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targeted Career Path Trades & Apprenticeships Photo: Students in the Westview Secondary Automotive Program R ACheLLe’S WIN marks the fourth year in a row that a Salon 42 student took the top prize in this category. Taylor Carrier won gold in 2012, Molly Liu won it in 2011, and Melissa Blomly set the bar with her gold medal win in 2010. SRT’s successful Salon 42 program is only one of many trades and apprenticeship opportunities in the Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows School District. Since their inception, the trades programs at SD42 have flourished and multiplied. “There have been over twenty years of program options in this school district that have changed the course of many young people’s lives,” says Ron Lancaster, who oversees the trades and apprenticeship programs at School District No. 42. In addition to Salon 42, the Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows School District also offers a certificate program in the Culinary Arts, an apprenticeship certificate in Construction Carpentry Trades, Automotive Service Technician training, a certificate program in electrician Level 1 Apprenticeship, a certificate program in Metal Fabrication, a new apprenticeship in Plumbing, and many others. Trades opportunities in this school district are growing, Lancaster explains, because the appetite for trades training is steadily increasing. Recent forecasts predict a skilled labour shortage in BC of 160,000 people by 2015, and parents and students are starting understand the value of a more strategically targeted career path. “At one time, there was the perception that the trades were dirty, dingy and dull, but today they’re not like that,” says Lancaster. “Technology has really changed things and has made the field quite competitive.” Lancaster points out that fewer than thirty percent of career paths require a university education today, but that the number of 16 Connections · Spring 2013 | Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows School District No.42 “ There have been over twenty years of program options in this school district that have changed the course of many young people’s lives - Ron Lancaster On April 18, 2013, Rachelle Garcia, a student enrolled in the Hairstyling Academy Salon 42 program at Samuel Robertson Secondary (SRT), earned the gold medal in the Skilled Trades Competition run by Vancouver Community College. students in university competing for those opportunities continues to grow. “This school district has recognized that not all career paths lead through the university, and has provided students with some amazing opportunities,” Lancaster says. This year has brought the strongest pool of applicants yet, with over 160 applications for the trades programs. This is no surprise, says Lancaster. The perks of registering in SD42 trades programs are clear: SD42 trades programs include tuition-free collegelevel training from SD42 partners such as BCIT and Kwantlen College, early admission to post-secondary studies, secondary school apprenticeship scholarships, and employment opportunities upon program completion. “We have many amazing trades and partnerships opportunities in this district and students are beginning to take full advantage of them,” says Lancaster. “The word is really getting out.”
Summer Learning 2012 gets IN MAY 2012, our team of eight teachers was assembled with the challenge of reinventing the school district’s Summer School. By December, we had created and implemented a program that eventually went on to win the Canadian education Association (CeA) Ken Spencer Award for Innovation in Education. The $1,000 that came with the award will be directed to this year’s Summer Learning program. Imagine that life on earth has become so overpopulated, polluted and unsustainable that we have to leave and find a new planet. What would we bring? What characteristics would that planet need in order to sustain life? This was the scenario and these were some of the questions faced by our Summer Learning students this past July. We wanted to ensure that the program considered the students’ needs, and that it helped them find success in the core academic subjects they’d been assigned for summer learning. our main focus was on building resiliency while delivering interdisciplinary curriculum in a textbook-free, project based guided inquiry. our slogan, “get ReAL” (Resilient, engaged, Active, Learning) guided our practice. Teachers were podded and used a Teacher Advisory model with additional assistance from a team of student aides. The approach helped build connections and allowed for R.E.A.L scaffolding through mentorship - a pillar of our learning model. Students were arranged into TA groups and attended daily planning sessions and seminars with their math/ science and humanities teachers. During seminars, students were asked to consider questions pertinent to the theme from the perspective of each discipline, and were also asked to keep a portfolio of work that would create a culminating demonstration of learning. unencumbered by textbooks, students were able to gather direct information through apps on iPads and laptops in a more research-based approach to discovery. At the beginning of each day, students met with their Teacher Advisor to plan their schedule. Seminars were compulsory but there was choice in activities. This way both teachers and students were able to choose activities according to their individual interests, skills and talents. Activity options included basketball, ball hockey, volleyball, art, cooking, woodwork, ropes course and guitar. Both separately and together these activities helped facilitate community building and a connection to curriculum. We also went on three field trips related to inquiry and the “get ReAL” motto. We started the second week with a trip to grouse Mountain, tested our nerves at Wild Play and ended with a rainy canoe trip at Alouette Lake. on the last day of Summer 17 Connections · Spring 2013 | Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows School District No.42 Learning, our culminating activity was a barbecue and an exhibition of student projects, open to the public. Student feedback from our surveys and informal discussions was overwhelmingly positive. 74% of our students said they fully applied themselves, 96% felt that the technology helped them increase their productivity, and approximately 60% said that they learned new skills that would help them in the following September. our vision now is twofold: first, to expand the program to senior and possibly more junior grades; and, second, to influence current practice across our district. We have presented to each of our six high school staffs and our board of education, who have encouraged us to continue to further develop the program and to transform traditional education. overall we found the process and experience extremely beneficial as professionals and truly enjoyed the connections we made with our students. By Tom Levesque
Page 1 and 2: CONNECTIONS CONNECTIONS A magazine
Page 3 and 4: inside: { HIgH SCHooL ProfILES } {
Page 5 and 6: International Baccalaureate ® Worl
Page 7 and 8: the fine art of Education Maple Rid
Page 9 and 10: Brains and Brawn: Pitt Meadows Seco
Page 11 and 12: microsoft ® It academy Samuel Robe
Page 13 and 14: Self-Directed Learning Thomas Haney
Page 15: a Community of Leaders: Westview Se
Page 19 and 20: eporting on the Whole Child: Studen
Page 21 and 22: SD42CYBErSCHooL The SD42 CYBeRSChoo
Page 23 and 24: Look deep into nature and you will

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