TORONTO, Ont. – Humber College’s Transportation Training Centre turned 25 this weekend and the school celebrated by doing what they do best – connecting students and employers to keep the transportation industry moving.

On Saturday, October 3, Humber hosted a career fair that saw 20 of its employer partners (who offer jobs to students who graduate the program) speak to dozens of students who attended and the public about career opportunities within the transportation industry. There was also a free BBQ lunch for attendees and a raffle for various prize packs. 

“Often the employer partners you see here today, will make offers of employment to our students prior to graduation, so they’ll make conditional offers,” explained Karen Tavener, director of education and training. “Because if you speak to the employers here, they will tell you there are distinct differences between students who apply from other training schools and students that Humber produces. And that’s really how we’ve survived in this industry for 25 years. In my opinion we have the best training school in the world. We have 2015 tractors and 2016 trailers. And the trainers are all highly certified and highly qualified for what they do.”

To promote the program even further, Humber raffled off two courses for patrons who attended the anniversary and career fair. One for a free truck course (valued at $1500) and one for a free motorcycle course (valued at $555).

Rick Mikula, program liaison officer at Humber said he hoped the day brought employers and people who are looking for a career change together.

“Today is a way for employers to reach out to our graduates and our graduates to reach out them and hopefully we’re making positive connections,” he said. “My hope is that our employer partners find drivers to fill the truck seats and our graduates find a new employer to work for and Humber finds new people to train to keep the cycle going. That’s why these sorts of things are open to the general public. We want people to come by and find out what a rewarding career you can have in the trucking industry. There’s some stigmas attached to trucking and they go back a long, long way but that has changed and the industry is very professional now.”

The president and CEO of Humber, Dr. Chris Whittaker, also attended the milestone event and congratulated the program for its success.

“I hope we continue and have another 25 years of meeting the needs of the transportation sector,” he said. “We know the economy had tough times for the last number of years, and it’s good we’re seeing some signs of revival but the transportation sector is absolutely vital to the North American and Canadian economy.”

Overall, Mikula said he was pleased with the turnout of the event and said he hopes the program continues to thrive.