Adult learners recognized

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

For the sixth year, the Lester B. Person School Board held a celebration recognizing students in their adult education and vocational programs on Monday afternoon as part of Quebec Adult Learners’ Week. The event’s guest of honour, former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s wife Margaret Trudeau, watched as dozens of adult learners received certificates from the Institut de coopération pour l’éducation des adultes (ICEA), some even recounting their own personal experiences.

“School was a little difficult,” said Matthew Tennant, who is studying to be an electrician at the newly opened Pearson Electrotechnology Centre in Lachine. Tennant said he completed CEGEP and went on to university without really knowing what he wanted to do. However, after leaving university for a contracting job, he discovered he had a passion for being an electrician and went on to look into what schools offered courses. “I now have one year left and am really excited about becoming an electrician.”

The audience in the school board’s main office board room was made up of LBPSB teachers and staff, and friends and family who applauded as the students who represented all of the school board’s adult and vocational education institutions: the Place Cartier Adult Centre, the Pearson Adult and Career Centre (PACC) Adult Education and Vocational Training, the Gordon Robertson Centre, the West Island Career Centre (WICC), and the Pearson Electrotechnology Centre.

“(This event) shows lifelong learning is a reality … The stories told here are truly inspirational,” said Pearson director general Robert Mills, adding students in adult and vocational education programs have made a decision to determine their own fates and take control of their learning.

Sharon Pinero-Lopez explained that while her previous school experiences were “not pleasant,” her time at Place Cartier has been much different.

“I have gained self-confidence,” she said, adding she aspires to be a professional musician and plans to attend the Trebas Institute.

Megan Barette, another student who received a certificate on Monday, was diagnosed with dyslexia and stopped going to school in Grade 10. Barette, who is from the Gaspé coast, found out about the Pearson School of Culinary Arts located at the PACC in LaSalle, and has since gone back to school to become a cook.

Gary Hughes, a single dad with three children, registered at the PACC in August.

“It’s a bit of a struggle,” he said,” but I really appreciate the support I’ve been getting from the staff and teachers at Pearson.”

Margaret Trudeau addressed the crowd at the end of the ceremony, and congratulated all of the students.

“I encourage you your whole life,” she said. “When I was young, I though I knew everything. But I knew nothing. You can learn something every day.”