More Success Stories
My name is Amy Barkhouse and I am a young entrepreneur.
Good health is a passion of mine and, even as a student, I felt that there should other choices than pills and surgery to treat sickness and stay well. After grade 10, I lived in Quebec for many years, as a student at a CGEP community college and later as a science student at Concordia University. Montreal is an exciting, multicultural city with a large Chinese population. It was quite a change from small town Nova Scotia. Specialists in acupuncture and other alternatives to western medicine were commonplace. I began studying acupressure and continued my training in alternative healing techniques when I returned to Nova Scotia.
I realized that conforming to a set work schedule and having little responsibility or input into my career was not the path I wanted to take. I wanted to spread my wings and create my own business. With the help of the Acadia Centre for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ACSBE) in Bridgewater and some hard work, my dream came true. I am now the proud owner of Amy’s Healing Touch Wholistic Health and Wellness.
In my business as a traditional Chinese acupressure massage therapist and addiction detoxification specialist, I have the satisfaction of helping people with physical problems. At the same time, I have the freedom to control all aspects of my business; schedule, income, and future business growth.
I have found my choice to be a small business owner very rewarding and would recommend it as a viable option for any young person with the drive, ambition, and creativity to make it happen.
Story and photo: Courtesy Amy Barkhouse and ASCBE
Laura King likes to take things apart and put them back together. When in school, she spent much of her spare time helping her family and friends work on their cars. She left school at a young age and, a few years later, realized the first step to the life she wanted was to complete an adult high school program.
While she was deciding about her future, Laura filled out interest questionnaires and, the results suggested a career in the skilled trades. This made sense to her. She identified that she had practical, hands-on experience with cars and good problem-solving skills. After graduating with her high school diploma, she completed a certificate in Motor Vehicle Repair at Nova Scotia Community College and is now a third-year Automotive Service Technician apprentice.
Apprenticeship suits Laura. She likes the hands-on, practical learning and appreciates the support of a mentor who is willing to share his experience and expertise. “Carl retains so much knowledge, it’s amazing. He’s always willing to help me.” If she had been able to explore this trade in high school, she believes that she would have stayed until she graduated and by now, would have been working as a technician for several years.
That’s why she volunteers to get the message out to young people about careers in the trades. “I want to open people’s minds, especially for women but also for men, that this is a thriving career and is getting much more technical.”
She tells other young women who are thinking about apprenticeship, “Go for it if you want to do it. Don’t let anything stop you.” When she completes her apprenticeship, Laura plans to open her own shop and train apprentices in her turn.
Lillian Lake
Living in British Columbia in the 1980’s, Lillian never had to worry about getting a job and earning more than enough money to live comfortably; the economy was strong and there was a lot of opportunity in the labour and service industries. Not having her high school diploma did not affect her overmuch, at least financially. If a person was willing to work hard, there was even the prospect of snagging a ‘higher’ end job such as the community support work she began to work at in the early 1990’s. She loved this job and could see herself making this her career.
The decision Lillian and her husband made in 1996 to move their family to rural Nova Scotia changed their lifestyle drastically. Due to changing legislation, she had no qualifications to be employed in the human service work she had grown to love. For the next six years, she worked at being a mother and supplemented the household income with retail and summer labour jobs.
However, she missed human service work. This motivated her to return to school to get her high school diploma. Once she had her diploma, she enrolled in the school of Health and Human Services at Nova Scotia Community College. She graduated in 2005 with a diploma in Interdisciplinary Studies. That same fall, she returned to the NSCC Truro Campus to coordinate the newly piloted ‘Writing and Academic Support Centre.’
Coordinating the delivery of writing skills and academic support services allows Lillian to use the skills and abilities she acquired as a student. She has a keen understanding of the issues and challenges faced by many students, having so recently been in that role herself. “It helps students to see a past student in a staff role here at the college. It develops rapport and gives them a hope for their future; my tangibility helps them to see a timeline of their educational journey.”
Lillian sees her educational journey as something that has affected her whole family. “My children have been inspired by my return to education. They can clearly see the importance of my return to learning. My whole family is proud of me. That in turn makes me proud of my accomplishment; I want other adults returning to education to see that anything is possible; a dream can become a goal and a goal can be obtained.”
It’s never too late to follow your dream! Linda left school in 1969, after completing Grade 11. She worked at various jobs in Nova Scotia before finally moving to Ontario, where she eventually taught English as a Second Language. After moving back to Nova Scotia two years ago, Linda found that without a high school diploma she was unemployable. Although she had years of experience, without grade 12, many employers wouldn’t even take her application. A counselor at CareerWorks suggested she finish high school through the Adult Learning Program. Around the same time, Linda rediscovered drawing, a passion she left behind when she stopped being a student thirty-five years ago.
In 2004, Linda decided to finish high school through the Nova Scotia School for Adult Learning. At first it was a little intimidating. She didn’t even know how to write a Science Lab report. But she quickly learned how to use and apply her research and writing skills and was the top student of her graduating class. While developing academic skills, her artistic career was beginning to bear fruit. She has had six shows and sold several drawings, two of which hang in a Senate office in Ottawa. Her teachers were supportive and encouraged her to consider a career direction that would allow her to use and develop her talent. Fascinated by a Community College Test Drive, she enrolled in the diploma program in Digital Animation. With just over a year to go in her program, she is considering career opportunities in Europe and across North America.
Jason Googoo
Jason was just three credits shy of a university degree in sociology when he realized this was not what he wanted to do. He decided to experiment and take some courses that interested him personally.
Two of those courses were computer programming and GIS (Geographic Information Systems). He decided to enroll in a course at Nova Scotia Community College’s Centre of Geographics Sciences (COGS). He was advised “The programs are really hard, but you might really enjoy it because you seem to be a natural.”
“I never really enjoyed school until I went to COGS,” Jason said, “I hated to leave because I loved learning the new technologies all the time.” Jason rocketed into the top percentage of his class and got hired at Dymaxion Research Limited the same month he graduated. “I got hired one hour into the interview.”
Today Jason has found another thing he loves, working for his community. “Membertou called me up and said they were starting a GIS company and would I be interested in managing it. I said yes!”
“I’ve got a dream job. I’m very fortunate,” he says. “I found something I wanted to do for a career and I’m working with my community, which is a bonus.”
story and photo courtesy NSCC |
