Twenty-one-year-old high school dropout Melissa Bertin said she is trying to prove to her father that she has the courage to go back and fix her mistakes.
The Sudbury Action Centre for Youth client is participating in a new St. Albert Adult Learning Centre outreach program.
Jillian Auspina, a teacher from the school, has been visiting the downtown drop-in centre for at-risk youth during weekday afternoons. The program is brand-new, beginning this September.
Auspina is helping about 15 youth, including Bertin, to earn high school credits, and is always trying to recruit more.
“My dad asked me once upon a time ‘What are you going to do (after you drop out)?’ I can at least show him now that I did make my mistake, but I went back and I’m trying to fix it,” Bertin said.
The young woman, who survives on a disability pension, said she dropped out of high school in Grade 10.
She is in the process of getting her Grade 9 and 10 credits through St. Albert’s Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) program.
Students are tutored by a teacher, and then take tests in math, science, English and history/geography.
If they pass the tests, they will have all of the credits needed to put them into Grade 11.
Completing the PLAR program can take as little as a month.
“I just finished a credit for the PLAR program in history and geography. That took me about two weeks to do. I’m now working on Grade 10 English,” said Bertin.
Bertin said she hopes to complete her high school education by June, and enter the child and youth worker program at Cambrian College. When asked if she’s proud of herself for attempting to complete her education, Bertin said “yes I am.”
Auspina said that, like Bertin, many of her students haven’t even completed their Grade 10 education. “A lot of them are missing a few of those credits or the bulk of those credits.”
There’s a variety of reasons why the students originally dropped out of high school, including difficulties at home, substance abuse issues and insecure living arrangements, she said.
Auspina said she hopes that once she gets her students past Grade 10, they will go onto earning the rest of the high school credits they need to graduate.
She said she knows of a few who wish to attend St. Albert.
“It’s definitely rewarding (doing this job), especially at the action centre, where I’m meeting students who have had difficulties in a regular classroom setting,” she said.
“Now we’re giving them the opportunity to get that diploma in order to be able to get a good job and really help them out, and make sure they have the tools in order to be able to succeed.”
Another one of Auspina’s students, 20-year-old Amber Theriault, has already finished her high school diploma, but wasn’t happy with the 51 per cent mark she got in Grade 12 English.
She’s re-doing the course to get a better mark.
Theriault said she eventually hopes to go onto college and become a child and youth worker.
Theriault also said she’s currently expecting a baby, and is motivated to improve her education for her baby’s sake.
The fact that St. Albert is providing programming at the action centre, in an environment where the youth are comfortable, “means a lot to us,” she said.
“They motivate us and everything. We don’t actually have to go to the school. They come to us. It saves us time. I like it. It’s pretty cool.”
St. Albert vice-principal Cassandra MacGregor said it’s “very, very” important to reach out to those needing an education.
“Some people don’t know what’s out there and what their options are. It (the program) gives them hope for the future. They see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
St. Albert Adult Learning Centre
- Located at 504 St. Raphael St., 673-3031, www.st-albert.scdsb.edu.on.ca
- Operated by the Sudbury Catholic District School Board
- Open to students 18 and over, separate programming for those under 21 and over 21
- Students can start school any time of year
- On-site daycare
- New business program to start in January, Personal Support Worker program to start in September 2010
- Correspondence courses available
Sudbury Action Centre for Youth
- Located at 105 Elm Street, Unit A, 673-4396, www.sacy.ca
- Youth drop-in hours, Monday-Tuesday 8 a.m.-8 p.m., Wednesday-Friday 8 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 2 p.m.-10 p.m.
- Among services provided are counselling, goal setting and schooling information, access to social services, housing support, recreation and referrals.
