Hands-on learning at ESC Algonquin

One in four students at École secondaire catholique Algonquin is enrolled in a Specialist High Skills Major program.

The school has already been offering the Business, and Health & Wellness programs, and added Arts & Culture this past September.

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 (pictured above) says 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,” he says.

2017 Algonquin grad Gabrielle McDonald (pictured below) completed the Health & Wellness program.

“Whether you know what you want to do or you’re not sure, find something that interests you and even 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 says.

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.

• • SHSM in Business has been offered to students attending ESCA since 2007.
  • SHSM in Health & Wellness has been offered to students attending ESCA since 2013.
  • SHSM in Arts & Culture has been offered to students attending ESCA since September 2018.

An open house for all North Bay students and parents is being held Tuesday, January 15th at 6:30 pm, to showcase all that École secondaire catholique Algonquin has to offer.

The school will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in May 2019.