NEWS RELEASE
PROGRESSIVE TRAINING COLLEGE OF BUSINESS & HEALTH
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Progressive Training College of Business & Health will present PT College 20th Anniversary Open House Celebration, taking place at 136 Bayfield St., Suite 106, in Barrie on April 25 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Members of our community will have the opportunity to tour the campus, learn about and register for our programs, receive job search tips, and enjoy some refreshments.
PTC alumni will get $250 if they bring a family member or friend who enrolls in a program.* Guests who attend and enter our raffle will have the chance to win an Amazon Echo Dot or a $500 bursary to select programs if they register that day.**
This event is free and open to the public. RSVP is not necessary but can be done at the event’s Facebook page.
Anthony DeMartines, Founder of Progressive Training College of Business & Health, reflects upon PT College’s humble beginnings: “My training is as that of a vocational rehabilitation counselor. I have worked with individuals that may have had an accident or some other cognitive or physical impairment that prevented them from returning to work. In my early years on the job, I was frustrated with the lack of services that were available to clients who originally chose direct entry to the workforce versus an academic route.
One of my first clients was a middle-aged man with limited education and English skills. A further impairment he had was a significant physical disability that prevented him from returning to physically-heavy, labourious work. After a formal assessment, we also discovered that this individual had very poor math skills. Despite these challenges, he had a very good sense of humor and positive demeanor, making him an ideal client for a job in customer service.
Unfortunately, in these early days, there were no academic services that provided my clients with the essential skills that they needed to re-enter the workforce quickly. Institutions were uncomfortable teaching across grade levels to the skills that were defined by a specific occupation. Therefore, I hired a teacher and instructed her to teach to the essential skills profile as provided by the Government of Canada for a customer service clerk.
We needed to invent the curriculum and service delivery methods that were appropriate for this specific client. I'm happy to recount that after about eight months of training, we were able to find this individual an appropriate job!
As the school grew, we introduced programs with a standardized curriculum that was appropriate for students from specific backgrounds. For example, our Automotive Service Advisor Diploma Program has always been a popular choice for students who had previously worked in mechanical, truck driving or other automotive related occupations.
We then started introducing programs to meet local labour market needs, such as our Dispatcher Diploma Program and our Accounting & Office Administration Diploma program.
I am most proud of the fact that at the core of all of our programs is our job search training instruction. All students at Progressive Training College are taught how to look for work. It has always been my opinion, that the best education in the world will not land the job but proper job search techniques will take any individual to the top of the interview list.
However, our Essential Skills Training, Computer Training, Academic Upgrading and English as a Second Language still remain the most popular programs at PT College.
Although much has changed at Progressive Training College over the last 20 years, our main principle remains the same. We work to assist our students in returning to work by providing them with the essential skills that are required for a specific job. At PTC, we are not just a school, all of our staff are Vocational Counsellors that are here to assist students to get a job!”
Progressive Training College of Business & Health is an accredited Private Career College with campuses in North York, Scarborough, Barrie, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay.
* Conditions apply
** Conditions apply
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