The Informer Page 3

September 28, 1988

Career Choices Teaches Success

Greg Diack is on the move.

The 22-year-old table busser, who works for Beaver
Foods in the South Cafeteria, is one of the College’s
success stories. Greg has been working at Cap for about
nine months, but before that he spent time bouncing
from job-to-job, taking whatever employment his grade
nine education would allow.

That was before he enrolled in Career Choices —a
program that demonstrates how educators, employers
and government can work together successfully. The
new Canada Employment and Immigration job entry
program helps learning disabled students find — and
keep —jobs. Lower mainland employers provide on-the-
job training and work experience, and Cap College
instructors provide classroom training and act as on-site
supervisors.

The program is so successful that 10 of the 12
graduates from the first program run last spring are
working, while the other two are continuing their
educations. This fall’s program has attracted 20 students
and already has some promising placements in line.

Greg has nothing but praise for the course: “(Career
Choices) gave me a better attitude to work,” Greg says.
“The instructors were really knowledgeable. They helped
me.”

The program accepts unemployed workers who are
under 26, have been diagnosed as having learning
disabilities, and who have erratic employment histories.
The students are given aptitude tests to determine their
strengths, so they can be placed in the right jobs.

Although Greg had worked in the food service
industry as a dishwasher, he found the work restrictive
— he didn’t have a chance to do what he enjoys most —
meeting people.

Now his job has variety, everything from dealing
with stock to bussing tables and dishwashing, and he
has contact with students and staff.

“Being with other people is the most important part

of the job.”

Working in food service also gives him a chance to
do his favourite job: cooking,

“I enjoy working on the grill, and at home I do a bit
of baking, mostly pies, cookies, and cakes.”

Greg hopes to pursue this interest, with the long-
term goal of becoming a restaurant chef. He says the
self-confidence and positive attitude to work Career
Choices has given him will help him try school again.

“I’m looking forward to going back and getting my
high school and maybe taking some cooking courses.”

National Poetry Award

John Pass (English instructor in the Sechelt ABE
program) won the Canadian Poetry Contest, sponsored
by the Canada-India Village Aid Society.

John's poem "Actaeon" was chosen by judges
George Woodcock, Al Purdy and Margaret Atwood out of
1,000 other entries. “Actaeon” refers to the mythical
Greek character who surprised Artemis while bathing
and was turned into a stag. “I thought it hada
contemporary angle,” says Pass. The poem is part of a
soon-to-be completed manuscript.

John has published eight books of poetry, the most
recent, An Arbitrary Dictionary, was published by
Coach House Press in 1984 and is available in the
College library and at Duthie Books. “Actaeon” will be
published in the October issue of Books in Canada and
is coming out in an anthology.

“Tm reluctant to take all this too seriously,” says
John, who knows from past experiences that popular
acclaim for poetry can be short-lived. John's other books
include: Taking Place, Kenojuak Prints, Love’s
Confidence, Port of Entry, Blossom: An Accompaniment,
and There Go the Cars.

April returning next Fall

April Struthers, Community Services Assistant in
Sechelt, is leaving for one year to take up the books.
April will be studying for her M.Ed. in Human Relations
and Continuing Education at Nottingham University in
England for one year and will have her nose to the
grindstone while she is away, doing the two-year
program in a short 13 months.

One of the originals when the Sechelt campus
opened in 1980, April looks forward to continuing as
CSA when she returns and devoting her time and
renewed energy to community projects. In the
meantime, however, she says, “I’m going to have to
recover from several send-offs.”

April's new degree will hang on the wall beside her
degree in Archaeology from SFU and a teaching
certificate.