Gushing grads can’t say enough about their college experience
For Giovanni Iannotta, graduating from Okanagan College on Saturday was the start of a new career path after many years in another field.
Iannotta graduated from the health care assistant program after working in the tile industry for 28 years.
“My family and I were in that industry for a long time, it came to an end and I decided I had to do something else,” he said.
“This particular profession made the most sense to me. I care about people and being empathetic is who I am, so it made sense to take care of seniors that need help.”
Going back to school after more than 20 years was definitely a challenge, said Iannotta
“I was a little intimidated by the idea of doing so, but it was an awesome experience,” he said.
“We are such a tight group of people with such varying ages and varying backgrounds and we all got along beautifully.”
Iannotta is already working at two care facilities in Kelowna and credits his teachers as making the program as successful as it was.
“I would recommend Okanagan College above all schools,” he said.
Natasha Dueck also graduated from the health care assistant program, and agreed the teachers were top notch.
“You can tell the instructors pour their hearts into it,” she said.
“They actually care that you feel confident and have a good experience.”
Liam Bernardin graduated from the mechanical engineering program, and will be moving on to get his full degree at UBC Okanagan.
“It was a grind,” he said of the OC program. “It was lots of hard work, but it will pay off.”
Saturday’s convocation was the first of Okanagan College’s seven ceremonies taking place this year.
On Saturday, the college conferred 60 bachelor’s degrees, 17 associate degrees, 191 diplomas and 101 certificates from 36 programs, including arts, business, computer science, engineering technologies and practical nursing.