Your quarterly catch-up with NAIT: Volume 2, Issue 1
Throughout the year, techlifetoday shares well over 100 stories highlighting student and alumni success, innovative research, and other NAIT news. Each season, we collect the best right here in the techlifetoday Anthology so you never miss out.
Welcome to Volume 2, Issue 1! With this installment, we bring you a story about how NAIT has developed a chocolate bar for use in teaching and fundraising, take a look at the radical renovation of the polytechnic’s 60-year-old gym, share the reasons for the recent return of the round dance to campus, and more.
It’s just a sampling of the impact NAIT has on Alberta through the passions and skills of students, staff and alumni. Thanks for reading!
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NAIT launches custom chocolate bar made on campus
Dark, roasty and with a hint of earthy complexity, the newly launched Ook Bar is now available for purchase! Two years ago, two Culinary Arts instructors travelled to Callebaut’s Cacao Barry lab in France to choose a custom blend. Now it’s a tool used to inspire aspiring chocolatiers among students and fund further learning opportunities. It’s also delicious.
Learn more about the Ook Bar
Marketing grad launches annual fundraiser for NAIT with a lollipop
Inspired by the red paperclip that, through successive trades, turned into a house, Rob LeLacheur (Marketing ’94) is trying his luck with a red lollipop in hopes of helping NAIT students. The owner of Road 55 content marketing launched his campaign on Feb. 24; on its 55th day, he’ll quit trading and auction off the results, with the proceeds funding scholarships.
Read more about Rob LeLacheur's red lollipop campaign
Top Chef Canada competitor and grad Alex Kim named 2026 Hokanson Chef in Residence
When NAIT instructors reached out to Alex Kim (Culinary Arts ’11) about taking on the prestigious weeklong Hokanson Chef in Residence, he was in. “I was super stoked,” says Kim. “I didn't need any time to think about it.” Despite being busy with competitions and managing one of Vancouver’s best restaurants, here’s why the grad eagerly returned to NAIT.
Read more about Chef Alex Kim’s career and return to NAIT
Round dance returns to NAIT campus after almost seven years
A ceremony to foster community and healing, a round dance was widely acknowledged to be overdue at NAIT, the last being held before COVID. In response to requests from students, staff and the broader community, a team at the campus’s Nîsôhkamâtotân Centre found a way to organize the gathering. Here’s a look at the event that drew hundreds on a cold night in February.
Learn more about the round dance and other NAIT initiatives to support Indigenous students
Four shades of brown: NAIT abandons beige in gymnasium makeover
It’s not that NAIT’s gymnasium wasn’t a good facility. It’s just that it was stuck in the amber of the early 1960s, when it was built. That changed earlier this year, when the massive room’s many versions of brown were traded for bold Ook blues. Here’s a look at what went into the transformation, and the results.
Check out the NAIT gymnasium renovation
Indigenous communities partner with NAIT to create “living” atlases
Data tells a story. To capture it, NAIT Applied Research partnered with Northern and Alberta Indigenous communities to create “living atlases.” The web applications are governed by local communities and represent areas of cultural importance, changes in the landscape, wildlife locations, and more. Here’s why they matter to the well-being and future of their users.
Learn how a “living atlas” works