Why We Do What We Do

Written by Christina Raisbeck Thursday, 22 April 2010 10:00

Those of us who have worked in education and post-secondary all know that we’re not here for the money…Or the perks…Or the glamour…And while SAIT is a great place to work (one of Alberta’s 50 best) we actually do it because we love to support learning.

The “business” of learning is a reality. As philanthropic as we’d like education to be, we are a publicly funded institution that needs to be responsible with our bottom line. However, we are reminded daily of why we do what we do.

Case in point—the call I took from Ben Martin back in November. (I’m the main point of contact for Global Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Training’s Client Services for Power Engineering.)

Ben is an Alberta Second Class Power Engineer who volunteers at The Mustard Seed in Calgary. The Seed is a non-profit Christian humanitarian organization that responds to the needs of the inner city's less fortunate.

Ben’s a SAIT alumnus who took his Fourth and Third-class Power Engineering training at SAIT more than 30 years ago. He says that his experience with our self-study training program gave him the discipline and foundation to pursue further post-secondary education and a direction in his life’s work. Ben contacted us to find out how we could help him help clients at The Seed get Fifth Class Engineering Power Engineering training that will lead them to gainful employment and open doors for further education. Ben wanted to give back to those in need in the community and reached out to SAIT to realize his vision.

I took the inquiry to our unit’s manager Mauricio and together we agreed that this project required our attention and action. SAIT decided to give back, too.

So, here we are in April. We’ve got eight men and one woman selected by The Seed enrolled in our Power Engineering Fifth Class self-study program. SAIT is funding the cost of tuition for the learner group and is also providing tutoring and marking services for assignments and exams. Ben is volunteering his time as a mentor to support the group’s learning over the 52-week program.

We’ve helped “plant the seed” of recovery for some brave and deserving members of our community. We feel great about empowering them through learning and look forward to reporting on this group’s graduation in early 2011.