The Co-operative Education Department of Centre Wellington District High School held its biannual Co-operative Education Expo and Employer Appreciation Breakfast on Dec. 11.
Seventy students represented different employers, education pathways, and career options – including trades and technologies, business, computer studies, English, family studies, social sciences, languages, media arts, physical education and science.
Student displays highlighted the skills required at work placements and acknowledge the support of their co-op employers.
Bridgette Bosomworth
Biology student Bridgette Bosomworth learned much in her time at Groves Memorial Community Hospital.
She described many of the aspects of hospital operations, including viewing a birth.
Though Bosomworth had wanted to be a nurse, she said that her experience at Groves, “now I know my career path will be in health medicine.”
Danny Dow
Danny Dow said “being a firefighter has been my dream since I was a kid.”
The co-op program gave him a taste of that dream.
Dow said the co-op program working with the Fergus station of the Centre Wellington Fire Department gave him a chance to learn more about other aspects of the firefighting service, including going along on property fire inspections.
“I think the program is great, because you can actually see beyond what most people see on the surface.”
Josh Toohill
Design student Josh Toohill’s experience also broadened his horizons.
Working with Stempski Kelly Associates Inc., he worked on projects including BT Park in Fergus, to remember the Beatty family.
But Toohill also worked on a wide variety of projects from residential to the streetscape proposals for the Town of Minto.
Part of that included using Google Sketchup to illustrate revised streetscapes – business by business.
“I love the fact I’ve learned so much in such a short time. I did something different every day.”
His work included using various programs for computer modeling, to creating physical models of projects. In addition, his work includes creating some documentation.
Because the individuals he worked with also teach at the university level, “I had insights to both the career and the education needed to become a landscape architect.”
