Lögberg-Heimskringla - 09.09.2005, Síða 2

2 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 9 September 2005
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AKE YOU PROUD OF YOUR ICE'IANDIC íiERITAGE?
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Don't know where they are or who to contact?
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WOULDN'T YOURAMMAAND AFI BE PROUD?
From
PHOTO: DAVID JÓN FULLER
“My life has been guided by education,” says Dave Thorlak-
son, the new CEO of Winnipeg Technical CoIIege.
of the things I value in educa-
tion is to make it relevant. And
certainly, when you’re involved
in the practical or trade areas,
there’s a high degree of rele-
vance to what you’re doing.”
One high-profile example
was his involvement in RRC’s
entry in the North American
Solar Car Challenge, which
took place this past summer.
The NASC was a special edi-
tion of the American Solar
Car Challenge. Contestants
designed and then raced their
solar-powered cars across the
continent.
“The American Solar Chal-
lenge came to Winnipeg, and
the Province hosted a meeting
which I was invited to, and they
were exploring the opportunity
of running a race not just in the
United Slates, but coming into
Canada, and more specifically
into Winnipeg and on to Cal-
gary, and they were wondering
what the local appetite for that
would be. And certainly every-
one thal was at the meeting was
for it.”
Thorlakson took the idea
to RRC as a project for the stu-
dents. The idea was embraced
by faculty and students, and
the college put together a solar
car. The NASC course began in
Austin, Texas, came to Winni-
peg, MB and ended in Calgary,
AB for a total distance of 2,500
miles, or 4,000 kilometres.
Thorlakson’s duties during
the NASC included fundrais-
ing and media relations. How-
ever, Thorlakson says, “It was
a wonderful project. It provided
an opportunity for Red River
College to show the world their
capability, their capacity, to do
applied research.”
Now Dave Thorlakson
is moving ón again, to a new
challenge as CEO of Winni-
peg Technical College. Many
couráes available in colleges do
not have standing when applied
to a university degree, meaning
students starting at college of-
ten have to retake similar cours-
es. “I think that what we really
need to do with our technical
training is create pathways that
ultimately lead to a degree,” he
says.
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Name
David Jón Fuller
Dave Thorlakson, the
new CEO of Winnipeg
Technical College, may
weil have lived the archetypal
Icelandic experience: dealing
with isolatíon, surviving on
fishing, and embracing innova-
tive technology. Throughout,
education has played a major
role.
Thorlakson was bom in
1950 in Atikokan, ON to par-
ents of Icelandic descent. His
father Valgeir was originally
from Hnausa, MB and his
mother Geraldine hailed from
Lundar, MB. Both spoke Ice-
landic. He has two brothers,
Alan Jon Haldor and Gordon
Edward, and one sister Karen
Valerie Vopnfjord. Dave is the
youngest.
Valgeir worked in a mine
in Atikokan. When the mine
closed in the late 50s, he took
his family back to Lake Win-
nipeg, where he took up com-
mercial fishing.
Along the shores of Lake
Winnipeg at Washow Bay, also
called “Humbug Bay,” they had
no electricity and “the only run-
ning water we had was ‘Dave,
run and get some water’,” he
laughs. He remembers when
they finally got kerosene lan-
tems to replace the ones that
ran on coal oil.
His mother was responsible
for his early education and fos-
tered in him a love of reading.
“If I'm given a choice between
reading a book and watching a
movie, invariably I’d prefer the
book,” he says.
The isloation increased
when the road was impassable
during the winter. “We’re an in-
credibly close family,” he says.
“We had to rely on each other,
and to this day still do.”
In the early 60s, they
moved to Winnipeg, where he
felt a profound culture shock —
almost like being thrown from
one end of the twentieth centu-
ry into the other. It’s something
he’s sensitive to in his career as
an educator, when his students
come from remote areas. “I
know what I went through, so
I have an idea of what they’re
dealing with,” he says.
Thorlakson also credits the
rural lifestyle, one he charac-
terizes as based on honesty and
integrity, as one that has helped
him immensely as a teacher. “I
am very tmsting. I find that it’s
a value that has served me well
in life. By being tmsting, you
allow people to begin to tmst
you,” he says. “Education is a
pathway to success for every-
body... [and] trust is essential
for this.”
Thorlakson’s own educa-
tion started out in the trades.
He studied Heavy Equipment
and Highway Tractor Main-
tenance at Red River College
in Winnipeg, then apprenticed
at Manitoba Hydro. He spent
several years as a joumeyper-
son before returning to RRC
for evening training, where he
taught Automotive and Heavy
Duty Equipment, both of which
he holds certificates in.
He also holds a provincial
Refrigeration certificate and is
a fifth-class Power Engineer.
“That was all part of my com-
mitment to life being ongoing
learning,” he says, “and when I
was working in specific areas,
I would try to get the certifica-
tion in those areas.”
His experience teaching
at RRC led to many years’ in-
volvement in the school system
in Manitoba. “It was always
there, even though my career
went in different directions,”
he says. He was Director of
Support Services at St. John’s
Ravenscourt school for five
years; he was Coordinator of
Pupil Transportation (school
busing) for the Assiniboine
South school division, and later
supervised the provincial fleet
of school buses for Manitoba
Education and Training.
That led to becoming Su-
pervisor of Fleet Operations
for Transport Canada (central
region, airports group), where
he was responsible for the
equipment and training at 35
airports. “I really enjoyed it,”
he says. “It was a lot of work
— I was in many weekends and
into the evenings — but I truly
enjoyed it. You were certainly
welcomed at every site, because
you were the one who replaced
the equipment!”
Lately, he was Chair of
Transportation, Math and Sci-
ence at RRC for eight years. He
says he’s always looked for a
“connection with education or
training” in his career, prefer-
ring a hands-on approach. “One
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