BOW VALLEY – The dual credit program aiming to get students ahead of the game in terms of life after high school has added more options for young adults to choose from.
In partnership with Bow Valley College and Olds College, the Canadian Rockies Public School board (CRPS) is adding four new courses to the dual credit docket, including an anatomy physiology course and two more hospitality and tourism courses.
Director of technology, learning and facilities at CRPS Steve Greene said the board has been working with both colleges to give students more options. He said Bow Valley College has added two new courses to the program in addition to those already being offered.
“One [is] a design course and the other being an anatomy physiology course, [which is] actually going to run as a full-year course, all the other courses are semester based,” said Greene.
Bow Valley College already offers three medical related courses (Medical Terminology I & II, and Heath Education: Personal Health & Wellness), which are worth five credits each. Greene said the new addition would further help students move into a variety of fields should they wish to pursue them after high school.
Meanwhile, Greene said he and his team have been working with Olds College to create a four-course certification process for the hospitality tourism program. The team has been working alongside the college to develop this new four-course process, developing two of the courses last year and adding two new ones this year.
“If a student takes one or all four of the courses, it ladders into their diploma program at Olds College, meaning they’ve already got those courses, that’s why it’s called dual credit, you’re getting credit at the high school level and you’re getting credit at the post secondary level,” he said.
“This past year we worked with a grant that we got from Alberta Education dual credit to develop two more courses that are being offered next year. They’re being finalized [Tuesday]… One’s a sport recreation in hospitality tourism and the other is accommodation management. They’re brand new for next year.”
Greene said these four courses will all be available for the students for the first time in a certification process.
“The four courses can be stand alone as a hospitality tourism certification, so even if they never get in to Olds College or attend that school, students, or professionals for that matter, can use it as a certification process to help make their resumè look stronger and show experience if they’re wanting to get into the hospitality tourism industry,” he said.
The different courses all overlap into many different fields, according to Greene, providing the students with experience before leaving high school.
“The biggest piece of it is the exposure, on multiple levels,” he said.
“What I mean by that is they’re being exposed to post-secondary level courses and they’re able to try courses just to see, to see if they like it, to look at potential opportunities and whether it really promotes them to jump into it, or say you know what, maybe I’m not sure.”
He said the courses are helping students graduate high school and move into the work force or post secondary and that the program, which has been running for five to six years already, is only growing.
“The program has grown from its first year to this year, it’s grown in student numbers and uptake every year. This was our largest year in terms of students taking dual credit courses so clearly our kids are telling us that they want it,” Greene said.
