In today’s growing digital world, having computer skills is vitally important for success. Centacare’s Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) Program’s Computer Skills for Work course has helped many students develop the computer skills they needed for the workplace. In this feature, we bring you the story of Joanne “Jojo” Lembo, a mature-aged student who has significantly improved her skills and confidence, through attending the Computer Skills for Work course.

In defiance of not being able to work due to an injury, Jojo didn’t wait around and instead enrolled into Centacare’s Computer Skills for Work course.

“Every job that’s out there has a need for computers. I thought well I don’t want to waste any time, so while I’m injured, I may as well enroll in a computer course,” Jojo said.

By enrolling into the course, Jojo has come on in leaps and bounds with regards to her computer skills and her confidence in working computers.

“I didn’t even know how to turn a computer on when I got here,” she said laughingly, “I knew my Gmail but that was about it… I guess at the beginning I was scared of touching things because I would delete them. But then I found the Undo button and it became my best friend. That made me not scared of actually taking on challenges. It was my happy mistakes that actually made me learn about what the best way is to do it,” she said.

As part of the course, students were tasked with creating PowerPoint animations for a storybook, something which Jojo took on with great enthusiasm.

“We had three stories and what we had to do was to make a storybook from it, which I did. After that, with the PowerPoint animation when we learned about that, I got excited,” she said with a laugh. “I asked if I could do my own story and my own illustrations for my next storybook and the teacher said ‘yes’ and I just went for it.”

“I was just really excited to get in there and make my own illustrations,” she said. “I used a lot of what we were taught, in the storybook – like with fading and the colours,” she elaborated.

When talking about how she created her characters, Jojo utilized the Microsoft Office Suite and said “I created a man out of shapes and then I freestyle drew his body and the body parts using the mouse and that’s how I was able to change his body around and make his character. I also did a horse, a tree, a brick wall and stuff like that. That’s how I did my Humpty Dumpty animation.”

Because of her success with the PowerPoint animation and with her infectious enthusiasm, Jojo has created even more storybooks. “With my other story – the stories the teacher had given us to start with, I’ve actually gone back and turned them into an animation,” she said.

Jojo was quick to credit Centacare for its nurturing environment as a factor for her being successful. “I really like it here, it’s just really comfortable and the teachers are fantastic. Here you’re learning things towards the workforce so the stress wasn’t full-on and it was more relaxed so you could get straight into it,” she said.

By providing students with a supportive environment, tailored instruction, and opportunities to excel, Centacare’s Computer Skills for Work course allows students to develop their digital skills to help them find work or go on to further study.