 Living the dream
Personal Support Worker fulfills lifelong ambition with the help of Continuing Education
In 1986, when Maria Almeida left Portugal and arrived with her family in Canada, her plan was simple: find a job.
“When I arrived, I didn’t think about school,” says the 45-year-old. “I just thought about work because that’s what you do as a new immigrant.”
Maria started out cleaning offices then worked in a bakery before landing a job in a manufacturing plant. In 2002, she became the Plant Manager Assistant and was hoping to continue to rise.
“Unfortunately, I wasn’t going anywhere,” she says. “I kept training Plant Managers but was getting passed up for a promotion myself. They never said it directly, but I know it was because I didn’t have any education.”
Finally, in the summer of 2007, after another Plant Manager quit, Maria went to the president of the company and asked for a promotion. When she was asked to train another colleague for the position a few days later, she knew her fate was sealed.
“I was fed up with the same old story and was very frustrated,” Maria says. “My husband said to me, ‘Why don’t you realize the dream you’ve had all these years?’”
That dream was to finish school – something Maria had to give up at a young age when her father passed away – and she began to pursue it after quitting her manufacturing job in September 2007.
Pursuing a dream
Maria’s interests lead her toward care giving. That’s when Continuing Education at George Brown came into the picture – she quickly discovered that George Brown offered the certificate she needed in order to work as a Personal Support Worker (PSW). The first step was to attend an information session, which she did in November 2007.
“I knew I would have to take an English assessment test to determine if I could enrol,” Maria says. “I was sure I would fail because I didn’t have any formal education in English, but I knew, if I didn’t go, I wouldn’t know what I had to do to start my new career.”
Maria’s hunch was right: she did, indeed, fail the assessment test. But she was not deterred and enrolled in the English Essentials course through Continuing Education. Despite feeling somewhat overwhelmed in the beginning, Maria passed the course with flying colours – earning a final mark of 91%. She followed that up with College English and finished with the third best mark in her class. With that kind of accomplishment under her belt, the assessments were no longer an issue, and she started classes for the PSW Certificate program in September 2008.
Her academic success has continued, as she has earned top marks throughout her time in the program. Perhaps even more noteworthy (to both her instructors and her classmates) is Maria’s work ethic.
“Since I was used to working very long days, I decided to take some computer courses as well,” she says. “After all, you never know what kind of job is in your future – or what kind of changes technology will make to your job.”
She also joined a volunteer program, Storefront Humber, which is a home-support services company that assists seniors with meals and recreational activities.
“I was hooked from the start, and the people at Storefront Humber saw something in me,” Maria says. “In fact, they’ve got a job waiting for me as soon as I finish my courses.”
Maria reached that goal in November 2009.
“I can’t say enough about my George Brown experience; there was always somebody there to motivate me and to be patient with me,” she says. “To me, you’re never too old to go to school. Education means a lot: I can now read a book in English, write an essay and do a lot of things people take for granted. If I hadn’t gone to school, I wouldn’t have all of this.”
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