We are proud to announce that our Employment Readiness student, James, has completed the program and his placement with the GRETI Maintenance Team!
After the 12-week in-class portion of his program, James was placed with the GRETI Maintenance Team to complete a 4-week job placement! The GRETI Maintenance Team is responsible for cleaning and maintaining the GRETI facilities to ensure that Grand River Employment and Training, OSTTC, Kayanase and other GRETI divisions can continue to serve the community.
While James was on placement, he was given tasks such as sorting blueprints, assisting in everyday maintenance tasks throughout the GRETI building and also got to dip his hands into data entry! During his time, James got to learn more about himself and gain confidence in completing tasks once he has his mind set to it. In one instance, James was tasked to fill bins and buckets with salt. At first, James thought to himself he wouldn’t be able to do it as he was unsure on how heavy the salt bags would be. In reflection he says,
“But once I did it, I thought to myself, “What was I thinking by second guessing myself? This is light!””
With the help and guidance of his mentor, Nancy, she reminded him,
“that he can do anything. He was telling me he wasn’t sure if he could do it. But I told him, “Don’t tell me you aren’t sure! You can do anything!””.
In reflection to James, Nancy was thrilled to have James play a role in the Maintenance Team. He was able to provide an extra set of hands in problems that would unexpectedly occur. It provided opportunities for James to establish effective problem-solving skills!
“I think that he would do well in the Maintenance Field. He never once said to us “I’m not going to do that”. Whatever we asked him to do he went ahead and did it.”
The basis around the Employment Readiness program is for students to be introduced to an array of things to narrow down what they would like to pursue as a career once they graduate. For James, his biggest takeaway from the Employment Readiness program is the lifelong friends that he will have forever. He reflects back to his classmates and how grateful he is for the relationships and connections he was able to build.
Since his placement experience, James was able to identify custodial work as a strong suit of his as well as developing an interest into computers! James hopes that he can pursue employment in either fields.
OSTTC is so proud of James and all that he has accomplished since being a student with us! OSTTC would also like to extend a nya:weh to Nancy of the GRETI Maintenance Team for having welcoming arms to our student placement!
