HEAR the STORIES OF THE people we include.
Patricia Gladue
NorQuester, lifelong learner, social work superstar
JUST a place where people could fit in,
no matter where they were from or what they were going through.
+ Read Patricia's Story
When Patricia Gladue was 17, she walked into NorQuest for the first time, shrinking from the fear of everything that could go wrong.
“I was so scared,” Patricia says. “It was so big. There were so many people. Would I get lost? Would they understand a teen mom with three-year-old twin boys?
“I’d run away from my parents. I’d been living on my own for a long time. I never graduated high school. How could this place—how could any place—be for me?”
But as Patricia navigated NorQuest’s halls that first day, something happened—something a little magical. An instructor called out: “Hi!” Then another. Someone else showed Patricia, originally from Kikino Métis Settlement south of Lac La Biche, where the Indigenous prayer room was on the sixth floor.
Some days, Patricia hid in that prayer room between her academic upgrading classes; but over the days and months, her confidence grew as something more positive and uplifting replaced those initial fears.
“It was kindness, really. That’s how I’d sum it up. Just a place where people could fit in, no matter where they were from or what they were going through.”
Patricia is 33 now. Those tiny twins are strapping 19-year-olds. And she has been a part of NorQuest ever since, as a learner and also an employee running the RBC Indigenous Mentorship Program out of the Indigenous Student Centre.
Along the way, Patricia finished her academic upgrading and completed all the prerequisites for NorQuest’s Social Work diploma program. She’ll graduate with that diploma in 2022 and then move to the degree program at the University of Calgary.
A champion in humility, it’s hard to pin Patricia down on what she’s more proud of. Her academic journey? Or the support and mentorship she’s given hundreds of Indigenous students?
She deflects any hint of praise back to NorQuest.
“NorQuest has given me and others like me a voice, through the mentorship program and through the Indigenous Student Centre. That’s what’s important. It has been welcoming from the very first day, and nothing’s changed. If anything, it has become more inclusive, more mindful of what that means,” she says.
Though she’ll trade NorQuest’s brand of red for the University of Calgary’s slightly deeper shade, Patricia doesn’t hesitate when she’s asked which school she’ll consider to be her school.
“NorQuest will always be home. I’ve known people here for 17 years. I’ll always be a part of it, and it will always be a part of me.”
Sithara Fernando
Program chair, trailblazer, second-generation NorQuester
The biggest thing about NorQuest is that it is not scared to lean into discomfort.
+ Read Sithara's Story
When Sithara Fernando’s parents immigrated to Edmonton from Sri Lanka in the 1980s, her mother heard the all-too-common refrain from her new home’s prospective employers: “We’re sorry, but your education in that country doesn’t count in this country.”
Sithara’s mother yearned for a change, a kickstart, a transformation for her and her family. And she found it at Alberta Vocational Centre, NorQuest’s precursor.
“I was just little then,” Sithara says now, “but I remember the difference it made when she went into nursing. She wanted to do this, to forge her own path in what was very much a non-traditional way then. It stuck with me, in my imagination, the impact this place had in the lives of our family.”
NorQuest re-entered Sithara’s imagination recently, when she transitioned from being a wildlife biologist in Fort McMurray’s oil patch to a teaching position in NorQuest’s Environment program, within the Faculty of Business, Environment, and Technology.
Sithara is now the program chair, and she sees the arc that defined the decades-old memory of her mother repeated time after time today.
“The people who are impacted by what we do as a college? That’s really magical. Our learners have this hyper-focus through a two-year diploma, and then they’re launched into the world,” she says. “They leave NorQuest as different people than when they arrived. Doors open for them, and they can choose whether they want to walk through, just as my mother did.”
Sithara is leading the program at a critical time. It’s about to launch NorQuest’s first field-school, a six-week hands-on jaunt in the Hinton bush. It’s also launching a new Energy Management stream, a Western-Canadian first that teaches learners how to solve everyday energy-related challenges in homes and in the workplace.
Sithara’s own yearning to change learners’ lives could have been fulfilled at any post-secondary institution. But all sorts of intangibles drew her back to NorQuest, including her mother’s story, the college’s welcoming reputation, and its commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
“I’m a lesbian and a person of colour, and so I live at the intersection of a bunch of different things. The biggest thing about NorQuest is that it is not scared to lean into discomfort. Do we have work to do on equity and diversity? Of course,” Sithara says.
“But we do not shy away from it. Not only is there time and space to reflect on these issues, but there’s an expectation that we deal with them in real time in the classroom. We have the conversation, we try to understand our biases, and that’s when powerful things can start to happen.”
Sherri Stevens
CEO, partner, admirer, champion for equity and diversity
It’s no surprise to me when a place like NorQuest adds value in all kinds of ways.
I’ve been there. I’ve lived it.
+ Read Sherri's Story
As the CEO of WXN, shorthand for Women’s Executive Network, and Canada’s eminent source of research and advocacy for full gender and diversity participation in Canadian leadership, Sherri Stevens often seeks partners to amplify and boost her mission.
But not just any partners. It’s easy for organizations to say the right things about their commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. It’s quite another for partners to live those values in the expertise they develop and the structures they create.
Sherri found the latter sort of partner at NorQuest and our Colbourne Institute for Inclusive Leadership.
“I still remember our first Zoom call 18 months ago with [Colbourne Principal] Dr. Lori Campbell,” Sherri says now.
“Of course, we were immediately impressed that NorQuest has a whole organization committed to inclusion. But beyond that, Lori’s expertise, the breadth of research NorQuest has done, the amazing ideas, the talent and experience, it all just sort of shined through on that first call. And it was an easy decision to work together.”
NorQuest contributed research and expertise to WXN’s annual report card, which tracks organizational practices and measures how well corporate Canada is advancing equity, inclusion, and diversity in its leadership ranks. NorQuest’s role was to dig beyond statistics to provide insights into how women negotiate their own identities within the constraints and opportunities of their organizations. The research appeared alongside contributions from Western University in WXN’s report, released in May 2021. WXN uses the research to sharpen its own advocacy and to persuade and prompt Canadian organizations of all kinds to eliminate barriers traditionally experienced by women leaders.
“We needed to find someone who found this interesting and who could work with us, as a true collaborator, to really build this out. And that was NorQuest,” Sherri said. “The spirit of give and take, the constant refinement, those are hallmarks of a great partner.”
Sherri said she never doubted whether an institution like NorQuest could contribute and add value on a critical, national project. After all, Sherri herself is a community college grad, from Seneca College in Toronto.
“I didn’t go to university. I went to community college because I wanted to learn and I was hungry to start adding value in my work as soon as I could,” the CEO says.
“It’s no surprise to me when a place like NorQuest adds value in all kinds of ways. I’ve been there. I’ve lived it.”