Toronto, Ontario — On Tuesday, July 21, Toronto-based Tropicana Community Services held its Program Advisory Committee meeting to inform members of the industry that its current graduating class is ready to accept their apprenticeships placements.
During the meeting, members of the Program Advisory Committee, including Wayne Faria of Don Valley Toyota, Daryll O’Keefe of Fix Auto, Steven Glace of 3M, Carl Mohammed of Assured Automotive, Saad Ouaddahou of AkzoNobel and Michael George of AkzoNobel took a virtual tour of the Centennial College bodyshop. The tour showed the students working in the recovery lab Body Frame and Structure class, where they were divided into four groups to work on a project to construct and design non-structural panel repair fundamentals, metal finishing, bumpers, abrasives, and fillers.
Despite the many challenges presently facing the industry, Tropicana is hopeful that it will be able to find placements for its 20-student-strong class of 2020.
“Like most organizations, we at Tropicana are doing our best to support all the members of our communities that are impacted by this pandemic,” said Suad Dualeh, program coordinator for Tropicana’s Pre-apprenticeship Training Program. “That is why we are hoping the Pre-Apprenticeship program students can participate in the 12-week paid work placement to fulfill requirements in order to graduate class 2020.”
The last day of class for the Auto Body and Collision Damage Repairer class of 2020 is scheduled for Aug. 14, 2020. Apprenticeship start dates must fall between Aug. 17, 2020, and Nov. 6, 2020, for the students to successfully graduate from the program.
Tropicana is doing everything in its power to ensure its students are armed with the tools they need to successfully complete their programs. The organization has been hosting virtual field trips for its students amid the pandemic, where companies like AkzoNobel, 3M, CARSTAR, Assured Automotive, CSN Brimell Paint & Collision and Drive Auto Group have come together to offer facility tours, product demos and insightful presentations for Tropicana’s class of 2020.
For more information on Tropicana Community Services, or to support an apprentice through their placement, please contact sdualeh@tropicanaemployment.ca.
