Student adjusting to northern life

When the local campus of Confederation College celebrated a record full-time student enrolment of 102 students last week, campus director Anne Renaud enthused how the college was now attracting students from as far away as southern Ontario.
Chase Bevan is one such student.

Originally from Windsor, the 19-year-old is studying in the paramedic program here. He’s enjoying the community and school so far, though life in the north definitely is something different.
“People in the office know my name,” he smiled, referring to what he likes at the local campus. He added the small size was an adjustment at first—his elementary school had 800 students and his high school 1,200.
Adding to the transition is the challenge of filling his time away from the books.
“I kind of miss weekends with my friends. [There’s] not too much to do on the weekend up here,” he noted.
Nonetheless, Bevan enjoys the way everyone helps each other out at the college and in his classes.
“Everybody works together,” he remarked. “It’s kind of cool because there’s only like nine people in [my class].”
The schedule of seven classes a week lasting three-four hours each is keeping him busy.
After graduating from high school back home, Bevan headed to St. Clair College in Chatham, Ont. for nursing—an important step to achieving his final goal of working as a paramedic.
Indeed, the paramedic field is incredibly competitive. Currently, only 15 Ontario colleges offer a general paramedic course.
Often this means students will go to whatever college with the coveted course accepts them.
“Unless your grades out of high school are amazing, most likely you have to take pre-health [for one year] or in my case practical nursing [for two years], something in the health field,” Bevan explained.
For Bevan, the decision was an easy one.
While admitting he didn’t always have a plan for what he wanted to do, he has been working towards a paramedic career “as long as I’ve known what I wanted to be.”
His reasoning? “To help people,” Bevan said matter-of-factly.
He also has a head start in terms of patient care—another career-builder he’s undertaken.
In fact, Bevan revealed he already has a taste of the field. “I worked for a patient transfer service in Windsor,” he noted.
Though he arrived only in August, Bevan is adjusting well to a new school, new town, new place to live, and new people. On the flip side, however, the southern Ontario native isn’t entirely sure how he will adjust to his first northern winter.
“I don’t know,” he laughed when asked if he’s ready for the weather’s onslaught. “Hopefully my truck will start.”
For now, Bevan is content to complete his course here. And despite being aware he could get a job relatively easily in Northwestern Ontario, his hope is to return to his own community to work.
“I hope to work back home, but there’s more jobs up here,” he remarked.