Credit Recovery Achievement Centre, Summer School
Over the summer, the OCSB Continuing & Community Education Summer School provided the Credit Recovery Achievement Centre program. It allowed high school students in Grades 9 and 10 to recover one full course credit. This year, we saw a record-breaking number of 307 students sign up for the program as parents became more familiar with the registration process.
Indigenous Summer Program
The Indigenous Summer Program allows Indigenous students to earn a credit in various ways. The program ran for three weeks this summer, and 22 secondary students were enrolled.
Throughout the program, students participated in a wide range of cultural activities, land-based learning, and field trips while establishing connections with Indigenous community members. One of the field trips included a visit downtown and to the museum, where they took part in an Indigenous walking tour led by Jaime Morse. Another highlight of the program was a two-day excursion to Petrie Island, where the students participated in a water walk and were taught about Indigenous cultural practices and the significance of the land by the Kitigan Zibi community members.
The program offered opportunities to participate in a loop-beading workshop, Métis games and crafts, and Inuit games with a guest from Inuuqatigiit. Students received Qulliq teachings from Cailyn Nanauq DeGrandpre and learned from our region Métis Senator, Andy Dufrane.
The class partnered with Legacy of Hope to participate in a food sustainability program and learned about how to grow and harvest food sustainably. They also planned and made the lunches in the class for each day of the program.
Focus On Youth
Our OCSB Focus On Youth program develops students’ communication, collaboration, and workplace skills in partnership with the Ontario Government and community partners. This summer, placements included camp counsellors and caretakers. Whether leading a camp activity or preparing a classroom for the fall, these students made a real difference each day and positively impacted the community!
Summer Camps
OCSB Continuing & Community Education Summer Camps are a combination of fun and games focused on educational development and are open to students from all school boards. Our camps offered something for everyone this summer; whether a camper wants to explore physical activity, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programming, gaming, culinary arts, the outdoors, or the visual arts, we had a camp just for them. Our enrollment increased 13% for the summer of 2023 from the summer of 2022, with 4,018 campers.
A highlight was when Johnny Berhanemeskel, who played high school basketball at Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School and has been playing professionally since 2015, brought his knowledge of the game to kids in our OCSB Basketball Summer Camp. After signing his first contract to play in Estonia, Johnny has played mainly in Europe, and he currently plays for BC Budivelnyk in Kyiv, Ukraine. He also invited Catherine Traer, a member of Canada’s national three-on-three women’s team from Chelsea, Quebec, and Marial Shayok, another local who was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019 and now plays in the NBA G-League, to share their knowledge, too. The kids taking part in the camp said they learned a lot about the game they love, and Johnny doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon! He wants to make this camp an annual event.
Summer International & Indigenous Languages Program – Elementary
This fun and social program for all students from JK to Grade 8 encourages learning a new language. Students practice speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills while they enjoy games, music, and art activities. This summer, we offered virtual and in-person learning options and a variety of languages: Amharic, Blin, Cantonese, Dutch, Farsi, Igbo, Italian, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Portuguese, Punjabi, Ukrainian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Tigrinya, Turkish and Yoruba.
Summer Program For Black Students
In July, students enjoyed a week of workshops on financial literacy, gender and racial identity, mental health, yoga, and more. The students also heard from an OCSB Graduate on navigating school as a Black student and attended a presentation at Carleton University.