Specialist High Skills Major - Environment Co-op experience
March 12, 2010
Tony Saxon
tsaxon@guelphmercury.com
GUELPH — A group of St. James high school students hope things like spending a night outside in the dead of winter will eventually help them fulfil their career plans.
Nature provides classroom for special high school course
Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury
Sam Nieuwold, left, and Tory Walsh show off the quinzee hut they spent Wednesday night in at Guelph Lake Conservation Area. The two are part of a special outdoor environmental course offered through St. James high school.
Tony Saxon, Guelph MercurySam Nieuwold, left, and Tory Walsh show off the quinzee hut they spent Wednesday night in at Guelph Lake Conservation Area. The two are part of a special outdoor environmental course offered through St. James high school.
Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury
click here to expandSam Nieuwold, left, and Tory Walsh show off the quinzee hut ...
Tony Saxon, Guelph MercurySam Nieuwold, left, and Tory Walsh show off the quinzee hut they spent Wednesday night in at Guelph Lake Conservation Area. The two are part of a special outdoor environmental course offered through St. James high school.
March 05, 2010
Nine students camped on the banks of Guelph Lake Wednesday night, most sleeping in quinzee’s — domed snow huts the students made earlier in the day. They did it as part of a special course offering at St. James aimed in large part at preparing and motivating students for green jobs down the road.
“I want a career in the environment. That’s why I jumped on this program,” said Robert Monico, who transferred to St. James from Lourdes high school so he could take the course.
Monico and partner Dylan Walsh built a quinzee that came equipped with a candle ledge and ventilation hole on the inside and a snow chair, footrest and drink cooler just outside the door.
Officially called Specialist High Skills Major — Environment, the course sees Grade 11 and 12 students engage in a variety of environment-oriented activity with the majority of class time spent outdoors. Agriculture, forestry, waste management, water treatment and biology are just a handful of the areas covered in the semester-long program.
There is a second-semester option and students do a two-credit co-op placement that in the past has included placements such as the University of Guelph aqualab, the city’s waterworks department and the Grand River Conservation Area, which is a partner in the program.
The course is in its second year and has 11 students registered this year.
“Anyone can sign up, as long as they’re keen and like being outside,” teacher Irene Doyle said.
“For me, it’s the whole hands-on thing that attracted me to the program,” Sky Grayson said.
Ashlyn Gobia liked the idea of learning and working with animals as well as the fact the students get to spend so much time outdoors.
“I brag to my other friends at school that while they’re sitting at a desk, I’m out hiking,” Gobia said.
Dan Schneider of the Grand River Conservation Authority said the program is specifically designed for students interested in careers related to the environment.
“The outdoors is the biggest classroom,” Schneider said.
As for the night spent in the cold, Grayson said it was all good.
“It was a little cold, but it was great. You could hear the ice cracking.”