George Burton says if you are walking in an airport in Canada, chances are you will run into a Canadore College graduate.
"No matter what airport you are in, two of the head instructors at Borden are Canadore graduates, walk through an airport they know you are from Canadore, someone is going to stop you, and they will say, 'hey I went to Canadore' or 'I know someone from Canadore,'" said Burton.
"You can go to the Vancouver airport or every airport across Canada you will actually find a Canadore grad or someone who knows a Canadore grad."
The Aviation program which has its own campus at Jack Garland Airport was the site of a 50-year celebration of Aviation programming at the local community college which included aircraft maintenance, avionics, and structures and repairs.
Jenna Ivanski is a third-year aircraft maintenance student from Ottawa.
She believes she has lots of job options to look forward to when she graduates in the spring of 2024.
"I am hoping to go out west and hopefully work on helicopters out in the bush or work on smaller bush planes," she said.
Classmate Lachlan Purdon is from Sudbury.
"It's pretty cool. I really enjoy it so far," she said.
"The aircraft here are a little beat up. So it's kind of helpful to see what is wrong with aircraft and how you can fix them."
Dave Durocher graduated from the Canadore in 2004. He has been working at Voyageur Aviation Corp. in North Bay for nearly 20 years.
"It means a lot, especially for me being local, I went to school here, I got a job local, it keeps people here and this is one of the stronger programs they offer here so it is amazing to see this kind of celebration here," he said.
"Voyageur and Canadore have a great partnership and Canadore plays an integral role in the recruits that we get."
