Alumni Award Recipients
After receiving an exciting 49 nominations from the NSCC community and friends, and careful consideration by our Alumni Awards Selection Committee, the results are in! The four recipients of the 2024 NSCC Alumni Awards have made an incredible impact on their communities, industries, personal lives and the College. We are proud to honour these recipients and share their inspirational stories.
Tia Upshaw (ALP ’06), Entrepreneurship Award Recipient
Tia is an awarding-winning serial entrepreneur who founded Blk Women in Excellence, a pioneering organization dedicated to empowering and supporting Black women entrepreneurs. She truly embodies an entrepreneurial spirit with countless positive contributions to support aspiring business owners and entrepreneurs, including building partnerships to provide impactful support for equity-deserving communities.
Her story is coming soon.
David Jarvis (Boulanger & Baking Art ‘18), Community Impact Award Recipient
Originally from England, David spent several years living and working in Africa, 10 years farming in Italy, studied at NSCC as an international student and ultimately made Nova Scotia home. David’s dedication to raising awareness of food insecurity has created a lasting positive change in Lunenburg. His contagious passion has mobilized the community to increase food bank donations by creating the “We Feed Lunenburg” Facebook group in 2022. Earlier this year, he and his wife launched a Community Food Pantry which is entirely stocked by community members. He has recently formed the We Feed Lunenburg Association to continue his efforts to support accessible food and address food insecurity.
His story is coming soon.
Jennifer Barnable (PR ‘03), Transformational Change Award Recipient
As a person who lives with multiple disabilities that impact her daily life, Jennifer has used her NSCC education to build a successful career of over 20 years in communications. She is a natural educator and collaborator, who has combined her passions, talent and skills unlocked by her NSCC education to accomplish much in her career thus far, garnering awards for her leadership and being sought out for her unique skills, intersectional perspective and experience. Through her career, community volunteerism, and advocacy business, Jennifer mentors and educates all ages about disability inclusion, anti-ableism, self-advocacy and allyship. She does this to create meaningful social change so that all people are welcome, respected and valued regardless of ability or health.
Her story is coming soon.
Howie Doiron (Carpentry ’93), NSCC Service Award Recipient
If you were to combine a volunteer champion with community-mindedness, you would have Howie Doiron, an enthusiastic contributor who goes above and beyond. He is known as someone who regularly offers a helping hand around Sydney, Cape Breton, especially with the local NSCC campus. Howie is a long-serving champion for NSCC, a dedicated volunteer and a committed grad employer. He has dedicated countless volunteer hours through his work with the NSCC Board of Governors (2016-22) where he eagerly took on various roles and has provided invaluable support to the NSCC Foundation around the Sydney Waterfront Campus.
His story is coming soon.