For 22 years, Alain Breault has served as a “permanent employee” of the Cégep de Granby Student Association, a position that exists in most college establishments.
But the 65-year-old sound engineer doesn’t just distribute agendas, plan assemblies and monitor accounting for a group of students who, most of the time, renews every two or three years.
He is a wise man who knows the intricacies of school like the back of his hand, a reassuring, smiling and cultured figure who likes to help everyone.
“I often stayed with him in the room talking for two hours; he is very talkative,” indicates the current president of the Student Association, Thomas Pagé.
“She is a person with so much general knowledge about everything! And a good guide who can compare with what has been done in the past.”
“His departure is justified, but it’s a little scary, all the same.”
Alain Breault (Catherine Trudeau/La Voix de l’Est)
Because yes, after all these years taking care of the association, but also the shows and the student café, the former student in administrative techniques (class of 1993) is retiring at the end of this session.
“I’m going to miss the gangs fun», says Mr. Breault in his cramped but bright room.
“Working in a school is very stimulating. You meet people who you know will become important cogs in society.”
Challenges and hierarchy
If we add up the years preceding his arrival in office in 2002, when he was in charge of the student radio station, which had been closed for eight years ― “everyone has headphones today, they didn’t listen to it anymore! » ― it was rather 30 years that he spent within the walls of the college on rue Saint-Jacques. Not to mention his own studies.
What has changed in 30 years? First, general managers are much more accessible than before. “Less hierarchical,” he says.
“Before, you didn’t see a CEO who came to speak with the student association. From Marie-Johanne Lacroix [NDLR : directrice générale de 2005 à 2010], we meet the CEOs at the start of the year. There is better cooperation and the students appreciate that a lot.”
Colleges also support students with particular challenges much more than before, which has helped increase the graduation rate.
And at Cégep de Granby as elsewhere, help centers have multiplied, particularly in French where Alain Breault notices “more difficulties” than before.
He also believes that the students have become more “individual”.
“Before, everyone hung out at the student café,” he said. Today, it’s split: there are places for each concentration and they don’t mix. Student life is more difficult. We have to work harder than before to organize activities.”
Granby CEGEP. (ARCHIVES THE VOICE OF THE EAST, JIMMY PLANTE/ARCHIVES THE VOICE OF THE EAST, JIMMY PLANTE)
Contact
The domination of cell phones also means that “people no longer talk to each other,” says the permanent employee, an observation that applies just as well to society in general.
“I see them in the cafeteria, there are four of them at a table and they don’t talk to each other! For social, it’s not very good. I am not convinced that the use of social networks is good for society. Human contact is lost.”
However, he recognizes that young people are working more than before to pay for their studies and expenses, and that, in doing so, they are “much more in demand”.
And he finds them “just as studious” as when he started.
Alain Breault is not leaving CEGEP completely: he will remain a freelance sound engineer for certain events, while continuing to occupy this position at the Maison de la culture de Waterloo.
His replacement has also already been found and he will be there to support him at the start of his term.
We bet he hasn’t said his last word!
