town profiles
City of Medicine Hat
◗ Population (2016): 63,260 ◗ Land Area: 112.04 km2 ◗ Major Industries: Service Industry, Oil and Gas ◗ Largest Employer: Medicine Hat Regional Hospital ◗ Mayor: Ted Clugston ◗ Incorporated: 1906
◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Saamis Teepee, Canalta Centre, Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre, Medicine Hat Clay Industries National Heritage District
◗ Motto: “Sunshine State of Mind” Redcliff
◗ Population (2016): 5,600 ◗ Land Area: 16.25 km2 ◗ Major Industries: Greenhouses ◗ Largest Employer: Red Hat Co-op ◗ Mayor: Ernie Reimer ◗ Incorporated: 1912
◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Redcliff Museum, River Valley Park, Riverview Golf Club
◗ Motto: “Greenhouse Capital of the Prairies” Cypress County
◗ Population (2016): 7,662 ◗ Land Area: 13,173.25 km2 ◗ Major Industries: Agriculture, Oil and Gas, Tourism ◗ Largest Employer: CFB-DRDC Suffield ◗ Reeve: Darcy Geigle ◗ Incorporated: 1985
◗ Major Tourist Attractions: Elkwater-Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Cavan Lake
18
Logyn Jacksteit enrolled in the Education Program at Medicine Hat College. After working as an auto mechanic and in the oil patch, he decided to take a new career path and become a teacher.
Back to Medicine Hat College
in an economic downturn T
TIM KALINOWSKI
here is a time in everyone’s life when the path forks. You may head one way, making the best choice possible at the time with the information you have. But, in the back of your
mind, you always wonder: What if I had gone the other way? For many the path forks only once, for others it forks several times; and sometimes, just sometimes, you get a chance to push reset. Such is the case for two mature students attending Medicine Hat College this year, Logyn Jacksteit and Odessa Purves.
For LPN program student Purves, the decision to return to college was a frightening one, but also a tremendous opportunity to create a better future for herself and her kids.
“I was working minimum wage retail after my marriage ended,” she remembers. “I had three kids and I hadn’t had a job in six years. I was stay-at-home mom. I couldn’t pay my bills. I was just paying for childcare. I used to walk home with only $20 extra a week, and I thought this can’t be it— this can’t be what life is all about.”
Purves had a much longer climb toward success than most who come to the college. Besides the financial and personal difficulties she faced, she also had to face the challenge of additional upgrading.
“I was assessed to be at a Grade 9 level,” recalls Purves. “So I started in Grade 9 in 2013, and then I did all my upgrading and entered my LPN course in 2015. It was tough going into Grade 9, walking up to that room being the oldest one there with the most kids... It was, for me, embarrassing. Then once I started going through everything, it was empowering. You start over and you’re like: I got this. I am beating all the high school kids!”
Purves’ experience is more common than you might think among prospective students, says Andrea Aarden, a career adviser with MHC, so it’s all about managing expectations.
“They are overwhelmed. And really unsure. They are at a crossroads, and some people have the expectation that we’ll be able to sort it out in an hour meeting and they’ll know exactly what to do. And that is very rarely true. I think our greatest role is informing them about their options. To make them feel things are possible they didn’t believe were possible before.”
For MHC education student Logyn Jacksteit, on the other hand, the decision to return to school was not a difficult one. He had been out in the so-called “real world,” and knew it wasn’t all it is cracked up to be.
“General Motors paid for my schooling and I became an automotive mechanic,” explains Jacksteit. “I was in and out of that trade for seven years or so. I worked in a couple other places. I was in the oilfield for a couple of years. In 2015, I called ‘er quits and decided I wanted to be a teacher.”
He was sick of the grind, the living paycheque to paycheque, the uncertainties in the job market and the roller coaster ride of the automotive and oilfield industries.
Andrea Arden is a career advisor at Medicine Hat College.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
