CORNWALL, Ontario – The Ontario Emerging Jobs Institute (OEJI), Cornwall’s newest post-secondary institution launched on Monday, Jan. 14 with over 120 students.
Running out of the Nav Centre the students are all enrolled for free at the Institute and had their orientation Monday morning.
The students will be learning in one of four different educational streams: Agritech, Blended Learning, Business Skills and Digital Skills.
The agritech stream will focus on teaching efficiencies in agriculture in the face of growing demand on the world’s food supply, and challenges presented by climate change.
Business Skills will be geared to entrepreneurs of all sorts whether that be event planners or beer brewers.
Blended Learning will be offered both online and in person with students learning about artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cyber security and more. There are currently 23 students enrolled in the Blended Learning program.
The Digital Skills stream is being offered through Canada Learning Code and will focus on things like web design.
Mayor Bernadette Clement was at the welcoming ceremony for the new OEJI students and praised the institute for helping to grow Cornwall.
“I hear some of you are not from Cornwall,” Clement said to the crowd. “We want you here. We want you to stay.”
Clement went on to say that she believed that OEJI will helping prepare Cornwall for the jobs of the future, saying that the future of labour was a discussion that recently came up in the Eastern Ontario Mayors Caucus.
“Every single municipality had this as an issue,” she said. “I was very proud knowing that I would be speaking at this event today.”
According to OEJI founder Kelly Bergeron, the motto of the organization is “We want you to own the future.”
One new OEJI student who is ready to own that future is Stevie Bonberry. Originally from Ohsweken, ON, Bonberry, who is from the Six Nations First Nation is a student in the Business Skills program at OEJI and wants to become her own boss as an event planner.
“I needed a change,” she said. “I’ve done so many jobs and have ended up in charge a lot of the time, so it is easier being your own boss.”
Bonberry moved herself, and her two young sons to Cornwall to take part in the program.
