Annette Kampert, a Business Administration – Accounting student and active volunteer on campus and in the community, has been named valedictorian for Lethbridge College’s Spring 2024 Convocation. She will lead the procession of graduates and speak at both ceremonies planned for May 24 in the Val Matteotti Gymnasium.

“Annette is an awesome student in every sense,” says James Reimer, chair of the college’s School of Business. “She has consistently, in all of her courses, scored as one of the top students in the program and will leave as a tremendous ambassador for the college as well as being exemplary in all she does.”

In addition to excelling in the classroom, where she earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average, Kampert is an active volunteer on campus, including speaking to new business students at New Student Orientation, being a student representative at the Business Program Advisory meetings and serving on the Business Grad Dinner committee. She was raised on a family farm east of Coaldale and graduated from Calvin Christian School, and she has also been active in the community, including volunteering at the Lethbridge Soup Kitchen, at the Sunny South Lodge in Coaldale and at her church.

“Annette is also an excellent classmate,” Reimer adds. “We often see Annette working in the IB Commons with other students. What sets her apart is not only is she concerned with her own grades, but also the grades of others. I can attribute several students doing better thanks to Annette’s help. One could argue which is more important? Achieving high grades for oneself or helping those around us do better? Many students achieve one but not the other. Annette has ultimately found a way to do both!”

Kampert says she chose Lethbridge College because she wanted a two-year program and it was close to home. She remembers being extremely nervous the first day, but after the first few weeks, she felt comfortable and knew she had made a good choice. “Lethbridge is definitely bigger than a small town, but the college has a really big community feeling to it,” she says. “I never really felt out of place at the college. There’s a sense of belonging.”

To current and future students, she has simple advice. “Embrace the experience,” she says. “This might be a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Try new things and enjoy the experience – your classmates, your instructors - enjoy everything.”

Kampert says she is considering continuing her education and going for a four-year degree one day and potentially the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation. But for now, she is happy working at Mulder Plumbing and Heating in Coalhurst – one of two job offers she received at the end of her first year and where she has been working part-time during her second year.

“Putting the theory into practice, which we emphasize in the Business program, has become a reality already for Annette,” says Reimer, adding that “Annette is a great representation of all students at Lethbridge College who achieve high scores. Her attitude, positivity, work ethic and overall kindness and friendliness have set her apart.”

Lethbridge College students in three different programs had the unique opportunity this semester, to work on real-world projects for the betterment of the community.

The City Scholars program is a work-integrated learning (WIL) initiative of the City of Lethbridge. It partners post-secondary students and employees at the college and university with City staff on various applied research projects.

Three college projects were showcased at the City Scholar Symposium Tuesday (April 9, 2024) – one from the Centre for Business, Arts and Sciences and two from the Centre for Technology, Environment and Design.

The Business Incubator Feasibility Study involved students in two sections of instructor Natalie Barfuss’s Advanced Small Business Management class. They worked on a feasibility analysis for the City to assess the potential for installing sea cans, or shipping containers, near Casa that could be rented to small businesses in need of space downtown. Students researched costs, demand, potential risks and issues, and made recommendations for best outcomes.

A student from each section, Brody Anderson and Keagen Salomons, combined the groups’ work and presented it at Tuesday’s symposium.

“As a student, it’s really cool to be a part of something that’s real, not made up, and see if it actually develops in the future,” says Anderson. “It would be great to be able to say that I was part of that. It will also be useful later in life looking at new business opportunities for myself to pursue. If I want to move into new markets, I can use the information that I researched for my WIL course.”

City Scholar projects are generally initiated by the City of Lethbridge based on operational and strategic needs, but they can also be proposed by students and employees. For the project(s) described above, the college was contacted directly by City staff either through the Work-Integrated Learning office or through connections made from past collaborations. If you’d like to know more or get involved, contact the WIL office.

Congratulations to four Business Administration – Accounting students and their coaches for taking second place at the inaugural Western Canada Accounting Case Competition held over the weekend at Bow Valley College. Ayrton Tabuno, Eddie Mak Luo, Tristen Harvey and Jacob Lequiere were accompanied by their coaches Kristen DeMone, manager, Regional Stewardship and Work Integrated Learning, and James Reimer, chair, School of Business, who put the team through intense, bootcamp-like training this semester to prepare for the competition.

The case not only involved a significant portion of technical accounting, but it also involved a presentation to Chartered Professional Account judges based on their results and issues they identified in the case. The competition took place over an intense eight hours, but the students worked tirelessly to achieve excellence as they competed against post-secondary teams from across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. A comment was made during the competition that this win solidifies the reputation of the Lethbridge College Business Administration – Accounting program as one of the premier accounting programs in Alberta – way to go!

Congratulations to Ayrton, Eddie, Tristen and Jacob and to their coaches Kristen and James!

The Centre for Business, Arts and Sciences at Lethbridge College will revive a once popular and influential networking event this fall to give students in its Business Administration – Accounting major an opportunity to connect with industry and potential employers.

Thanks to an $18,000 grant from the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) Education Foundation of Alberta, the School of Business will hold an Accounting Advantage Dinner this fall and again in 2025, bringing students in the Business Administration – Accounting major opportunity to connect with CPAs from business, industry, government and non-profit sectors. The students will be seated with professionals for a memorable meal, seasoned with plenty of career advice, and the evening ends with more networking.

School of Business Chair James Reimer (Business Administration 1990) says the event revives the concept previously known as the CMA Advantage Dinner, which promised “one evening, four courses and no final exam.” CMA stands for Certified Management Accountant, a legacy designation along with Chartered Accountant (CA) and Certified General Accountant (CGA) that merged into CPA in 2015.

Reimer, who remembers attending the CMA events, said alumni still talk about how impactful it was. They remember the professionals they sat with and the advice they shared. "We’re so pleased to have the foundation’s support to revive this important event,” Reimer says. “We can always learn from colleagues in the industry, and this is especially vital to students who are about to graduate with their diploma and who are facing important choices about their career goals.”

Nicole Freeman (Business Administration – Accounting 2012), a School of Business instructor, says she remembers attending the dinner as a student, and it was “inspiring.” Hearing from accountants in Lethbridge, particularly the many who started their educational journey at Lethbridge, is important, she says. About half of the college’s graduating accounting majors continue to university, and many of them go on to a CPA designation.

But those who don’t continue to designation have many career options with their diploma, and the dinner is a chance to learn more about what they can expect once they graduate. Other opportunities that enhance classroom learning for Business Administration students include visits with CPA recruiters on campus, promotion of CPA-sponsored events to students and “speed dating”-style activities for students to connect with people working in the industry.

Athletes of the Month:

September:

• Owen Stewart, Men’s Cross Country / General Arts and Sciences

October:

• Owen Stewart, Men’s Cross Country / General Arts and Sciences

November:

• Nolan Moes, Men’s Volleyball / General Arts & Sciences
• Kitawna Sparks, Women’s Basketball / Business Administration

January:

• Dray Walburger, Men’s Basketball / Business Administration
• Hannah Helton, Women’s Basketball / Exercise Science

February:

• Nolan Moes, Men’s Volleyball / General Arts & Sciences
• Hannah Helton, Women’s Basketball / Exercise Science

Athletes of the Week:

September:

• Kenley Matishak, Women’s Soccer / Academic Upgrading
• Joel McLeod, Men’s Soccer / Business Administration
• Owen Stewart, Men’s Cross Country / General Arts and Sciences

October:

• Kyra Piekema, Women’s Soccer / General Arts and Sciences
• Montanna Rouselle, Women’s Soccer / General Arts and Sciences
• Ben Knight, Men’s Soccer / General Arts and Sciences
• Declan Petersen, Men’s Basketball / Business Administration

November:

• Kohibe Anderson, Men’s Volleyball / Business Administration
• Nolan Moes, Men’s Volleyball / General Arts & Sciences
• Aideena Wickstrom, Women’s Volleyball / Exercise Science
• Kitawna Sparks, Women’s Basketball / Business Administration

January:

• Dray Walburger, Men’s Basketball / Business Administration
• Ryder Skolka, Men’s Futsal / Business Administration
• Gunnarr Gibb, Men’s Indoor Track and Field / Exercise Science
• Mason Hoffman, Men’s Basketball / General Arts and Sciences
• Hannah Helton, Women’s Basketball / Exercise Science
• Anna Westrop, Women’s Basketball / General Arts & Science
• Shane Fowlie, Women’s Volleyball / General Arts & Science
• Aideena Wickstrom, Women’s Volleyball / Exercise Science

February:

• Rhett Lewis, Men’s Basketball / General Arts and Sciences
• Filip Karanovic, Men’s Basketball / General Arts and Sciences
• Kohibe Anderson, Men’s Volleyball / Business Administration
• Gracee Valgardson, Women’s Futsal / General Arts and Science
• Jocelyn Neilson, Women’s Basketball / General Arts & Science
• Shane Fowlie, Women’s Volleyball / General Arts & Science

March:

• Orin May, Men’s Indoor Track and Field / General Arts & Sciences
• Megan Gubbins, Women’s Indoor Track and Field / Business administration

ACAC Honours 2023-24:

• Kyra Piekema, Women's Soccer / General Arts and Science was named 2023-24 ACAC Soccer South Division Rookie of the Year.
• Kenley Matischak Women’s Soccer / Academic Upgrading was named to the ACAC All- Conference soccer team.
• Owen Stewart, second year, General Arts and Science was on the men’s team that secured bronze at the ACAC cross country championships and was named to the All- Conference team.
• Hannah Helton, Women’s Basketball / Exercise Science selected to ACAC All Conference South first team
• Kohibe Anderson, Men’s Volleyball / Business Administration South Division Rookie of the Year
• Nolan Moes, Men’s Volleyball / General Arts & Sciences All Conference Award
• Filip Karanovic, Men’s Basketball / General Arts and Sciences was picked for the All Conference South first team.
• Mason Hoffman, Men’s Basketball / General Arts and Sciences was picked for the All Conference South second team.

Congratulations to Chris Hotton, Business instructor, who was named Professor of the Year by the Prairie Baseball Academy (PBA). This student-nominated award recognizes one instructor or professor each year from both the college and the University of Lethbridge. This award has been offered for more than 20 years as the PBA’s way to show appreciation for the efforts made by instructors, advisors and other academic support staff who enable their student-athletes to succeed. Congrats and well done, Chris!

Kelly Thompson who joined a former student, Josh Helmer, on a podcast to discuss her project management class where students are building, managing, and implementing group projects (typically fundraisers for local charities). Podcast link is at:https://learninginnovation.podbean.com/e/e45-student-led-learning-%E2%80%93-shifting-theory-into-practice-with-real-world-project-management/

Nicole Freeman, who has secured repeat grant funding ($3,040) from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to allow students to prepare tax returns during the 2023 tax season for the WIL component of the TAX-2251 Taxation course. This effort as part of the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) was recently recognised by a Letter and Certificate of Appreciation signed by the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of National Revenue.

Michelle Garcia-Vega, instructor in English, was invited as a plenary speaker (talk entitled Totonacan Ideophones) at this year's Alberta Conference on Linguistics (https://sites.google.com/view/acol2023/) on November 25 at the University of Lethbridge.

Sophie Kerneis-Golsteyn organized the college’s response to antibiotic awareness week, November 18-24. Students from Cell Bio and Microbiology presented to other students and members of the college and put up posters to inform about antimicrobial resistance.

Kristen DeMone, who chaired a session at the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce woman’s conference (Bold Move from Bold Conversation) on November 22/23.

Sandra Atwood on being the recipient of our college award, ENVS Publication of the Year 2024 from the Quinney College of Natural Resources at Utah State University for her article “Níksókowaawák as Axiom: The Indispensability of Comprehensive Relational Animacy in Blackfoot Ways of Knowing, Being, and Doing” published in the Society and Natural Resources (https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2023.2180696)

• BFFL on the success of their Fall programs, which include the continuation of Alberta Cancer and Exercise group and ‘Baby and Mama’ classes. New programs include:
  • Bridge Trekkers – an indoor walking program for older adults in partnership with the YMCA and Nordbridge.
  • Collaborating with Alberta Yoga College (Calgary) to provide space and support for their 200h certification process.
  • Running a training workshop for after-school leaders and teachers from Everactive Schools (Medicine Hat) to satisfy new provincial guidelines.

Ian Bullock (centre) representing the Lethbridge Construction Association and Lethbridge Regional Safety Committee presents a cheque for a donation of $2,400 to support students enrolled in Lethbridge College’s Pathways to the Trades program.

The college’s English Language Centre (ELC) remains in good standing with its governing agency, Languages Canada, after passing a rigorous accreditation process for the second time in eight years.

The audit, done every four years, ensures the ELC maintains acceptable standards across several categories including admissions, instruction, curriculum, finances, occupational health and safety, records management and more. Documents, some thousands of pages in length, are produced and cover everything from policies to student rights.

“If you don’t have this accreditation, you can’t recruit and register international students,” says Karen Smith, manager, English Language Centre. “Meeting the strict standards of Languages Canada is an accomplishment in itself – hearing that our services are ‘above average’ is a point of pride.”

Languages Canada accreditation is recognized by the Government of Canada and internationally.

Karen says preparing for the audit took months of hard work, not only from herself, but from her entire ELC team as well as Marko Hilgersom, Registrar, and Chiye Kinjo, manager, International Services who sat in on focus groups and helped prepare documents.

“It was a lot of work, and everyone came together to get it done,” she says. “One thing the auditor mentioned is the great collaborative team we have, and I couldn’t agree more. I have the best team. I’m very lucky.”

Congratulations to everyone who worked tirelessly over the past several months so the college’s ELC could pass this accreditation with flying colours. Well done!

The Lethbridge College Business Administration program is once again excited to share it has maintained recognition with the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA).

The annual CPA reporting and evaluation process is significant.  Our result is always good news for a number of reasons including the reassurance that our Business program, in particular Accounting, is doing what it should be doing, including preparing our students for success and further education including pursuing Canada’s only accounting designation – CPA.

Courses that receive transfer recognition with CPA: Acc1170, Acc1175, Acc2250, Acc2251, Acc2271, Acc2273, Bus1166, Bus2292, Ecn1180, Ecn2253, Sts2250, and Tax2251. With these courses our Business grads are well positioned to pursue the CPA designation.