One of Centennial College’s commitments is to serve the community, both locally and globally. If helping people in need sounds like the career for you, then Centennial College’s Community and Justice Services (CJS) program can help you make it happen. There’s a few careers you can get from the program (including becoming a corrections officer, which we talk more about here), but they all involve helping and advocating for those who are at risk, or involved with the criminal justice system. And we work to connect you to those careers, though practical learning, field placements, and direct help from the program’s professors. Just ask Brenda Boatang and Akash Sharma, two recent graduates from the Community and Justice Services program. In fact, we’ll ask them for you.
What motivated you to get into Community and Justice Services, and come to Centennial College?
Brenda comes from Ghana, where she earned a university degree in social work. She then travel abroad, getting a master’s in Business Administration in Cyprus, before heading back home.
“When I relocated back to Ghana, I was doing banking,” she says. “I couldn't find anything in the social work field, so I had to move to Business Administration. After some time, I came to the realization that while I was excelling in banking, banking was not for me.”
“Though you get the profits, get the numbers, get to your figures, you feel something within you, as if you've not accomplished anything,” she says. “I wasn't getting that satisfaction. Prior to that, when I was doing national service at the Ministry of Children in Ghana, when I was doing my social work, I felt that satisfaction.” She’d visit Canada in 2019, taking a short course in leadership, and decide to come there for her education.
Like Brenda, Akash had prior education, and joined the CJS program to move into a new field.
“This was my second time taking a course at Centennial,” Akash says, “as I took Culinary Arts back in 2018. This time, I was not sure what program I should take to pursue my dreams and goals. So, I took advice from Mede [Ovbiagele, Program Advisor for Community and Justice Services]. He’s been helpful since day one, and helped me get into the CJS program, which was life-changing.”
How did the program make you ready for your career?
“I always wanted to serve the community and be a first responder,” Akash says. “This program gave me the basic knowledge of criminal justice in Canada, and helped me to chase my dreams and goals.”
“I love everything about program,” Akash adds, “Especially the professors, Trish, Officer Joel, Brandon, etc. They’ve been very supportive since day one, and welcomed everyone.”
“It's hands-on practical,” Brenda says about her time in the program. “Whatever you’re doing in class, you're literally doing it in the field. And I know now, because I'm now a Probation Officer.” But more on that later.
“The way the program is structured,” she adds, “even if you don't know what you want to do, you go for field placements, you have a chance to tour different locations or facilities where community and justice service students work.”
“We had tours in our second year, getting the opportunity to visit Detention Centers,” Akash says. “Officer Joel [Gardiner] was able to manage the tours despite having so many hurdles, and I will always be thankful to him, as becoming a correctional officer is one of my goals.”
“My favourite part of the program was getting an opportunity to do my co-op at Toronto South Detention Centre,” he says. “This happened because of Professor Trish, who worked hard for us to get in. She used to email back and forth even after her working hours just to make sure we got the placement as we requested of her.”
“I wouldn't be able to pinpoint even one or two things,” Brenda says, when asked what’s helped her the most since she’s graduated, “because everything that I learned in class has really helped me a lot, every day, from the first day in class, when I learned how to use 211.ca to access resources in the community. I learned security skills in my first year, and I'm still using those things in my field. Confidentiality in counseling, too. Everything that I've learned, all of it is useful.”
“My most useful thing I learned is the basic knowledge of how the criminal justice system works in Canada,” Akash says. “Coming from a different country and not knowing anything about how laws work in Canada, this program gave me the knowledge of the Canadian justice system.”
Going from Classes to Community Justice Careers
The goal of the program is to connect you to careers in Community and Justice Services, and in Brenda’s case, this happened before she was even done her program, and it was all thanks to the efforts of her instructors.
“It was Chris Pimento’s class, Counselling Skills,” Brenda explains. “Before he lectures in every section, he shows us jobs that are hiring. So, he brought up the Ontario Public Service website, and showed us that they were hiring summer students as probation officer assistants. After class, I met with him, and said, ‘what you showed us in class? How do I get to that?’”
Her teachers helped her with the job application process, her resume, and interviews. She got the job in the first semester of her second year, and put together a schedule that worked with her class schedule, thanks to discussing it with her program coordinator, and teachers.
“They've been very supportive,” she says. “Within a few minutes, they reply to my emails with every support that I need.”
How to succeed, in their own words
“Be respectful to whoever you meet,” Brenda says. “Whatever you do in class, professors are looking at it. When you need references, that's when they would say, ‘I will give my reference’. So, have a positive attitude in any environment, or wherever you network. Because you don't know where you’ll meet that person next.”
“I was a summer student,” Brenda says as an example. “At the office, I sat in front of the reception, and when people came into the office, like youth or community agency partners, I opened the door for them. Today, I met one of the community agency partners and one of my colleagues asked, ‘You remember Brenda?’ Then he goes, yeah, she was the girl at reception. And my colleague goes, now she's a probation officer! In just a few months, things had changed. So, the person that you might see today could be on top the next time.”
“I would just say take it one step at a time,” Akash says, “and do not worry much about the future. Be punctual, and everything will fall into place, if one works hard.”
By Anthony Geremia