Success Stories

Growing up in the suburbs of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Kamaj Silva was not unlike a lot of North American boys with an insatiable appetite for comic books and superheroes.

Sanghmitra Kamble was struck by the similarities between the scenes of Cusco, Peru and her native Mumbai, India.

What did you do for spring break? A group of 31 students from Centennial College’s unique Sports Journalism program spent their week completing their assignments – in sunny Tampa, Florida, covering baseball spring training and NCAA golf and tennis.

Ask Carlos Benevides what led him to a career in radio and he’ll tell you it was the path he was always supposed to be on. By studying Broadcasting and Film at Centennial College, Benevides, now the morning show host at Kitchener’s 91.5 The Beat, was able to pursue his true calling.

International student Marcela Bagarollo has found many reasons to adore Canada, but one of the most improbable might very well be our changeable climate.

Who says magazine publishing is on the rocks? Graduating students of Centennial’s unique Journalism program, delivered jointly with the University of Toronto Scarborough, conceived and launched four new Toronto-focused magazines in December.

With the new year just underway, it's an opportune time to look back at the year that has just passed and recount our many successes at Centennial College.

There were days when Siddhartha Jhala would stand in front of a Tim Horton’s counter trying to decide between spending his pocket change on a doughnut or a small coffee, because he couldn’t afford both.

Growing up in the Caribbean during the tumultuous 1960s and ‘70s, Centennial College professor Chet Singh witnessed a lot of political and economic strife – social justice issues he would later draw attention to as a dub poet and recording artist.

Growing up in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Farzana Shammi had always felt she was a little different from everyone else. She harboured a desire to chase an uncommon dream.

Nine months before London, England, hosts the world at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, another international competition concluded in the British capital with Team Canada distinguishing itself with a fine performance that included a medal win by Centennial College graduate Ryan Gomes.

No one looks forward to the prospect of being unemployed. Just ask Catalin Mocanu, who has been laid off more than once by a smokestack industry grappling with a turbulent economic climate.

Catching up with Karan Warraich, President of the Centennial College Student Association Inc. (CCSAI).

It took an eye-opening trip to the Dominican Republic for Beenish Urooj to truly feel Canadian.

Suman Roy watched his mother prepare sumptuous meals in their Kolkata, India, home for years, and it wasn’t long before he picked up the utensils and started cooking himself. After all, he was learning at the stove of a great authority.

When Franklyn Emmons immigrated to Canada he had the work experience but needed the credentials to restart his career in his new country

It’s no surprise skilled magician Bryan Abichandani has a natural affinity for his marketing studies at Centennial College. The art of persuasion and sleight of hand are two skills that seem to be common to both professions.

Aviation Technician graduate Ryan Gomes knows what it’s like to be branded the best.

Each year an invitation goes out to Ontario’s 24 public colleges to nominate their very best graduates doing exceptional work in their chosen field or profession. Only six are chosen to receive a Premier’s Award.

Centennial College Professional Pilot student James Pouget has been crowned the top amateur pilot in Canada after winning the 2010 Webster Memorial Trophy Competition in Calgary recently.

Selected as a G20 Summit Young Ambassador for the City of Toronto's "My Summit" events, Centennial College graduate Raghavi Sundaranarayanan played host to 250 youth delegates from around the world in a conference that closely paralleled the headline event.

Education marketers tell us Canada is involved in a four-way battle for international students along with Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States - and the good news is Canada may be gaining the upper hand.

Thanks to strong enrolment growth and cost control, Centennial College ended its fiscal year with a budget surplus of $10.8 million - a welcome result that has kick-started some exciting expansion plans by Ontario's first public college.

Harsandesh Arora was supposed to be a lawyer in his native India, with all the privileges and responsibilities that the profession brings with it. But in 2007 he had a change of heart and left his homeland with his wife to start a new life in Canada.

Centennial's Paramedic program is one of the oldest and best in the province. The college recently added a joint-degree program with the University of Toronto, which immerses students in the profession for two action-packed years. It's the only Paramedicine BSc. degree in Canada.

Centennial College professor Dr. Joseph B. Glass is the first Canadian scholar to win a prestigious international award from the Ottoman Bank Archives and Research Centre.

If Naresh Lalman has one regret about his precious time holding the Olympic Torch, it's that he jogged the entire 300 metres, completing the allotted distance in an all-too-short two minutes.

Given his excellent education, it would not be a stretch to say Vishal could look forward to being warmly received by any university anywhere in the world. So why would he choose to go to Centennial College in Canada?

Like so many recent immigrants arriving in a strange new land, Himani Shah resigned herself to toiling in a factory, exchanging her labour for some meagre wages.

Dr. Charanjit Bambra is excited about a future where life-preserving drugs are developed using logarithms and supercomputers, rather than Petri dishes and lab mice.

Growing up in a tough Toronto neighbourhood, Kwesi Johnson's sense of community responsibility was seeded when he was 12 years old. That's when he met a youth worker who would often shoot hoops with the kids on the playground, all the while talking about respect and avoiding the lure of joining a gang.

Choosing to sacrifice some summer fun for an educational future, 147 local youth joined Centennial's award-winning HYPE (Helping Youth Pursue Education) program.

It’s only fun and games, but as an industry, electronic gaming is currently worth more than $30 billion. Centennial’s Interactive Gaming program prepares students to work as software developers in this fascinating field.

Good fortune had a hand in giving a very young Shannon Boodram her first camera, which in turn fueled her interest in visual arts and, eventually, journalism.

Crayons and paper can amount to a lot more than a simple pastime. Nadia D’Lima uses art therapy to help children with autism break out of their isolation and form relationships with others.

Centennial's new one-year Advertising Media Management program is the first of its kind designed to create specialists in strategic media planning and buying.

Parampal Singh Bagga liked what he heard during a guest seminar at Amravati University in India, where he was studying his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree a few years ago.

When Centennial College student Breda Cormack moved to Spain last February, she wasn’t quite prepared for the transition to life in Europe.

It’s a problem a lot of youth finishing high school would love to have.

"I was making more money than I knew what to do with," recalls Mohammed Ahmed,

University is great, but it doesn't always result in a great career. More and more graduates are finding success by going to college after university to gain some marketable skills. Shilpa Kotecha tells her story.

If the sight of a company president in his pinstriped suit deftly parking an 18-wheeler seems out of the ordinary, you don’t know Chris Rowland and the lengths he’ll go to deliver customer satisfaction.

Canada’s reputation as a land of boundless opportunity for new immigrants has been tarnished by stories of talented doctors and engineers driving cabs and working as security guards.

In a unique education project between the Tianjin Rural Cooperative Bank (TRCB) and Centennial College, 11 young Chinese bankers got a first-hand look at Canadian banking practices, which included three weeks of job shadowing at CIBC.