Zainab Al-Mehdar
Pontiac June 29, 2022
During the past few weeks in the Pontiac, many students were graduating and celebrating this major milestone. The Pontiac Continuing Education Centre honoured its students on June 16 at the Little Red Wagon Winery and gave out three awards for Highest Standing in the Commerce Program.
There was an award for 2020, 2021, and 2022, since they were . . .
trying to catch up for the covid years they have missed.
The Equity spoke to Bonnie McLachlin who pointed out that one student in particular, Kiersten Sharpe, did stand out and wanted to acknowledge her efforts and her perseverance to complete her program.
“She did very well and what I admire the most is how she worked during covid from home while connected virtually to the teachers,” said McLachlin, in an email response.
Kiersten Sharpe, an accounting student that was presented with the award, did the program quicker than the set hours. Sharpe was able to finish a two-year program in about eight months, she said.
“It actually felt really good, and I felt very secure with the knowledge that I was taught. The teachers were super encouraging,” said Sharpe.
She received the award for Highest Standing in the Commerce Program in 2021 from the school. “It’s an amazing honour, knowing that the hard work that I put into that course and all the things that I’ve accomplished and like, you know, it actually it was for a purpose,” she said.
The accounting course contains 23 modules. The Ministry of Education sets the pace for each module and gives the school hours for each one.
In their program, the hours are set for each module in each program and it follows a do it at your own pace model.
Having her heart set on becoming a nurse, when covid hit it completely rerouted her plans. While working in the cash office at Valu-mart she enjoyed working with numbers, and that’s when it hit her to go back to school and try her hand at accounting.
Finding a spot open at the Continuing Education Centre, she thought why not let me try it, said Sharpe.
“I always really loved working with numbers, and I always had a pretty strong knowledge of, you know, how to make money, and how to use, manage money properly and working at the cash office, that’s exactly what I did,” said Sharpe.
After her program, Sharpe did her work placement with the army base in Petawawa for the summer and was able to use everything she learned in her program, she added.
“Within three months, I was doing everything on my own and my manager was very impressed with the knowledge that the teachers at the commerce program had left me with,” she said.
Sharpe graduated in May 2021 from her program, did her summer program and then went on to get a job with an Ottawa-based construction company in the position of project accountant in January 2022.
Her advice for anyone feeling hesitant about applying to a new program is to take a chance because you won’t lose anything by gaining the skills you will get. She also added that the teachers are very hands-on and are there to help guide you.
For now, Sharpe is happy where she is, but highlighted she likes knowing that if she wants to move up in the company she works for she can and will be given that support, and she was able to get her dream job because she decided to take a chance on her self and apply to the accounting program, she noted.
“Just do something, you know, go apply if you even have the slightest interest in the secretarial accounting, they have a nursing program, they have a whole bunch of stuff just go and apply. Because you honestly do not lose anything if you do and you’re only giving yourself an opportunity.”
