By Martin Birthelmer '87
President of the RLC Alumni Association

The Honourary Alumni Award was created this year by an RLC alumni panel made of an alumni member representing each decade at the college. We sought input from our community through nominations and the committee voted for a former faculty that had and continues to have a significant impact on our school.

While she wasn't able to attend the ceremony in person as she was recovering from knee surgery, I was honoured to present the award to Elinor Cole.

For more than forty years, she has dedicated her life to Rosseau lake College as a teacher, house parent, coach, mentor, and philanthropist. She was involved in the foundation of what we today call the Seven Generations initiative, she served on the RLC Board, was on the committee that fundraised for the Rowntree Academic Centre, as well as more recently the committee that organized the 50th anniversary celebration.

Personally, she never gave up on me as a house parent and I’m sure I tested her patience more than once as a student in her class, but to this day when I think about the impact she had on me I am always grateful. I think of the generations of students that she influenced and supported in the same way that she did me.

We welcome Elinor into our RLC Alumni Association as she becomes the first recipient of the Rosseau lake College Honourary Alumni Award.