Avery Outreach School students and staff thanked the Rotary Club of Lloydminster for changing the scope of its $1,000 annual scholarship from post-secondary education to employment-related certificates and tickets. Many of the 250 students have jobs. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
The Rotary Club of Lloydminster has changed its student scholarship program from academics to job readiness tickets recently at Avery Outreach School with positive results.
Avery’s principal Rob Merilees and counsellor Rhonda Schwenk spoke about the re-purposed $1,000 scholarship at Rotary’s Monday meeting with testimonials from student beneficiaries Mytchell Wright and Amelia Torrance.
“In the past, they’d do one scholarship, so one student could go on to post-secondary, but now we have it so we can send some kids for certain tickets for first aid or what they need to keep these students employable,” said Merilees.
Avery advocated for the change to fit the school’s learning niche that offers a flexible structure for students in Grades 10-12 with many of them having part-time jobs.
“A lot of our students don’t go on to post-secondary,” said Schwenk.
“I thought if it could support the employability piece, that is definitely going to be a huge step in the right direction as far as citizenship and life beyond Avery graduation goes.
“Last year was the first year we did the safety tickets and the certification. So the students that utilized this have full-time employment or part-time employment.”
Students Wright and Torrance are the first two students who went through certification to improve their employment chances.
Torrance is still in Grade 11 and took a food safety course that paid off with a job that she loves.
“I am the type of person who loves working in food, restaurants anything of the sort. The food safety is one of the things you need if you’re wanting to work in that field,” she said.
“When I took it I immediately got a job in a kitchen and I feel more comfortable working in a kitchen now that I know the food safety regulations and so forth.
“I think because Avery offered that it helped me become accessible to getting a job.”
Torrance also believes Avery is a great school with occupational programs while giving kudos to Rotary as well.
“I think overall Avery is just an amazing school. Without them, I wouldn’t be what I am now. I just want to say thank you to Avery and thank you for funding us,” she said.
Avery currently has an enrolment of around 250 full-time and part-time students, including some shared courses with students from Lloydminster Comprehensive High School.
“We provide flexible learning. A lot of it is through modular booklets. Some are online. The kids have jobs. We’re just very flexible,” said Merilees.
“I’d like to thank Rotary for the scholarships for our students.”
Wright graduated from Grade 11 last year, and as a 20-year-old, is doing some upgrading right now with plans to take an environment and reclamation course at Lakeland College in the future.
He also spoke highly of his Avery experience.
“We’re definitely a family school. You come into that place and if you don’t want to be super open or want a space to yourself, it’s provided to you,” he said.
Wright also gave a nod to Rotary for the scholarship opportunity.
“Thank you guys for planning what you have and please continue to do so because even if students aren’t aware of it and do become aware of it, it’s there for them to take advantage of it. It’s really nice,” he said.
Merilees also briefly commented on plans for Avery to eventually move into Barr Colony School, which will close at the end of the current school year and undergo renovations.
“It will be good. It will be nice to have the gym. It will be a change because I’ve been at Avery for about 18 years now,” he said.
