Civil Municipal - May 2024

students with hands-on experiences and sector- specific certifications, preparing them for diverse career pathways. In turn, students graduate able to fill many of the needs in the community. These programs lean on the district’s robust cooperative education structure and a strong network of partners. “We’ve had over 3000 different employers that have supported our students through co-op opportunities,” says District Principal Peter Burnette, explaining that the employers who partner with them recognize that they are helping to grow future employees who will work in a diverse lineup of industries. Many of these program pathways allow students to develop critical life skills that often get overlooked. Some of the specialty programs available to students include industry sectors such as food processing, health and wellness, hospitality and tourism, information and communication technology, justice, community safety,emergency services,manufacturing, sports, and transportation… to name a few. Renfrew County District School Board has one of the highest participation rates in the Province of Ontario. These opportunities are available to students beginning in grade 11, however early on students get hands-on experiential learning beginning in kindergarten, and throughout their education. For example, this year, the District created a program called ‘Entrepreneur’s for Change.’ Classes worked together and create products and businesses while gaining entrepreneurial insights. Students chose a local charity to donate their proceeds. “Students were building skills around financial literacy… we had them go through a process of accessing seed money to understand that they were borrowing funds to create a business venture,” Peter Burnette says, The project had participation from elementary and secondary classes, and aptly captures the 6Cs global competencies of inspired learning, building character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking. 216 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 05