Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - May 2009 - Index

CAREERS CAREERS START
@ @ Centennial Centennial College
College
Nisha Gaind is fond of
keeping her options
open and not closing
doors to opportunity. It’s not a
bad philosophy to adopt in
these uncertain times when the
economy is teetering on the brink
of meltdown.
Even as a young college
student – she is 19 years of age
– Gaind recognizes that career
paths rarely unfold in a straight
line; there are blind corners and
unexpected bumps in the road
that can displace you in a whole
new direction.
As a youngster dealing with
food allergies, Gaind took an
interest in food and nutrition,
so it wasn’t a big stretch for her
to consider a career in the
sciences. One of her teachers
had suggested she could become
a dietician, which sounded
like an appealing profession.
“I really wanted to get into
NARI MAVALWALLA /DESI NEWS
the sciences to become a
dietician, but I also felt I needed
to keep my options open and
take some business courses
while I was in high school,”
Gaind says of her early career
plans.
Like many in their senior
year in high school, she aspired
to apply to university and did
so, to Ryerson for food and
nutrition studies, and exercise
science/kinesiology at York
University.
Gaind wasn’t accepted in
either. Her setback forced her
to look introspectively and take
stock of her skills.
NISHA GAIND
WILL GRADUATE
FROM THE MARKETING
PROGRAM AT
CENTENNIAL COLLEGE
IN DECEMBER 2009
“I noticed that the sciences
weren’t exactly my biggest
strength,” she says bluntly,
acknowledging that for all her
enthusiasm, subjects such as
chemistry and biology aren’t
easy to master. She started
looking in an alternative direction.
Gaind thought back to the
two summers she spent working
at the headquarters of the
Salvation Army, doing data
entry in the public relations
department. She had gained an
understanding of just how
important marketing and
public relations can be even to
Student keeps her options open
a non-profit organization. She
remembered being fascinated
by the office.
“Because marketing is such
a broad field, I thought it would
offer different options for me.
I knew that later on I could probably
get into the food industry
with my marketing skills,” Gaind
says of her decision to pursue
a marketing program at college.
She applied to several Torontoarea
colleges and was accepted.
She chose Centennial College
because, quite simply, it was the
closest to her family’s Scarborough
home. But she didn’t sign
on the dotted line until she had
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spoken to others about their
experience at Ontario’s first
college.
“I had family members who
had gone to Centennial and
who told me they liked it,” she
recalls. Her parents, on the
other hand, were not thrilled
with her choice. They had
hoped their daughter would
have picked a more respected
profession, such as law, where
she would make lots of money
and enjoy some status in the
community.
Her parents’ lofty aspirations
for their children are not
uncommon.
As strangers in a new land
when they arrived here from
the Punjab region of India in
1974, they did not have an easy
go of it.
Father Bal went into real
estate when he realized his
Indian teacher’s diploma was
not recognized in Canada. He
has since made a name for him-
self in Toronto’s Little India
neighbourhood.
Her mother found work in a
nursing home in Canada, but
her career changed as the first
of their four children arrived
and she became a full-time
homemaker. There was a natural
inclination to see their children
do better.
“My parents were disappointed
to see my older sister
study early childhood education
at Centennial – they didn’t
understand what the profession
was about – but they have since
recognized that she’s been very
successful in her chosen pro-