Outstanding students in Conestoga’s Architecture - Project and Facility Management program were honoured at the annual student awards.
The awards ceremony was capped off by a screening of Captain Code developed by Parneet Kaur, Divroop Kaur, Sujal Joshi and Dijo Daniel to highlight an Ontario building code requirement.
Ten awards sponsored by faculty, industry and alumni were presented at the ceremony held at the Cambridge - Fountain Street campus on November 16.
“It’s good to recognize the achievements of students and it also gives an opportunity for the friends and families to see what they’ve been doing,” said faculty member and event organizer Ron Bean.
“It’s to encourage them and to recognize their great work.”
The annual awards cover a range of achievements for students in all four years of the program including the highest course grades or overall for the year and the student-nominated “Collegiality Award” for the classmate who goes the extra distance.
The ceremony was also an opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the program, which counts about 450 graduates working across Canada and around the world.
“It’s just a totally unique degree,” Bean said. “It’s a small program, but it doesn’t exist anywhere else in Canada.”
Conestoga's four-year APFM co-op degree program is the only in Canada to be regulated by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Foundation and Canada’s first program to be accredited by the Applied and Natural Sciences Accreditation Commission (ABET). The program focuses on the whole architectural process from planning to occupancy and the adaptive reuse of buildings.
The broad-based education puts the alumni in high demand with nearly 90 per cent employed within six months of graduation.
Each class opens up new insights into the wide range of career possibilities for Anna Rybalko, who won the Women in APFM Award established by a group of alumni and led by 2020 alumna of distinction Jillian Harvey.
“I’m happy to get it because I understand it’s sometimes difficult for women to progress in this area,” Rybalko said.
She wants to change that and be an example to others that women can do well in architecture - a field she was drawn to because her parents were always connected to construction. As a Ukrainian, Rybalko has an interest in restoring and rebuilding after a catastrophe such as war, flooding or an earthquake.
The ceremony capped off with the premier screening of the winning Captain Code video by the team of Parneet Kaur, Divroop Kaur, Sujal Joshi and Dijo Daniel. Second-year students all completed the class project to create a video highlighting an Ontario building code requirement.
The winning video focused on proper exit signs which are essential in case of emergency, and the four behind the entertaining short were thrilled to win the coveted title of Captain Code 2023. All are international students from India the award will be a fond memory of their time at Conestoga.
“It feels so good. We finally have something to keep at our place,” Parneet Kaur said.
The School of Engineering & Technology offers a comprehensive suite of programs with a wide range of credentials in areas including architecture, civil, construction, mechanical and electronics. Conestoga is Ontario’s only college to offer fully accredited engineering degrees.