Niagara College Graduate Wins Ontario’s Prestigious Premier’s Award

A Submission to NAL from Niagara College

Niagara College graduate David Pratt has been announced as a winner of
College’s Ontario’s 2012 Premier’s Award.

Award-winning Niagara College graduate David Pratt

Pratt, who graduated from Niagara College’s Greenhouse Technician
program in 2007, was one of six Premier’s Awards winners honoured for
making significant contributions to their communities and achieving
excellence in their careers. The winners were announced at an annual
Colleges Ontario conference held in Toronto on Nov. 26.

His win in the Recent Graduate category recognizes the great strides he
has made in the industry since graduating only five years ago.

Pratt’s success as head grower at Sundrop Farms in Outback Australia
has the potential to make the world’s deserts come alive. While
agriculture uses about 70% of the world’s fresh water supply, Sundrop
discovered a cost-effective method of producing food using the sun’s
warmth to remove salt from seawater, saving millions of litres of fresh
water and millions of barrels of oil. Pratt has developed a sustainable
greenhouse growing system that enables the technology to be used
worldwide in coastal, arid areas. Sundrop is undergoing a $30-million
expansion, and starting a Sahara Forest Project in the Middle East.

“We are tremendously proud of David’s success and that he is being
recognized with this prestigious award,” said Dan Patterson, president
of Niagara College. “David is a shining example of the outstanding
contributions made by Ontario college graduates in their communities,
their countries, and around the world.”

“David’s energy, enthusiasm and passion for his work in sustainable
horticulture were inspirational for everyone in the room” said Linda
Franklin, CEO and president of Colleges Ontario. “Stories like David’s
illustrate the power of colleges and the exceptional talent of our
graduates.”

This was the second consecutive year that Pratt has been nominated for
a Premier’s Award.

“This award is something that I hold very dear to my heart and to be
recognized with the award is beyond a privilege,” he said. “It
really shows how powerful and how noticed Niagara College’s Greenhouse
Technician program is in the agricultural, horticultural, and greenhouse
industries; and that the College has the opportunity to really make a
difference.”

Since the Premier’s Awards were launched in 1992, Pratt is the fifth
winner ever to be named from Niagara College. Previous Premier’s
Awards winners from Niagara College are:
● Jerry Howell (graduate of NC’s Computer Engineering Technology
program, 1988) who won the Premier’s Award in the Technology category
in 2011;
 ● Jordan Harris (graduate of NC’s Winery and Viticulture Technician
program, 2004) who won the Premier’s Award in the Recent Graduate
category in 2008;
● Heather Kilty (graduate of NC’s Social Welfare Worker program,
1969), who won the Premier’s Award in the Health Sciences category in
2003; and
● Carol Alaimo (graduate of NC’s Journalism-Print program, 1984), who
won the Premier’s Award in the Creative Arts & Design category in
1995.

In addition to Pratt, Niagara College’s 2012 nominees included: Adin
Bradley (Business), East Zone vice-president, Rural/Metro Medical
Services; Christopher Bessette (Creative Arts and Design), award-winning
motion picture writer and director; and Paul Pender (Technology),
winemaker at Tawse Winery, named the number one winery in Canada for
three consecutive years (2010-2012).

Niagara College offers more than 100 diploma, bachelor degree and
advanced level programs at campuses in Welland, Niagara-on-the-Lake and
Niagara Falls. Areas of specialization include food and wine sciences,
advanced technology, applied health and community safety, supported by
unique learning enterprises in food, wine, beer, horticulture and
a esthetics. For more information, visit NiagaraCollege.ca . For more information about the Premier’s Awards visit co-awards.org .

 (A short footnote from NAL publisher Doug Draper – I cannot help but point out that one of the winners on this list, Carol Alaimo, was a great colleague of mine in the St. Catharines Standard newsroom for more than a decade and a half before that once-proud, independent paper was sold to corporate chains. At that point, the corporate bosses began gutting our newsroom and Carol and I were among several other reporters and editors in our newsroom who accepted a buyout we negotiated during a strike against the chain owners in the late 1990s. You may know that the cutting and gutting of the newsroom at the St. Catharines Standard has continued ever since, to the detriment of the resources needed to perform a needed watchdog role for the community.)

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