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You have a plan. You'll attend CEGEP, maybe study sociology or psychology. Then, you'll work toward a university degree that can lead you to a professional career.

But what if you decide in the course of your studies that your heart's real desire lies in working with your hands, perhaps as a mechanic, a draftsman or a cabinetmaker?

Marzia Michielli, director of the Rosemount Technology Centre, one of the largest English-language technical-vocational schools in Quebec, sees many students who opt onto an academic track after high school before deciding they'd really like to do vocational studies instead.

"We had a medical doctor who enrolled in the automated systems and electromechanics program here," Michielli said. "He had become a doctor in his own country, India, but had done it for his parents. He had always wanted to work with his hands. His is an extreme case, but it happens."

Alessandro Garofalo, who is studying cabinet finishing at Rosemount Technology Centre, completed a bachelor of arts in classics and philosophy at McGill University before deciding he wanted a vocational career.

Along with four other Rosemount Tech students, he described this week why he moved from an academic path to a vocational one.

"I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do," he said. "I applied to law school under pressure from my parents. I didn't get in and I didn't make it into the education program, either."

As a child, Garofalo had helped his dad, an electrician.

"I'd open walls and I'd be working with wood," he recalled. "And I loved working with wood. I had always thought I would do woodworking as a hobby."

But when law school and an education degree failed to pan out, Garofalo, 22, saw an opportunity to explore a line of work he already knew he loved. He registered in a cabinet refinishing program and plans to study cabinetmaking once he's completed the program.

Susan Hamilton, who holds a bachelor's degree in sociology, is also studying cabinetmaking.

"I didn't enjoy my university studies, but I stuck with it because I come from an academic family that expected me to get a degree," she said. "And I figured if I didn't go to university, I'd never find a job."

After completing her studies at Concordia, Hamilton worked for awhile in a community organization.

She read about Rosemount Tech's cabinetmaking program after returning to Concordia to study French for a year. Having also had a career in the past as an aerobics instructor, Hamilton realized she needed to do work that would be physical and intellectually challenging at the same time. Cabinet-making answered both of those needs.

"I never would have considered a trade before because I thought it was something less," she said. "But it isn't. There are people in my class with engineering degrees."

Fabio Miniaci, 21, says he enrolled in social sciences in CEGEP because he had no idea what he wanted to do for a living.

"You leave high school and people are pressuring you to go to school," he said. "But I'm very hands on."

After two semesters in the academic stream, he moved into the digital computer systems program.

"But it wasn't for me," he said.

So Miniaci left CEGEP in 2002 to study electrical cabling for the aerospace industry at a trade school. It led to a job at Bombardier. He was subsequently laid off when the industry went into decline.

Then, he opted to study automated systems and electromechanics at Rosemount.

"It's hands on, unlike the academic life, which is too theoretical," he said.

Daniel Takhee, 24, who's studying industrial drafting, decided he was not suited to academic studies after studying social sciences in CEGEP and independent studies at Concordia.

"I always liked to draw but didn't think I could make a living from it," he said, adding that his current course of study will enable him to engage his love of drawing.

"You have to determine what you like to do best," he said. "There has to be a point in what you do."

By: STEPHANIE WHITTAKER
Photo by PHIL CARPENTER

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