High School students receive taste of college life during annual Experience Selkirk Day
By Bob Hall
High school students from across the West Kootenay-Boundary received a taste for post-secondary life last week at the annual Experience Selkirk Day.
More than 400 students descended on Selkirk College’s Castlegar Campus, Tenth Street Campus and Kootenay Studio Arts Campus to take in morning workshops and afternoon games. It was an opportunity for those considering a post-secondary pathway at Selkirk College to get a closer look.
“We spend time visiting high schools and talking with students throughout the year,” says Selkirk College Recruitment Specialist Aimie Chernoff.
“But getting them to come onto campus where they can interact with instructors, staff and current students makes it much more real. We want students of our region to know that this is their community college, that it’s a welcoming place to be and a great place to learn.”
Students came from high schools all across the region for the Thursday event, including JL Crowe (Trail), Stanley Humphries (Castlegar), LV Rogers (Nelson), Grand Forks Secondary, Boundary Central Secondary (Midway), Mount Sentinel, JV Humphries (Kaslo), Nakusp, New Denver (Lucerne), Seven Summits (Rossland), KCLC (Kootenay Columbia Learning Centre), Salmo Secondary, Prince Charles Secondary (Creston) and Self Design High (Nelson).
The morning workshops had students taking part in classes like The Chemistry of Candy Making, Clay Creations, Boarding Pass – Language Arts, Explore the World of Tourism, Graphics In Motion, Math Circle and Sinixt: Real-Live Extinct Indigenous People – Anthropology.
“Our instructors did an excellent job of providing a spark to these enthusiastic students,” says Chernoff.
“Obviously it’s scratching the surface of all the amazing educational opportunities at Selkirk College, but it’s a nice introduction.”
The afternoon consisted of a barbecue lunch and then schools competed against each other in fun games on what turned out to be glorious West Kootenay day.
Though introducing students to elements of Selkirk College’s student life was the goal, the winning teams did leave with cheques for their schools which will be used for any student life activities of their choice.
The winners of the team competition in Castlegar were Grand Forks Secondary and Boundary Central Secondary.
In Nelson, the winning school was JL Crowe.
“The spirit and participation in the games was better than ever this year,” says Chernoff.
“The students had a great time and we hope they left with a little more understanding about what takes place at Selkirk College.”
