A program that encourages year-round learning and job experience is being spotlighted in Windsor.
Ontario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter made a stop at David Suzuki School Thursday morning to check in on programs surrounding the Focus on Youth initiative, set in motion by the province to give students a chance to experience a work setting. It also gives students a safe learning environment during the summer months. Focus on Youth is run in conjunction with the YMCA.
David Suzuki School is one of eight programs in the Greater Essex County Public School Board operating a day camp program, which is geared toward students in Grades 1 through 8 and features a wide variety of activities involving physical fitness, arts and crafts, and others. The public board says that in the summer of 2016, 94 secondary school students were placed in summer jobs. During her visit, Hunter met with a student who works as a student custodian, a job made possible through the program.
The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board also runs Focus on Youth in its system. Day camps are held not only in school buildings, but also in cooperation with municipalities and nonprofit groups. The towns of Tecumseh and LaSalle, and organizations such as the Learning Disabilities Association of Windsor-Essex County, are among those participating this summer.
Focus on Youth has been operating in the province since 2007, according to the Ministry of Education's website.
Earlier Thursday, Hunter stopped by the construction site of the new St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic school, near Ford Test Track Park. The building will accommodate junior kindergarten through Grade 6 and consolidate the student bodies at St. Bernard and St. Jules schools.
https://twitter.com/MitzieHunter/status/895651996845223936