School District 83 Students have the opportunity to attend their local college for a day.
SD83 and Okanagan College Salmon Arm are resurrecting their “Experience OC” Event for Friday May 5th. Starting in April, students can view an array of different short classes taught by OC Instructors and then sign up for three of these courses on that day. Students can choose courses in the academic arts, sciences, engineering and technology, among other offerings.
Students can approach their school-based career coordinator soon to pick up a parental permission form to attend the event. If you wish more details, don’t hesitate to reach out to the school’s career coordinator or contact District Career Education Coordinator George Richard at grichard@sd83.bc.ca or text or phone 778-824-1188.
Over 80 Grade 6-8 Carlin Middle School students jammed into its library to learn more about the world of Careers Wednesday morning.
Carlin students settle into the virtual lesson facilitated by Vice-Principal and Careers Teacher Sandra Major (Standing right).
The students are part of Sandra Major’s Grade 6-8 Career classes. Ms. Major’s classes joined several others across the province virtually to carry on the Career Exploration Pilot program which began last week. School District 83, along with B.C.’s Education Ministry and the U.K. non-profit charitable organization Education and Employers, are working together on a pilot program to breakdown gender roles in the world of work. The project is seeking to raise children’s aspirations and broaden their horizons by connecting grade schools with inspiring, relatable role models from the world of work.
Like last week’s exercise, the students played “Guess My Career”, where students ask a question and the guest could only respond with “Yes” or “No” answers. Two this week’s guest were a female engineer who is a Community Program Worker for Amazon Canada and Antoinette Yap, a racialized female millwright.
Yap explains her interest and her work virtually to the students
The final event will be next week in Sicamous where kindergarten students will be learning at Parkview Elementary.
For those wanting to learn more about the program, they can contact SD 83 Career Education Coordinator George Richard at 778-824-1188 or email grichard@sd83.bc.ca.
North Canoe Elementary Principal and Grade 4/5 Teacher David Wellingham hosted the first event of a multi-school, multi-grade Careers event last week.
School District 83, along with B.C.’s Education Ministry and the U.K. non-profit charitable organization Education and Employers, are working together on a pilot program to breakdown gender roles in the world of work. The project is seeking to raise children’s aspirations and broaden their horizons by connecting grade schools with inspiring, relatable role models from the world of work.
North Canoe Elementary Principal and Grade Four/Five Teacher David Wellingham explains the lesson to the students as the virtual presenters wait on line.
During the Friday morning session, Wellingham’s students connected with the lesson facilitators from London, England and two other B.C. participants via video conference. The class played “What’s my Job?”, where the students saw an adult on the screen and they had to ask questions to guess their career. The adults could only respond “yes” or “no”.
Although it took some time for the students to try to piece together what the panelist did, they eventually succeeded. One panelist was a Marine Service Technician while the other, a female, was a Heavy Equipment Operator. The panelists then talked more about their jobs while students asked questions. From there, the students spent the rest of the morning drawing their future occupation and then presenting it to the class. Overall, Wellingham described the event as “time well spent.”
North Canoe Student “Lilly” asks a question to the panelist.
Research from multiple agencies have proven the earlier children start exploring career options and occupations, the more motivated they are in working in school, especially on core subjects such as Math, English, Science and Social Studies. The research has also shown early career exploration is a great benefit for disadvantaged children. The next event takes place this week when Sandra Major’s Careers 6-8 class at Carlin with the final one taking place next week in Arwen Holmlund’s Kindergarten class at Parkview Elementary.
For those wanting to learn more about the program, they can contact SD 83 Career Education Coordinator George Richard at 778-824-1188 or email grichard@sd83.bc.ca.
SD83 Career Programs 