{"id":47128,"date":"2017-10-12T15:20:14","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T19:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=47128"},"modified":"2019-02-28T13:45:02","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T18:45:02","slug":"lab-tech-uncorks-new-career-in-wine-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2017\/10\/lab-tech-uncorks-new-career-in-wine-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Lab tech uncorks new career in wine industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heather Bouwhuis has spent the past four years juggling her studies, raising a family and working a full-time job\u00a0\u2014 all while commuting more than two hours each way from her home in Pickering for every lecture, lab and test at Brock University.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Every moment spent braving traffic and hitting the books was worth it for the 57-year-old wife and mother-of-two, who came to Brock to pursue a second career after decades working as a medical laboratory technologist at a Toronto hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was in the fall of 2013, after deciding a career change was needed, that Bouwhuis enrolled in Brock\u2019s Certificate in Grape and Wine Technology program, offered through the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI). <\/span><\/p>\n

All her hard work will pay off Friday, Oct. 13, when Bouwhuis walks across the stage at Brock\u2019s Fall Convocation ready to retire from her lab position to pursue her second career in the wine industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fall of 2017 seemed like a long way off when I started back in 2013,\u201d she said. \u201cBut one-by-one I checked off all the tests, checked off all the courses and eventually, I got here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bouwhuis slowly plugged away at her course requirements, taking one class per semester for four years. While she was fortunate to have support from her colleagues and family, she said it was challenging taking a vacation day every time she had a lecture or a lab, spending nights in St. Catharines when she had back-to-back classes, and grinding through Toronto traffic to get to campus.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m blessed that I\u2019m healthy and have a lot of energy,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t ever question \u2018can I do this?\u2019 I always said, \u2018I <\/span>can<\/span><\/i> do this, if I do A, B and C.\u2019 I always framed the statement in a positive way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The self-proclaimed foodie and<\/span> Taekwondo black belt<\/span> said the sacrifice was worth it, and that her time at Brock has well prepared her for the wine world she is keen to enter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBrock has been fantastic as an educational environment,\u201d she said, while expressing appreciation for the program\u2019s flexibility. \u201cEveryone is very supportive, from the teaching assistants to the professors to the lab advisers \u2014 everybody has been just amazing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bouwhuis\u2019 post-secondary experience was a little different this time around than when she first secured her Bachelor of Science from University of Toronto in 1982 and her <\/span>Medical Laboratory Technology diploma from Michener Institute of Applied Health Sciences<\/span> in 1984.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her Brock studies meant learning to complete her assignments online and access articles digitally rather than combing through the library stacks. It also meant embracing the lessons that came along with studying alongside her young peers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to keep learning and to learn from the younger students, it really energizes you,\u201d Bouwhuis said. \u201cThere are some brilliant young adults coming through the OEVI program.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After Convocation, Bouwhuis plans to take a well-deserved holiday with her husband before looking for part-time jobs in the Prince Edward County wine industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband is already retired and I didn\u2019t want to go from one full-time job to another full-time job,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although he took on \u201ca lot of the slack at home\u201d during her studies, Bouwhuis said her husband understands the demands of post-secondary education well because he too is a lifelong learner who is currently taking courses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bouwhuis\u2019 offered sound advice to anyone looking to hit the books while balancing a full-time job and family obligations. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTake advantage of all the resources that you can and pace yourself,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about taking baby steps and you\u2019ll get through it, one step at a time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heather Bouwhuis has spent the past four years juggling her studies, raising a family and working a full-time job\u00a0\u2014 all while commuting more than two hours each way from her home in Pickering for every lecture, lab and test at Brock University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":47129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[188,55,41,1,4],"tags":[61,5870,855,1368,5871],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47128"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47132,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47128\/revisions\/47132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}