About 120 people gathered at Champlain College in St. Lambert on November 15 for its first-ever cocktail and networking event called Educate, Elevate and Celebrate – Better Together.
Organized by Champlain College’s Continuing Education Department and BDH Collective, this invitation-only event brought together personnel from the college and its existing – and potential – sponsorship partners, in an evening of getting acquainted and establishing new partnerships and collaborations towards Champlain College’s goal of connecting their continuing education programs with members of the local business and industry community, so that these programs can be strengthened in order to provide its students with maximum learning opportunities so that they can gain solid and sustainable employment upon graduation.
The event was emceed by CJAD broadcaster Eramelinda Boquer, in which she introduced an impressive line-up of entertainment and guest speakers such as comedians Joey Elias and Dan Laxer; francophone TV personality Angelo Cadet; Montreal city councillor Sterling Downey; Ungava spirits ambassador Gizmo Sirois, who provided a fascinating mixology demonstration of how to make creative mixed cocktails; and Champlain College’s Director of Continuing Education Mark Wallace.
As well, the guests got the chance to network with each other and representatives from the college, while enjoying cocktails and hors d’oeuvres from a number of local businesses that were represented at the event, such as Dunn’s Famous, the Montreal Ukrainian Festival, Les Spiritueux Ungava, Beaver Tails Pastry, Patisserie Kamenitsa, Restaurant ChuChai and Jacques Cartier Pizza, a family-run chain of pizzerias that has nine branches across the South Shore.
We enjoy what we do at Jacques Cartier Pizza, which is to serve up good pizza, serve our customers with the best sense of hospitality, and do it in a good old-fashioned, traditional pizza place, said owner and proprietor (and Champlain College alumnus) Stella La Giorgia, whose father founded Jacques Cartier Pizza 50 years ago, and now the fourth generation of the family is involved with the business; they are also proud supporters of Champlain College’s football team, who are called the Cavaliers.
Other local businesses that were also represented at the event were Intelligel, Windham Hill Golf Club, the Montreal Alouettes and Airbase Services.
Established more than 40 years ago, Champlain College has more than 3000 full-time students at its St. Lambert camous, many of them from suburbs in the South Shore, as well as 700 Continuing Education students, in which a great deal of them are newly-arrived immigrants to Canada. For more information about Champlain College’s Continuing Education program, go to www.champlainconted.com
Feature image: Emcee Eramelinda Boquer, Ungava Spirits brand ambassador Gizmo Sirois doing a mixology demonstration
