School spirit soars as alumni celebrate ReuKnighted

They may have graduated from different programs, years, and even campuses but, for one memorable day, they gathered to celebrate their shared experience as forever NC Knights.
More than 200 members of the College’s alumni community returned to their alma mater for ReuKnighted ’24, an action-packed one-day alumni reunion event hosted by Alumni Relations in partnership with Athletics. Held at the Welland Campus on November 2, this year’s event marked the fourth ReuKnighted event since 2019, offering alumni and friends a chance to return to campus, reconnect with their former classmates and college staff, and cheer on the NC Knights.
“This year’s ReuKnighted was our best to-date! It was so fantastic to see our alumni bring their pride back to campus and see how much it has evolved since they attended,” said Jana Boniferro, Director, Alumni Relations. “The nostalgia in the room was palpable – can’t wait for ReuKnighted 2025!”
An indoor tailgate party at The Core was at the heart of the event, where alumni had a chance to mix and mingle while enjoying snacks from the School of Culinary Arts. Guests could also take in four varsity Knights games held throughout the day at the Simplii Financial Athletic Centre – or view the action on screen from The Core in real time, thanks to the involvement of NC’s Broadcasting – Radio, Television and Film program.
“We appreciate all of the athletes coming back and it’s really fun to see all the alumni from Niagara College who come back for this event,” said Michele O’Keefe, Director of Athletics.



50-year milestone






The event proved to be a trip down memory lane for a group of School of Business alumni from the Class of 1974. After meeting for lunch at the Rex Hotel, the group had an opportunity to tour some of the newer areas of the Welland Campus prior to attending the indoor tailgate party.
“This is just amazing to see it now,” said Karla Gilmore (St. Catharines), recounting the many facilities on campus that did not yet exist while she attended the College. It was her first time back on campus since the group’s 25-year reunion.
“In some ways, I’d like to be a student today,” she said, complimenting the newer spaces. “There were only 2,000 students at the time we were at the College.”
Gilmore smiled as she flipped through a 1974 yearbook and pointed to a photo of her 19-year-old self as a Business – Accounting student. Her NC experience prepared her well for her more than 40-year career in accounting. She recalled how, during the first couple weeks of school, one of her teachers told the class to look to the person on their left and then to the person on their right.
“He said, in three years, only one of you will be here … he meant that one of us would succeed in the program,” she said. “It was so rigorous. And it was the hardest course.”
Daryl Schneider (Port Colborne), who was also among the group celebrating their 50-year graduation milestone from the School of Business, pointed to a photo of himself along with two others on their graduation day, standing next to a brick wall backdrop in the old Mackenzie Building
He looked back on how attending NC helped him and his classmates enter the workforce after graduating in 1974.
“I had one job after this. I was a manufacturing engineer at John Deere in Welland,” he said “I retired at 56 years old but that gave me 36 years. We all had good jobs.”
Schneider enjoyed touring the campus during ReuKnighted, taking in the places that did not exist while he was a student, as well as those which remained. He has returned to campus a few times over the years and now looks forward to his granddaughter following his footsteps.
“My granddaughter is coming here in January,” he said, noting she will soon be enrolled in the Hairstyling program. “She’s 18 and she’ll start here. So I thought, that’s pretty cool.”
Leaders take the stage

Vice-President, Advancement Gord Arbeau addresses the crowd.
With the tailgate in full swing, guests had a chance to hear from two members of NC’s executive team who addressed the crowd.
Vice-President, Advancement, Gord Arbeau spoke about the College’s growth and plans for the future. He pointed out that NC’s alumni community includes 125,000 around the world, and recognized attendees who are among the College’s 2024 Alumni of Excellence honorees (soon to be announced), including Elizabeth Tait (Motive Power Technician, 2011) and Andres Coimbra Castedo (Game Development, 2019). He called out the group of Business grads from the Class of 1974 who were celebrating their 50th milestone at the event, and mentioned that many from the group began their careers together after graduation at Canadian National Railway, which had hired an entire class of 20 Business graduates in 1974.
Looking to the future, Arbeau highlighted the launch of the largest fundraising campaign NC College’s history, the Together Campaign, and encouraged guests to learn more about it.
“We hope to raise $50 million to do some really transformational things for the College,” he said, noting plans to invest in new buildings, including a new skilled trades centre and an expansion of the Applied Health Institute.
“Skilled trades and health are two areas that our community partners are telling us they need more NC graduates so we need to expand those facilities,” said Arbeau. “And we’re going to be investing more in our students, more student scholarships, more bursaries, more supports for our students.”
Alumni also got a special welcome from Vice-President, Students, Chris McGrath who noted his focus is on ensuring that NC students have the best possible experience both inside and outside of the classroom.
“Do take the opportunity to reconnect to people who are important to you and go see the places that are important to you. On behalf of all of our current students who know how important you are to them in their futures, outside of NC, thanks for joining us,” said McGrath. “I’m very focused on making sure that our students today have a very similar sort of experience so hopefully in three, four, five, or 30 years, they’ll also come back for ReuKnighted as well.”