“IF YOU DON'T ENJOY THE INTERACTIONS WITH PEOPLE OR YOU DON'T
HAVE A CUSTOMER-SERVICE MENTALITY OR PERSONALITY, IT WOULD BE VERY
DIFFICULT BECAUSE IT'S SUCH AN INTEGRAL PART OF THIS JOB.”
“Kendra is who I think of when I envision the future of
opticianry,” says Dalton. “Intelligent, educated, strong,
dedicated, encouraging and always striving for excellence.
She's bilingual, a master of the bookkeeping arts and
has physical limitations that have not held her back.” “When I started in optical and saw all the different sce-
narios and situations you come across everyday, you never
know exactly what each day is going to bring or what tasks
you're going to do,” says Arsenault. “That really intrigued
me. That really drew me in.”
A graduate of St. Thomas University in 2007 with a
Bachelor of Arts degree, she travelled to South Korea in
2008 to teach English as a second language where she
stayed until 2013. Arsenault says it's a thrill to help someone who may have
been struggling to see or has never had eyeglasses in the
pastbenefit from the difference she can make by assisting
with their optical needs. And her previous education and
teaching experience has also helped her adapt to different
situations in the optical field, in order to better explain
optical needs with those who might not fully understand
the meaning.
“My goal all along was to become a teacher,” she says.
“When I moved back to New Brunswick I decided I wasn't
going to pursue that field anymore and that I needed a job.”
She secured an optical clerk job and later, Arsenault's
manager suggested she take up an online correspondence
opportunity to become an optician while she was working.
So she signed up for a program through the Northern
Alberta Institute of Technology, which offers a two-year
opticianry course that allows students to take eyeglass
training initially and then follow up for optional courses
to learn contact lens training, which she also completed.
Arsenault says the course is specifically geared towards
those who work in optical industry positions, like she
did as a clerk, allowing them to pair with a “sponsor” to
further their education and grow in their careers.
She says it's a valuable way to get people into opticianry,
especially in Eastern Canada, as there were no options to
train in the field in places like New Brunswick, before
e-learning correspondence was made available.
“Until recently, the East Coast didn't have any colleges
for opticians to attend,” she said. “We would have had to
travel to Ontario or out west in order to take the program.
So it was really beneficial for me, especially being a mature
student, because being employed was important.”
Her interest in opticianry grew when she discovered it was
an opportunity to work with people, which she enjoyed, but
also see the results of helping them in her role.