It took a video link from California because he was on assignment in California for W5, but this week, Peter Akman came back to his journalistic roots.
The correspondent spoke with Lynn Gauthier’s grade 10 career studies class at O’Gorman High School about his education and career. His first job after university was in Timmins.
Gauthier says the presentation gave her students the opportunity to see if a career like Akman’s might be in their future.
“He spoke to students about he went to Simon Fraser University, he started here in Timmins with CTV News and he gradually worked his way up with CTV, CBC, back to CTV and now with W5,” the teacher recounts.
Timmins is also where he met his wife, Shannon Collins. Gauthier taught her and coached her in basketball at O’Gorman.
Gauthier says her students were right into Akman’s presentation.
“They had some really great questions about his career, about courses he took in high school, about courses he took at university, what he’s doing currently. They just wanted to learn as much as they could about him and was very forthcoming with regards to his career.”
Gauthier adds that Akman stressed the importance of literacy, and about being informed about what’s going on in the world outside of Timmins.