Minnesota West Community and Technical College was awarded a Bronze Paragon Award for original photography by the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR) during its National Conference held March 8-12 in Savannah, GA.  Gary Gillin, Dean of Communication and Enrollment and Katherine Delaney, Canby Campus Marketer accepted the award on behalf of Minnesota West, student photographer, and the student subject.
 
The National Council for Marketing & Public Relations is the only organization of its kind that exclusively represents marketing and PR professionals at community and technical colleges. As one of the fastest-growing affiliates of the American Association of Community Colleges, NCMPR has more than 1,500 members from nearly 600 colleges across the United States, Canada and other countries.
 
“What makes this award so meaningful to the college is the photograph was taken by a student enrolled in the Wind Energy Technology program at our Canby campus,” said Gillin.  Kevin Froslan and Jacob Knutson were perched upon a turbine overlooking the Buffalo Ridge on a cool, foggy morning as part of a lab experience.  As the morning fog lifted, Kevin began shooting photos to share with family and friends so they could visualize what a wind technician’s work environment would be like.  Utilizing a personal digital camera, Kevin took an amazing photograph.  He captured a photograph the college has used extensively for marketing the Minnesota West wind energy technology program.  The photograph currently appears on the cover of the 2008-2010 Minnesota West catalog.   

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Public Relations division recognized the quality of the photograph and featured it on the cover of the system magazine in the spring of 2007 along with a feature story titled, “Powering Up, Renewable Energy Graduates in Demand”.   The photograph also appears in the 2007-2008 edition of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities “Go Places” brochure used by high school counselors in advising students on post-secondary education opportunities.

The photographer, Kevin Froslan, a 2006 graduate of Truman High School in Truman, Minnesota and the subject Jacob Knutson, a 2005 graduate of Marshall High School in Marshall, Minnesota are second year students who are on track to graduate this spring from the wind energy technology program.  Both Kevin and Jacob worked for Outland Renewable Energy last summer and have accepted employment with Outland upon completion of their education this spring.  Outland Renewable Energy has an operations office in Canby, MN.  As wind technicians for Outland Renewable Energy, they will work primarily on new turbine setup and installation.  Some responsibilities include aligning blades, generator hookup, and completing the electrical requirements for getting the electricity the turbine produces on the power grid.

Colleges from Minnesota swept the original photography category at the NCMPR convention. The gold and silver award winners had amazing entries as well.  Those Minnesota colleges used the services of a professional photographer which is allowed by NCMPR.  According to Gary Gillin, “What makes our award so unique is that it truly was an original photograph created by two students from the college.”   They were obviously in the right place, at the right time, with a camera in tow.  The college is grateful to the two students for allowing Minnesota West to enter the photograph in the prestigious NCMPR Paragon Awards program.