Students at Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) busied themselves with plans for the future on Nov. 10. The school hosted Post-Secondary Education Day, featuring a gamut of institutions and potential career paths for students in Grades 11 and 12.
Students filled the courtyard, checking out an assortment of tables representing institutions from all over Saskatchewan, the other Prairie provinces, and even some from some parts the U.S. In attendance were representatives for institutions ranging from Southeast College and Brandon University, to the RCMP and Minot State University.
“The sessions are mostly put on by post-secondary institutions. We’ve got the University of Regina, the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, but we also have a number of Alberta schools with us,” said academic counsellor Stacy Dutka. “There are also a few non-post-secondary groups here as well. We have a trades panel, for example, being manned by many different journey-people in the community, as well as a health panel set up by Sun Country Health Region, representing the different career paths in the medical field.”
Students showed interest in the various displays set up in the courtyard, milling about and keeping representatives busy with a number of questions about the institutions they represented.
Dutka said that a priority when organizing Post-Secondary Day was to include post-secondary options in western provinces, but that it was also important to keep things interesting, with a wide variety of career options for students to consider.
“I hope the students are excited. We try to set it up for them, keeping in mind that the workforce is changing all the time. We want to try and present them with as much current information as we can, so that maybe they can make a career path choice,” said Dutka. “If they’re thinking trades, they can do a trades panel and talk to the Sask. Apprenticeship panel to figure out what they need to get there. If they’re thinking ‘I want to go to university,’ they can go talk to someone about that too.”
Dutka said there is certainty among some of the Grade 12s as to what they wish to do in the future, while many are still unsure of what they want. Events like Post-Secondary Day are good for both, since the ones who are certain of what they want can learn more about their chosen path, while those who aren’t have the ability to take a look at what’s available, to get a better idea of what they want.
“We meet with all our Grade 12s prior to Christmas, and there are some who know what they want, and some who aren’t sure, so we help them,” she said. “Maybe this will give them that lightbulb moment, and they can start to narrow down what it is that they want. For Grade 11s, it’s more of an experimentation process. They’re thinking about what they want, but they want to go have a chance to explore the possibilities.”
