Students at École secondaire catholique Algonquin are getting a chance to customize their education by enrolling in a Specialist High Skills Major program.
In fact, one in four of the students is taking advantage of the opportunity.
The school has already been offering the Business, and Health & Wellness programs, but added Arts and Culture this year.
The programs allow grade 11 and 12 students to customize their high school education and to focus on a career path that complements their skills and interests.
Principal Lucien Chaput told CKAT News that community partnerships are essential to the program.
"We wanted to bring the walls of the school down, not your traditional classroom like we once had when we went to school. We want to have our walls down and have our students out in the community, learning things in the community," he says.
All three programs work with a variety of community partners to offer workshops, certifications, and hands-on experience.
"As an adolescent, often at that age they aren't sure what they want to do, so they're going to try something, live real-life experiences in the community and see from there 'I think I really want to do this' or 'maybe this is not for me and I want to do something else' to actually get the hands-on opportunity to see if that's for them, or not," Chaput says.
2017 Algonquin grad Gabrielle McDonald completed the Health and Wellness program at Algonquin.
"Whether you know what you want to do or you're not sure, find something that interests you and even if it doesn't help you decide what you want to do in the future, it's an unparalleled experience that I recommend for anybody," she told CKAT.
McDonald, who is in the second year of the nursing program at Nipissing University, says the community partnerships in the program have helped her.
"I got to go to the hospital and do workshops there many times. Through my co-op placement, I'm currently employed at the same institution that I did my placement as a PSW (Personal Support Worker). I was able to become employed after my first year at Nipissing," she says.
Overall, officials say the SHSM program will prepare the students for graduation and a future in the evolving digital and global economy.
