News Article

“I don’t like small cars – I don’t like playing with dinkies, but transports and dump trucks – that always interested me.”
 
From the time he was a seven-year-old Ian Jacobs, 35, of West Port on the Baie Verte Peninsula, could be found at his father’s side tinkering with vehicles.
 
“I always liked mechanics. Growing up, Dad was always the town mechanic, a backyard mechanic, so I was pretty much with him all of the time. Dad worked on everything, from cars right up to excavators, but I always went right for the heavy equipment side of it.”
 
As an adult, Ian took a job in the residential construction industry. And while he did enjoy the work he was doing, after he put down his saw and hammer, he found he was still picking up wrenches and ratchets.
 
“Even though I was in construction I was still doing work on vehicles. Construction just wasn’t for me – I still love to do it and I can do cabinetry and everything but it’s just not what I wanted to do, it was not the way I wanted to go. I even got into air conditioning for a year, refrigeration and air conditioning … but I didn’t really fussy that too much.”
 
Ian decided to enroll in the Truck and Transport Mechanic program at College of the North Atlantic’s (CNA) Bay St. George campus.  He completed the first block of his training last year and found work at Transportation and Works in Springdale within a month of finishing the program.
 
“I actually had three job offers right after school. Transportation was the first one that called me and I accepted the job.”
 
Ian returned to the Bay St. George campus to complete his second block of training this summer. He says with this program, you really need to like getting your hands dirty and jokes that you’ll never get them clean.
 
“If anybody is getting into it the instructors are awesome, they’ll help you with whatever problems you got, they won’t leave you in the lurch trying to find the answers on your own,” he says, adding that you use all of the information you gain from the program when you start working.
 
“If you’re going get into the program try to get as much out of it as you can. Try to take advantage of everything because there were things that I thought I wouldn’t use after I graduated, but I soon found out that I needed all of it.”
 
Robert Walsh, 25, of Corner Brook completed the program in 2011.
 
“The Truck and Transport Mechanic program is a good choice to go into because no matter what goes on, your trucks have got to be moving, so it’s a good trade to get in to in general,” he says.
 
Like Ian, Robert was also interested in mechanics growing up, describing it as “picking at vehicles.”
 
“Pretty much at least once a month we would have to do something with one of our vehicles – you know brakes and that kind of stuff. We always tried to do our own work instead of bringing it to a garage so from there it just kept on progressing.”
 
He gave up a career as a plasterer to enroll in the program.
 
“I always wanted to do the mechanic side of it, but things don’t always work out when you want them too. But when you do have a chance to do it, jump on it and don’t stop. That’s the way I look at it.”
 
He researched a number of institutions before choosing CNA.
 
“I knew I wanted to go to College of the North Atlantic, but I also checked out other schools as well. College of the North Atlantic is about one of the best schools for getting your training nationwide.”
 
Robert found employment after graduation with A&H Trucking in Corner Brook and returned for his second block this summer.
 
“Well the first block just more or less teaches you the basics of the truck and transport trade and now in the second block you are getting more in depth in it and how things actually operate,” he says.
 
“At this rate when we get back to our work again, you are able to do a lot more on your own. You are not always being looked over as much, so every block you complete, the more progress you make in your trade.”
 
Robert is a big advocate of the college and tells anyone who will listen that if they are interested in all things mechanical, they should look to CNA.
 
“I tell everybody that if you’re going to go back to school and you’re interested in doing any mechanics at all, go for the Truck and Transport Mechanic program. (Instructor) Greg Cutler is one of the best instructors out here for this stuff. He could take a greenhorn and by the time he’s finished here in June you will pretty well know the basics for how everything works and he’ll sit down with you and he’ll teach you until you learn it and understand it,” Robert says. “If takes a bit of extra time he’ll sit down with you and make sure you know it before you move on.”
 
For more information about the Truck and Transport Mechanic program visit CNA’s website at www.cna.nl.ca.
 
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Media Contact:
 
Glenda McCarthy
Public Relations Assistant
College of the North Atlantic
709.643.6408
glenda.mccarthy@cna.nl.ca