious Student of the Year, Instructor of the Year, Governor General’s Academic Medal and Honorary Applied Baccalaureate Degree.  

The MHC Student of the Year award will be presented to Brooke Hawker, a graduate from the Bachelor of Business Administration program.

Hawker was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, as she was already spending most of her weekends at the Medicine Hat Drag Strip, she decided she would move to Medicine Hat for the summer. Once she arrived and enrolled at the college she realized her love for this community.

Hawker volunteers on the Medicine Hat Women in Business Committee as the media coordinator and sponsorship director. She recently launched Evoke Inspired Marketing, an agency that offers businesses the opportunity to outsource their marketing activities to a results-driven creative network. Through her time here she has had the opportunity to “make amazing friends, work dream jobs and volunteer for causes she believes in.”

Rick Robinson will receive MHC’s Instructor of the Year award. Robinson has been at MHC for thirteen years as an instructor in the Division of Business and Enterprise. An alumnus of the college, Robinson earned a Business Administration Certificate and Diploma from MHC, a Bachelor of Management through Athabasca University and a Master of Business Administration through NECB. Robinson has demonstrated teaching excellence, is respected by his students for his professionalism and has contributed to the college through various academic activities.

This year’s recipient of the Governor General’s Academic Medal is Lorna Waterhouse, a practical nurse graduate from the Brooks campus. The medal was created in 1873 to encourage academic excellence across the nation. It is awarded to the student who receives the highest overall average upon graduation.

Waterhouse’s keen desire to learn and personal motto “Be good, Do good” is part of the reason she has been so successful at her academic studies. She not only attained the President’s Honor Roll and College Honor Roll but as well received the Practical Nurse First Year Program Award and Second Year Award during her studies.

Waterhouse has received numerous financial awards including the Heritage Trust Fund for the Louise McKinney Scholarship, Willma Lawson Rodgers Nursing Award, the Community Donors Endowment Award and the Brooks Campus Alumni Fund.

Returning this year is the Honorary Applied Baccalaureate Degree, which will be awarded to Larry Henderson.

After a lengthy career as a teacher, Henderson spent many years mentoring other educational professionals. Noted for both his love of learning, and his love for educating others, he was a leader in creating mentorship opportunities for education students, helping them to realize their potential and successfully motivating them to build positive relationships with students, fellow teachers and parents. Henderson has a bachelor of education from the University of Alberta, a master of education from the University of Calgary and a doctor of education from the University of Montana.

The college will once again host distinguished guests from the city and province at the ceremony. Additionally, faculty members will form a gauntlet to honour the graduates as they cross Centennial Hall to enter the gymnasium. For more information on MHC’s graduation ceremonies, visit www.mhc.ab.ca.

The ceremony can also be viewed on a live web stream for friends and family who can’t attend. The live streaming link will be available from the MHC website on Friday.