High-energy education: specialist high school course guiding students into trades.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: SUDBURY

Between the tour of the Sir Adam Beck Generating Station in Niagara Falls, the GPS tutorial at the Canadian Ecology Centre in Mattawa and the Skype conversation with David Suzuki, the students in the energy-focused Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program at Lasalle Secondary School in Sudbury have had an intriguing year.

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But for many, the program's appeal lies not just in the trips, but the variety of career possibilities it opens . up to them.

"(The program) really depends on what courses you take because there are so many different things you get to explore and learn about through the SHSM," Grade 12 student Amber Tooley said. "So it really helps prepare you for pretty much any pathway you intend on going into in science."

Implemented six years ago at eligible high schools across the province, SHSMs allow students to focus on a career path that matches their skills and interests while meeting the requirements of the Ontario Secondary School Diploma. The aim is to encourage students to consider careers in industries that are facing serious worker shortages.

SHSM programs are offered in 20 different industries, including mining, energy, construction, aviation and aerospace, manufacturing and business. To qualify, students have to take a bundle of nine to 10 credits specific to an industry, as well as six to eight certifications such as first aid and CPR, participate in experiential learning activities and complete a co-op placement. All costs associated with the SHSMs are borne by the Ministry of Education.

Leo Leclair, the SHSM co-ordinator for the Rainbow District School Board, said he notices a marked difference in students who enrol in the SHSM program.

"When they get involved in this program they're not only coming for the mining class but they also realize they have to stay for English class and math class and history class, because it's all part of that bundle, " he said. " And they're . passing, and they're succeeding, and they enjoy what they're doing, because now, if you really think about it, they also have a purpose for those classes."

In Tooley's energy-focused SHSM at Lasalle, teacher Liane Esau keeps a solar panel at the back of the classroom that can be taken apart and reconstructed, or hauled outside to calculate the best angle at which to capture solar energy. Repurposed pop bottles contain biology experiments, and across the hall, a motion-sensor water fountain tallies the number of water...