Child care and nursing were the hot topics of debate at Bermuda College's latest careers lunch session held at the Chamber of Commerce yesterday.

The third BC Downtown Recruit was kicked off by Sandra Dill, programme manager of PACE (Professional and Career Education) division, regarding the College's Child Care Assistant and Continuing Care Certificate programmes.

Her talk was followed by an interactive questions and answers session and a speech from Necheeka Trott, division chair for liberal arts, who gave an overview of the Liberal Arts programmes and listed sample courses and interesting career paths on a PowerPoint presentation.

Next up was Kathy-Ann Swan, who spoke to the audience about the exciting new Nursing programme that will launch in the Autumn term at Bermuda College. Mrs. Swan talked of several partnerships and plans that had been set up, including how the programme can prepare Bermudians in the nursing industry. She confirmed there had already been approximately 95 inquiries about the programme, mainly from high-school students, both male and female, interested in the industry.

The final presenter was Dr. Ameenah Ahad, coordinator of External Programmes, who talked about the Mount Saint Vincent Bachelor programmes in Child and Youth Studies and Business Administration, as well as the Kent Law School programme, giving a full table of prospects during the 15-minute one-on-one session.

"As a matter of fact, all of the guests were immediately bombarded with interested individuals during that time at the end of the presentation," said Cha'Von Clarke, recruitment officer at Bermuda College.

"I've received several calls from individuals who could not make today's session but are interested in Community Careers. They've scheduled one-on-one consultations with me."

Next week will feature 'The Gift of Service' session, focusing on Culinary Arts, Hospitality Management and Bartending. Kellianne Smith, director of human resources at the Fairmount Hamilton Princess, will present information on the industry.

Teneika Eve, the first female Culinary Arts instructor at Bermuda College, will discuss the Culinary Arts programme, while Gerry Begeman, business/hospitality division chair, will speak to the Hospitality Management programme and Ms Dill, of PACE, will share information on the popular Bartending course.