success

Jordan Radford: What You Need to Become Successful

Jordan Radford is a young man born and raised in the Petawawa area, who not only recently graduated from our Business program, but he also became an author this year. At 19 years of age, Radford managed to find the time to write his digital book, What You Need to Become Successful, all while completing a challenging compressed diploma program.

This book was written with young people, like Radford, in mind. It offers advice and guidance on what he sees as the key characteristics necessary to become successful:

  • Work ethic
  • Drive
  • Patience
  • Passion
  • Communication
  • Planning

Entrepreneurship and leadership are at Radford’s core, using his background as a hockey coach, plus, his most recent experience as a personal trainer, to lay out a framework that anyone can use to help focus their ability to be successful.

Once Radford decided to write his book, he quickly discovered that self-publishing a digital book was the best way to get his book out there in the world. This simple discovery is a result of a characteristic that Radford touches on in his book – drive. Drive can be a powerful attribute to have that enables you to set a goal and work towards that goal step-by-step.

While many of Radford’s supporter have acknowledged that he is very young to have already accomplished such a goal, they also recognize that his advice is very relatable and practical.

Our Business program certainly helped Radford to work towards his writing goal with courses like Brand Creation for a Digital World to help develop the skills necessary to assess, create and deliver digital media content for online marketing and branding purposes and Communication Skills for Business to help develop his writing style. Radford offers, “You can take work ethic, drive, and passion – those attributes – and put those into your everyday life.”

It seems like nothing can hold this young man back and we wouldn’t be surprised to if Radford published another book in the near future building on what he continues to learn each day. Radford’s message for his readers, “Anything is possible.” Powerful words for everyone to remember each day.

Algonquin College Alumni Doing Great Things

It has been a week to celebrate our alumni at Algonquin College’s Waterfront Campus. Not a formal celebration, but rather a time to reflect on the great things that our graduates are doing here at home.

Dallas McLeod-PF gradIt seems everywhere I turned this past week I was learning about a special project or initiative that one of our alumni was involved in. It started with a chance meeting with Police Foundations graduate, Dallas McLeod, who was on campus for a Program Advisory committee meeting.

McLeod graduated in 2013 and is now a full-time member of the Renfrew OPP detachment. While he was a student, he accumulated an incredible 3000+ hours of volunteer work. Through his participation on an Advisory Committee, he is continuing his commitment to volunteerism by providing feedback to the College on the program he graduated from.

Sam Graham-wheelchair basketballA few days later I had a call from Social Service Worker graduate Sam Graham, class of 2015. Graham, who is now working on earning a Degree in Social Work at Carleton University, was planning a wheelchair basketball fundraiser at the Waterfront Campus for the fourth year in a row.

Graham has raised money for several causes including the Algonquin College food bank and the Pembroke Regional Hospital MRI Fund. This year, he was helping to generate funds for a recreational facility in Ottawa for people with disabilities.

Jason Blaine2001 Business graduate and Canadian Recording artist, Jason Blaine, established his own charitable fund a few years ago. For the past two years, he has held a two-day fundraising event that features a concert and a golf tournament, raising more than $125,000 for community causes in his hometown.

This week he announced he will be joined by two of Canada’s top Country performers, Dallas Smith and Jason McCoy at this year’s charity concert on June 14th. It will be another sold-out event with this year’s beneficiaries including Algonquin College, the Pembroke and Area Boys and Girls Club and local food banks. Blaine is also again committing $5,000 to help Renfrew County not for profit groups access Mental Health First Aid training.

These are only a few examples of what you can learn in a short time about the great things our Algonquin College alumni are doing. They really are terrific people and their commitment to helping others is extraordinary and worth celebrating.

Posted by Jamie Bramburger, Manager of Community & Student Affairs