Congratulations to MacEwan University’s 2024 Alumni Awards recipients!

Meet MacEwan’s 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients

The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented to alumni who exhibit outstanding achievements or make significant contributions within their professions and service to the community.

Josh Languedoc (Bachelor of Arts, Honours ’10) is a proud member of Saugeen First Nation and lives as a guest in Treaty 6 Territory as an Anishinaabe playwright, producer, storyteller and teacher. 

Since 2018, he has been touring his solo performance Rocko and Nakota: Tales From the Land to theatres and festivals across Turtle Island. Some of his other plays include The Eyes of Spirits, Feast and CIVIL BLOOD: A Treaty Story.  

Languedoc also teaches with the Citadel’s Foote Theatre School, Edmonton Public Schools, Artstrek and Northern Alberta YMCA, and runs the teen playwriting program #WritesOfPassage at Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre. As a producer, he curated the pêhonân Series for Fringe Theatre and #ReconcileThis for the National Arts Centre Indigenous Theatre. He has also donned a leather jacket as Sonny Boy in the Indigenous hit Bear Grease. 

Recently, Languedoc became the third Indigenous person ever to earn an MFA Theatre Practice with a focus on Indigenous playwriting from the University of Alberta. 

Mallory Yawnghwe (Bachelor of Commerce ’18) is the co-founder and co-CEO of Indigenous Box, a rapidly growing and economically impactful business that promotes Indigenous entrepreneurship through subscription box and corporate gift services. A member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Yawnghwe leads her business based on Indigenous principles and the collective value of honouring the gifts of others. 

With her commitment to uplifting others and the importance of connecting, supporting and servicing Indigenous communities in a competitive business world, Yawnghwe sets herself apart. Her impact and presence have made her an inspiration within the community, especially to Indigenous youth and women. 

In 2022, Yawnghwe was among Edify’s Top 40 Under 40 and named Indigenous Entrepreneur of the Year by the Innovators and Entrepreneurs Foundation. She is a passionate learner who seeks opportunities to challenge herself and her business, and as a result has been able to grow Indigenous Box into the socially impactful company it is today.

Meet MacEwan's 2024 Emerging Leader Award recipients

Andrew Dunn (Bachelor of Commerce ’22, Accounting and Strategic Measurement ’20, Accounting Technology ’19) uses his passion for accounting to make a positive impact at home and away. He has gone as far as Tanzania, where he volunteered at primary schools teaching staff accounting and helping students in their math and English classes. He continues his support to those schools through fundraising, managing budgets and even making a business proposal to build an additional classroom in one of the schools. 

At home, Dunn volunteers with a number of local organizations, including Underwater Search Team and the World Snowshoe Federation. He uses his accounting expertise to establish better accounting practices within these volunteer-based organizations. He also understands the importance of volunteering on a personal level and is a Big Brother to a local youth. 

Cheyenne Rain LeGrande ᑭᒥᐘᐣ (Fine Art ’16) is a leader and innovator in fashion, art making, publications, curation and community building. The Nehiyaw Isko artist, a member of Bigstone Cree Nation, is dedicated to uplifting and connecting with other Indigenous artists across Canada, using her ancestors, community, and traditional knowledge and practices as a guide to help others amplify their art and stories. 

After graduating from MacEwan, LeGrande completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts at Emily Carr University. She has worked with and exhibited at a number of galleries and art institutions including Centre A, the Vancouver LIVE Biennale, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Toronto), Bill Reid Gallery (Vancouver) and Grunt Gallery (Vancouver), AKA (Saskatoon), Relative Arts (New York) and Latitude 53 (Edmonton). 

LeGrande has won many awards, including the British Columbia prize for BMO 1st Art! Emerging Artist competition, WNDX x NIMAC Experimental Moving Image Award, Salt Spring National Art Prize - People's Choice Award, and the Edmonton Trust Fund Award. Her public mural celebrating the ancestral history of Edmonton’s land and Nehiyawewin art is displayed along Edmonton's 124 Street. 

Reakash Walters (Bachelor of Communication Studies ’15) is determined to affect meaningful change. As a lawyer, junior scholar and former communications professional with a decade of community organizing experience, Walters approaches systemic issues with an arsenal of advocacy tools.

Following her graduation from MacEwan University, Walters worked as a communications officer for Alberta’s first NDP government. During that time, she was also deeply engaged in Edmonton’s arts and culture scene. After completing her Juris Doctor at the University of Ottawa and graduating cum laude, Walters practiced as a criminal defence lawyer before earning a coveted clerkship in the chambers of Justice Sheilah Martin at the Supreme Court of Canada.

She also served as a founding member of the Edmonton chapter of Black Lives Matter and is currently a board member for LEAF, Canada’s largest feminist legal organization. Walters recently completed her Master of Laws at Columbia University as a Fullbright Scholar, an Alberta Viscount Bennett Scholar and a Columbia Davis Polk Leadership Fellow and will begin pursuing a doctorate of law this fall. 

The Alumni Awards will be presented at a reception at MacEwan University on June 14.

To learn more and to nominate an alum who is making a difference in their profession or community, visit MacEwan.ca/AlumniAwards.