Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Specialist High Skills Major (Environment)

We can’t imagine a better way to kick off the fall season besides spending it out on the Land with an eager group of students. Earlier this week, Leaders of the Day launched its newly designed Program for the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) - Environment Stream which satisfies many of the requirements set out by the Ministry of Education’s curriculum of the same name.

The program helps students to acquire essential certifications and experiences that position them for success in future careers related to the environment. It allows students to graduate not only with a broader spectrum of skills in their field of interest, but to have a more substantial resume to seek out future employment and/or internships.

This fall’s first SHSM program session unfolded over three remarkable days amidst the beautiful back-drop of our Spirit Point base-camp on the edge of Algonquin Provincial Park. The program drew a group of talented students from Almaguin Highlands Secondary School. The experience invited the students to step outside their daily routines and circumstances and out into the heart of an unforgettable learning adventure together in our incredible “wilderness classroom”.

The school selected 3 main ingredients from our extensive menu of program options: Leadership Foundations, Flat Water Canoeing Skills and Nature Discovery activities all of which satisfy elements and themes of the SHSM Environment curriculum. The students, from a wide spectrum of social groups within the school came together and were pleasantly surprised by the depth of the friendships that were formed in such a short time.

Missy, a grade 12 student, commented “It’s so amazing that in just 3 days some of the ways that I look at the world have totally changed!” In addition to leaving with a Leadership Foundations certificate and level 1 Canoeing Certification, students were introduced to valuable skills essential to an environmental career path. Leaders of the Day’s innovative programming challenges students to understand the value of functional teams and introduced them to the great art of self-leadership as well as leading others. It also inspires students to consider not just simply what they want to become, but who they want to become.

Leaders of the Day have many options available for SHSM programming and can design either land or water-based curriculum for students. The Directors at Leaders of the Day have 35 years combined experience designing and facilitating experiences for students on 3 continents. Be in touch so we can create the perfect learning experience for you.



Blog post written by Tony Cox: Co-Founder & Director - Leaders of the Day

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