Bridging program grads proud of success

Graduates who went through bridging programs at Assiniboine Community College say that they value the knowledge upgrade.

“The bridging program to me is very good,” said Walter Garcia, who graduated last week after completing the Automotive Service Bridging program.

“It’s a really good experience with us,” added fellow graduate Alex Artega. “We have the opportunity to apply what I learned in school right away.”

Image: Auto Service Bridging graduates Walter Garcia (left) and Alex Artega.

Although he’d worked as a college-educated mechanic in his home Honduras for 11 years before coming to Canada to work at Maple Leaf, Artega says that it was worth it to go back to school.

“There is a difference,” when it comes to working on vehicles in Canada, he said. “There’s more technology, more equipment. It’s harder, maybe, to learn.”

As an example, he said that automatic transmissions were rare in Honduras: “It’s too hilly!”

The two are back working as mechanics in Brandon, with Artega at House of Nissan and Garcia at Canadian Tire.

But along with their full-time jobs, they upgraded their skills through the bridging program, which meant three evening classes a week and all day Saturday in the auto shop classroom at ACC’s North Hill Campus.

“Yeah, it’s tough,” Artega said.

“I have family, I have three kids,” Garcia added. “I have to work 8–5, go home, eat something fast, go to school until 10.”

Despite the challenges, both say that the 10-month program was worth it, allowing them to upgrade their skills and educating them to Canadian standards. That includes North American and Canadian-specific terminology, measurements, safety and service procedures that may be different than they ones they originally learned.

One of the other bridging programs offered by the college is early childhood education.

Esther Omoleye, a graduate last week from the early childhood education bridging program, said that it was a way to get back into the same line of work she had been doing in Nigeria, before coming to Canada.

“Back home, I was a teacher for Grades 9–12,” she said. “I came to Brandon in 2011 and decided to go to ACC to get into the same line of work.”

Image: Early Childhood Education Bridging program graduates Joy Olaosebikan (left) and Esther Omoleye, with two of their children.

She and friend Joy Olaosebikan, who also came to Canada from Nigeria, say it was a surprise to learn that Canada required a teacher’s license, where they say that wasn’t the case in Nigeria.

“It was a big challenge for me,” said Omoleye.

Another challenge? Omoleye found out she was pregnant with her fourth child just after starting the program. New daughter Feyisola was born in time to attend her mother’s graduation.

All told, ACC graduated 14 students in Brandon through the two bridging programs at the spring 2015 ceremony. Some of the grads had family travel to attend the ceremony from as far away as Colombia and India.