Junior high and high school students from Southern Alberta are learning more about the trades or the agriculture and healthcare industries through hands-on education.
The Southern Alberta Collegiate Institute shows students in grades 7 to 12 what they call “different career pathway programs” that allow students to learn about a vast majority of jobs from baking, to welding, agronomy and animal sciences and over time can gradually narrow down to one specialty they are interested in. Co-Director of the institute Jason Kupery says because the exploration starts by giving students a broad scope it helps them make informed decisions and guide what they want to do in the future. Students in grades seven to nine can do this through the E3 program, which offers several different one-day workshops.
“We have everything from grafting plants to suturing kits where they learn how to suture and stitch things up and all kinds of other things in between, but it’s experiential learning. They’re able to experience what happens in an industry like agriculture, trades, or healthcare, and they’re also able to make some informed choices about what they want to take in high school,” Kupery says. “We’re trying to set them up for areas of interest they might be interested in pursuing, and then we actually have them do some career exploration as well because the intent is for them to do hands-on learning and have fun, but also to experience what’s out there.”
“It’s not just one specific thing you do as a carpenter or as an agronomist it’s a wide variety of jobs that are available in industry, so we want to make students aware of that when they’re really young so they can start making informed decisions about their high school.”
The high school program looks a little different as it is a semester-long program where students can take part in one of several programs that start at an exploratory level whether it be in the trades or agriculture and from there can be turned into a dual credit opportunity that will go towards their high school and post-secondary education. Students also will have the chance to take part in work-integrated learning opportunities that can range from short-term practicum placements to internships.
The institute runs in partnership with 10 different organizations including Lethbridge Polytechnic, Career Transitions, Careers: Take on the Future and seven different school divisions.
“We have a very, very large geographic area we can pull students from, and we designed our programming just for that, so to make it more equitable. We make sure that we have long days so students can travel, be on campus and have their hands-on experience,” Kupery says.
However, when the program was put together something he says was not anticipated was the bonds the students would build. When the first cohort of students made their portfolio presentations at the end of the program he explains they all had included the fact they met new friends from other communities because of this program.
Institution administration say they are seeing a real interest in the program, with the number of students who want to take part exceeding what the program can accommodate. Kupery says they are working to expand the programming to meet the demand.
More information about the Collegiate Institute can be found here.
