Options, opportunities for DRHS students

Mitchell Graham thinks he’d like to pursue a trade, perhaps become a mechanic or a bricklayer. This spring, Graham helped tear a tractor apart at Tri-County Truck and Marine. The Digby student will have four more work placements next year, so he’ll have more exposure to the trades that interest him before he makes a decision.

Robicheau and Graham are two of the grade 11 students enrolled in Digby High’s Option and Opportunities (O2) program. Last week’s provincial budget includes plans for an additional $2.2 million for expansion of O2, citing it as a way of better preparing some students for the workforce.

Established last year in Nova Scotia, O2 focuses on career development and matches students with qualified employers to give them opportunities to gain experience in a real workplace.

“O2 is really designed for students who have been identified as disengaged, not achieving their academic potential,” says Peter Smith of the Nova Scotia Department of Education. “They’re kids who are discouraged and in danger of dropping out. The goal of the program is to bring them back—to show them they have a future.”

Students successfully completing the program are assured placement at a Nova Scotia Community College.

“We’re seeing remarkable results,” says Smith. “These are kids who weren’t really thinking of the future, and now they can picture themselves in college and beyond.”

Barry Kendall, the teacher in charge of the O2 program in Digby, says students apply to the work experience program in grade 10.

For their grade 10 year, students are taught in smaller classes, with the same courses in English, math, social studies, and science as others in grade 10, but they also have courses designed to help them get to know themselves and identify their strengths. They may also travel to work places and community colleges. Perhaps the owners of companies will come and speak to them.

“The intention,” according to Smith, “is to expand their notion of what is possible.”

In grade 11, the O2 students continue to take courses designed to prepare them for the work force. They also have their first work placement, and begin their applications to college.

In grade 12, students in the O2 program have four additional work placements, providing exposure to even more possibilities.

For some students, work placements will be with different employers, but in a single field. For others like Graham, the work placements will help the student determine where their interests and aptitudes are the greatest.

DRHS is one of 27 Nova Scotia schools that piloted the program in 2007. There are currently 20 Digby students—nine in grade 10 and 11 in grade 11—enrolled in the program.

The $2.2 million budgeted for expansion of the program will fund the grade 12 year at the schools like Digby where O2 already exists. Options and Opportunities will also be offered at additional Nova Scotia high schools.