The Rural Voice, 1983-07, Page 12PART 1
Ag. grads
Where do they go? What do they do?
by Alice Gibb
Centralia College of Agricultural Tech-
nology, located in Huron Park, and more
often known as CCAT, seems to run in
families.
When Joe Vink of R.R. 1, Kirkton,
received his graduation diploma this
spring, CCAT set a record of sorts. Joe
was the fifth member of his family to
study at CCAT and while the school has
often attracted siblings. this is the first
time one family has proved so loyal.
Doreen, 23, Joe's older sister, is a 1979
agricultural business management grad-
uate of the school. She followed in the
footsteps, if not the program, of threee
older sisters who took consumer and
community studies at the college.
Today Doreen is dairy herdsperson on
father Theo's farm, milking 86 cows in a
double six herringbone milking parlor.
The 550 -acre farm involves several family
members, but the cows are Doreen's
special responsibility - she ensures they
get bred, checks on herd health and
oversees calving.
Bruce Morris, 22, of R.R. 1, Fullerton,
is another CCAT graduate who followed
in an older brother's footsteps, returning
home to a family dairy operation.
"My older brother (Don) had gone to
Centralia and since I had kind of decided
I was going to farm. I wanted to go to an
agricultural school," Bruce explains.
Centralia was his first choice because its
location nearby meant he could come
home weekends to lend a hand on the
farm.
While Bruce toyed with the idea of
taking a four-year degree at OAC in
Guelph, "I just didn't have the time, I
didn't think," he says now.
In the two years since graduating,
Bruce has married a fellow student.
moved onto the home farm when his
parents relocated down the road and
become a futltime farmer.
The Morrises milk 45 Holsteins, have a
Doreen Vink, at her lather's farm at R.R. 1, Kirkton: "Going to Centralia was one of
the best things I've done. I needed to grow and become independent."
PG. 10 THE RURAL VOICE, JULY 1983
12 -sow farrow -to -finish operation and
crop about 300 acres, with some of the
land cut by the meandering Thames
River.
Julie Morris met her future husband
while she was a CCAT student, but in the
college's food services managaement
course. rather than an agricultural prog-
gram.
The former Julie Woodhouse, she grew
up on a Meaford-area dairy farm and is
now back working at CCAT as a
technician in the food services program.
After graduating with a food services
supervisor's diploma, Julie worked at
Brampton's Peel Memorial Hospital, first
in the food preparation area, where she
checked trays and supervised inventory
and then writing diets for patients with
special nutritional needs.
Although she didn't choose Centralia
because of its agricultural specialty,
when she arrived at the college, "I
couldn't believe the fever for farming"
she found among fellow students.
Marrying a farmer wasn't exactly
planned either - "it was the biggest shock
to my father - and to myself too!" she
adds with a smile. But now she finds
helping with farm chores a refreshing
change from her off -the -farm job.
Besides, she says, "I've certainly got a
real education around here."
While the three graduates all value
CCAT's career training, they found an
equally valuable experience was the
first-time experience of living away from
home.
Although it's hard to believe of the
much -travelled Doreen today, she says
she was extremely shy in her high school
years. After Grade 12, she forced herself
to enroll at the college as a resident
student, although she lived within easy
commuting distance of the school.
Her experience was a baptism by fire.
While she was one of six girls who
enrolled in the agricultural management
course, once largely a male preserve,
when the class was split alphabetically
she found herself the only woman in her
half of the class.
Looking back, she says, "Going to
Centralia was one of the best things I've
done. I needed to grow and become
independent."
That independence was later put to the