Three former students from NOVA are now thriving in their new jobs at Tewatohnhi’saktha, the Kahnawake Economic Development Commission.
Wahsontaha:wi Stacey is a former Accounting programme student, and is now working as a financial clerk. “I had decided to go back to school to be able support myself. In high school, I was in Economics and the teacher introduced us to Accounting, and I liked it then“. She registered at NOVA after it was recommended by her mother “I love it!”. She liked all the financial modules in the programme, Excel, and all the number crunching stuff. She also appreciated how accommodating the teachers were to her. “I got real sick, and couldn’t leave the bedroom, I was in and out of school for maybe two months, I was able to learn at home. If I needed extra help, my teacher would stay at lunch, stay after school“. She became a temporary employee for approximately a year, then was hired shortly after at her current position at KEDC, where she is now permanent. She loves the numbers so much, she is now registered at McGill for Accounting! “NOVA was my first step !”
Marissa Leblanc graduated in 2009 in the Administrative Assistant program. She needed to change her career path to fit her responsibilties with her new daughter. She was looking at a job offering and thought “I could just walk in there and do the job without the requirements“… but the requirements were to have a certification in Secretarial Studies, and the very next week, she applied at NOVA. She attended the programme with her niece, which made it easier. In the beginning she was actually skeptical about the need for a formal training since she had done some office work before, but she was really surprised of the depth of the programme content. “Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, minute taking,… I was extremely pleased with the programme“. It even helped with her own translation business, where proper document formatting was essential in the business world. “I learned far more than I already knew“. She now has a full-time, permanent position as the Executive Assistant to the CEO and the Director of Revenue Generation at KEDC.
“I’ve been here for just over a year” explains Kiera Beauvais. She came to NOVA after wondering what to do after high school. She thought at some point about taking her career in the culinary field, but her mother, an office manager herself, informed her daughter about the Administrative Assistant programme. She felt the programme would better suit her daughter. “I took my mom’s advice and applied. Right from the first day, I liked it. It was much more than what I had anticipated“. The Administrative Assistant programme offered many interesting modules, but the style of learning is what she preferred the most, enabling her to move at her own pace. Teachers were amongst “the best teachers I ever had“. After her contract finishes at Tewatohnhi’saktha, she is thinking of returning to NOVA for the Accounting programme. “I’m glad my mother suggested it. I know having the Administrative Assistant diploma under my belt is great since I can go work pretty much anywhere“.