Contact:
Saima Naz, 604.723.6400; snaz@ilearndl.com
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.9017; Marianne_Meadahl@sfu.ca

Photos: http://at.sfu.ca/FHfdnP

A group of Surrey high school students has been getting an early taste of post-secondary life while broadening their career goals through a new, four-credit course held at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey campus this spring.

The students are the second cohort to enroll in Career Prep, offered through iLearn DL Secondary School, an independent high school based in Surrey, together with SFU Surrey.

An initial class of Grade 11 and 12 students attended weekly classes at the SFU campus last fall. Students learn about career options and life skills to help them prepare for career paths and also hear from professionals from a variety of industries.

Besides classroom work they undertake 30 hours of community volunteer work, an integral part of the course.

“I wanted to create a course that would assist students as they explore their careers to show them just how wide open the possibilities are,” says Saima Naz, the school’s principal.

The school has a blended concept of online learning with in-classroom teacher support.

“This course essentially targets the bottom line by teaching social skills, time management, professional behavior and other skills necessary to advance when high school is done. And by teaming up with SFU they have the opportunity to ‘try it out’ in a true campus setting.”

The idea took root after Naz met Joan Lagman, a co-op coordinator with Work Integrated Learning (WIL) at SFU. “Saima was looking for a way to create this opportunity and since this is my field of practice, I was excited to team up with her on this course,” says Lagman. The two approached the university to host the weekly sessions.

“Our goal is to be as experiential as possible for high school students so that they can be exposed to a variety of careers and inspired to continue with post-secondary education,” says Naz.

“We really wanted to have the classes on a university campus to inspire the students by experiencing what it is like to be on campus, and help them see that attending a university like SFU is within their reach.”

SFU staff members also give presentations focusing on recruitment, student life and financial aid, and students have the opportunity to sit in on lectures and attend campus tours. “All of this has helped to overcome students' fears about universities and help set them up for success,” adds Lagman.

Simon Fraser University is Canada's top-ranked comprehensive university and one of the top 50 universities in the world under 50 years old. With campuses in Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey, B.C., SFU engages actively with the community in its research and teaching, delivers almost 150 programs to more than 30,000 students, and has more than 120,000 alumni in 130 countries.

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Simon Fraser University: Engaging Students. Engaging Research. Engaging Communities.