Grade 12 students who studied career development during the first term have unveiled their Capstone projects across the district, as part of their Career Life Connections course.
Career development is an important part of the new BC Curriculum and these projects, where students connect learning and life to post-secondary ambitions, are now a requirement for graduation.
“In 90 per cent of the classes that we take at school, we are learning about something external ,” said Noah Redgrove, Grade 12 student at NorKam Senior Secondary. “We are learning about math or science or English. But in Career Life Education and Career Life Capstone, we learn about ourselves. And that’s really important.”
Noah wants to be a community planner. He wanted to build an environmentally sustainable city for his project based on cities like Barcelona, Spain and Stockholm, Sweden. However, through his mentor, he learned that community engagement is a big part of community planning. He also learned about a plan being put together for the North Shore in Kamloops. After surveying his friends about how they would improve the North Shore, he reflected their answers with models he placed onto a large printout of the current streetscape of the North Shore.
At South Kamloops Secondary, Grade 12 students Raeshelle Pascual, Kaden Giles, Camryn Wetherill and Rachel Dixon demonstrated how each Capstone project is unique.
Raeshelle made a magazine about her life.
“I connected things such as my hobbies, my family, how I dealt with COVID-19, and I even included a small section on advice to younger SKSS students,” said Raeshelle. “I learned a lot about the process of designing a magazine as well as reflecting on my life so far and who I am as a person.”
Kaden is rebuilding a 1969 Mercury Cougar that his uncle gave his family 12 years ago.
“It sat, much to my mom’s dismay, until March of this year,” said Kaden.” It has taught me a lot however, teaching me to not just give up when I get stuck and to think ahead as to what my next steps are to be. My favourite part about the project would be the moment anyone sees it, they’re always excited to see the car back on the road.”
Camryn pursued her passion for art to create a graphic design project called Chasing Curiosity.
“Considering that I’m someone who’s very passionate in art, I thought it would be great to learn about a career that could allow me to fulfill that passion,” Camryn said. “For my Capstone, I decided to take a course on the basics of graphic design. Instead of creating one main work, I thought it would be a lot more interesting if I made a series of artworks that better represent each skill. In a limited amount of time, I’ve learned so much, and had a ton of fun doing it.”
Rachel Dixon created her own fashion line.
“For my Capstone project, I have created fashion which is sustainable for the environment and society, by using thrifted fabric as well as other materials I got for free,” Rachel said. “My goal was to show other students that they can get clothing that looks brand new and ties in with the new trends without contributing to fast fashion, climate change and is inexpensive.”
This story has been reproduced with permission from School District 73 (Kamloops-Thompson). The original posting can be found here.