A NEW GENERATION OF WOMEN ENTERING THE COLLISION SECTOR — WILL YOUR SHOP KEEP UP?
Now finishing her Level 3 apprenticeship at Centennial College, Nya Excell is preparing to step into a full-time role at Don Valley Volkswagen where she has been working in a part-time capacity since January 2025. As she approaches this milestone, she reflects on how far she’s come from the uncertain high school graduate who wasn’t sure which path to take.
“I graduated high school and I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to pursue as a career,” she says. “At first I narrowed it down to either autobody or mechanical. I came across the Tropicana program and registered for it. That’s how I ended up getting started in autobody.”
The program, run by Tropicana Community Services in partnership with Centennial’s Ashtonbee campus, opened doors that might otherwise have remained closed. Most apprenticeships in Ontario begin only after a worker finds an employer willing to sponsor them. For candidates without family ties to the trade or prior shop experience, that first sponsorship can be difficult to secure.
Tropicana’s program changes the sequence. Over 30 weeks, participants complete academic upgrading, Level 1 technical training at Centennial and a 12-week paid placement in a bodyshop. Participants receive tools, course materials and transit support during the classroom portion.
Paulo Santos, now associate dean at Centennial’s School of Transportation, taught the program’s earliest cohort and has seen its impact firsthand.
“I’ve seen a lot of individuals get into that program who otherwise were struggling to find an employer to hire them as an apprentice,” he says. “It was a great opportunity for people who wanted a career in the trade but were finding it hard to get in.” For Excell, the structured approach made all the difference.
“As somebody who had no prior experience, I feel like the program made the process a lot easier,” she says. “Rather than trying to go straight into a shop and get an apprenticeship, they kind of laid things out for us and set us up for what to expect in the autobody trade.”
