News

Co-op education allows students to test drive careers

June 18, 2010

Posted By Photos by Jenn Carson, Miner and News co-op student

More than 150 Grade 8 students from King George VI, Evergreen, Keewatin and Lakewood Beaver Brae Secondary School Tuesday for the co-operative education program s career fair. As they made the tour, they were introduced to skilled trades and professional careers in fields ranging from medicine and the arts to construction. The visitors also got the chance with students, who'd recently completed co-op placements for a first-hand impression.Photo by Jon Thompson

Throughout their education, students are told to choose a career and plan their education to get to that chosen job. Some choose a career and love the job they have trained for, while others go through years of college or university only to discover they hate their job. So how can one find out what truly drives them and turn that drive into a career they love?

In Ontario's curriculum, students in high school have the opportunity to take the co-operative education program, a course that allows them to receive first-hand experience in the career they are interested in. Throughout their co-op experience students gain work experience, skills used both in the work place and day-to-day life and knowledge used in the work environment all while earning high school credit.

"Co-op allows students to test drive a career, and through that experience they may or may not change the direction they were going in," said Beaver Brae Co-op teacher Tracy Bichon.

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