The sign read, “Try College for Free.”
It was 2017 and Rosalind Phillips was looking for a change. City School by Mohawk was offering a course called Advertising Concepts, at the Hamilton Public Library's Central branch.
Rosalind saw the sign and thought, “What do I have to lose?” The course was in a field she had an interest in, was being offered within walking distance of her home, and most importantly it could help her get out of her current rut.
At that time, Rosalind had been jumping from one “dead-end” job to another, since graduating from a photography program a few decades prior, but never really pursuing work in the field.
Rosalind was looking for something new.
Something that would allow her to expand upon her prior knowledge and could lead to a career. “I needed a change. I thought this was a great step forward,” she says.
This June, seven years later, Rosalind graduated from Mohawk College’s Advertising and Marketing Communications Management program. As she looks forward to her future after Mohawk, she looks back on all that City School and the college has provided her to get to where she is today.
While taking her first City School course, Rosalind found comfort in the small class size – approximately 10 students. “The teachers could really focus on each student,” she says. 
She had such a great experience, Rosalind soon returned for another course, Advertising Applications. The class provided her first introduction to Excel, showing her the business side of the field, a side she really enjoyed.
“Without City School I would never have found my love for advertising,” Rosalind says.
Soon Rosalind was enrolling in the fulltime Advertising and Marketing Communications Management program. “Those two [City School] courses were like a gateway to the fulltime program at Mohawk,” she says. Plus, she was able to apply credit from the City School courses to her fulltime program. Rosalind says, “It helped to reduce some stress while taking the fulltime program, so I could focus on other courses.”
A few years later, when it came time for Rosalind to complete an internship, a requirement of her program, she reconnected with City School staff members at a community event and asked if they were hiring. Rosalind took on the 4-month position of Junior Community Mobilizer in winter 2024. “It was a full circle moment,” she says.
In the position, she connected with prospective City School students at the Eva Rothwell Centre and the Hamilton Public Library's Central branch. She drafted content to promote City School programs through their social media channels as well.
Rosalind was also a recipient of the Emily Ecker City School Scholarship, which allowed her to purchase a new laptop. “It really helped me with the creative portions of my program,” she says.
As Rosalind leaves Mohawk with her diploma in hand, she is celebrating her accomplishments and is eager to begin her new career path.
“I think Mohawk is a great place to learn. I learned a lot and shout out to all my professors, especially Robin Grossi, Wayne Aubert and Janice Warren, who helped me a lot,” she says. She continues to stay connected to her professors, who are now helping her and her classmates with job leads as they look to put the skills they obtained in college to work.
