Red River College Polytech (RRCP) will be holding its annual open house on February 23. It's not your grandfather's open house, though. Guy Moffat, campus manager for the Red River College in Portage, explains that the open house will be virtual once again.

Guy Moffat

"It starts at 4:00 p.m and goes until 8 p.m, and there's going to be representation at our open house from all of the programs in different areas within Red River College Polytech."

Moffat says that the Portage campus will have a presence at the event and that there will be lots of different topics added into the open house this year.

"There's going to be two-panel discussions which are going to be really interesting. The first one is a panel discussion with alumni, and the title of that one is 'You In Five Years Or Less.' We're going to have alumni from a business program, from a Creative Communications Program, and Construction Management talking to students about what opportunities lie ahead. And the second-panel discussion is 'Student Perspective.' So, we're going to have four students who are currently enrolled with Red River College Polytech. They're talking about their experience with college and what it's been like learning through a pandemic, as well as what it's like to learn online versus in person as they've had experiences with both."

Moffat speaks to the fact that the college was scheduled to do some presentations at PCI associated with the open house that has been cancelled due to the current restrictions, something that he says really disappointed him.

He outlines how he views the differences in having this event virtual as opposed to in person.

"Having an in-person open house is the best way to go. It's always nicer to meet with people face to face, but I'm really proud of the amount of work that the college has put into selecting a platform that allows that free interaction, even if it is virtual."

Moffat notes that, while they may not be completely ideal, there are still positives from holding virtual events such as this.

"The nice thing is that when it's a little bit cold outside, people can come in and check out the open house from the comfort of their own home. Whether it's their living room or kitchen, as long as they have a laptop or phone, they can go through the platform and hopefully collect all the information that's relevant to whatever they want to learn about."

He adds that he fully expects one of the outcomes from the pandemic will be options for people to choose if they want to attend things virtually or in person, not one or the other.

The campus manager concludes that he hopes to see people from Portage checking out all of the available programs within Red River College Polytech.

"We've got a lot of great opportunities, and it's always nice to see people out gathering information and broadening perspectives."

Those who register and attend are entered in a draw for a $1000 gift card to the campus store. Click here for more information on the open house.