School is finally out for summer.
Approximately 320 students in the Foothills School Division’s summer school program can close their schoolbooks at the end of this week and enjoy the remaining holidays.
The students had as many reasons for hitting the books the past four weeks, as there are options for how to spend a summer holiday.
Maya Povhe, a recent Grade 9 grad from St. John Paul II Collegiate, is getting a jump on high school before heading to Switzerland as a High River Rotary exchange student.
“I have no guarantee that my classes are going to count next year in Switzerland, and I want to make sure I have the credits so I can graduate with my friends,” she said. “So I decided to take extra stuff before I left.”
Povhe and the other students attending Okotoks Junior High School in July have blown the 1970s stereotypes of summer school students out of the water.
She is an honor student at St. John Paul II Collegiate. Povhe took the high school class Science 10 online last semester, but found summer school at the Okotoks Junior High School campus more to her liking.
“I really like it, I like the classroom experience, real people teaching me,” said Povhe, who is taking Math 10C for the summer.
Logan Golinoski is redoing Math 10C after just getting by at traditional school.
“I have not ever been good at math and I didn’t really understand it,” she said. “I’m doing it a lot better. I think having the information once and then doing it again makes it a lot easier. I have a lot more understanding of it.”
Golinoski admits she didn’t want to go to summer school.
“I don’t think anyone does,” she said with a laugh. “I thought I might as well boost my mark up.”
It’s intense — they are completing a core class in about four weeks.
“It’s tough but it’s just one subject for four weeks, so you are focused on just one subject,” Golinoski said. “Now, I’m glad I took it.”
Recent Oilfields High School grad Hailey Almusa needs to boost her Bio 30 mark to get into the nursing program at Lethbridge Community College.
Summer school provided the right medicine.
“I need a specific mark to get in,” Almusa said. “My plan is to take the course and not write the final exam. I’ll use my final exam mark from Oilfields.”
Time management is key. Almusa is a lifeguard at Dr. Lander Pool in Turner Valley. She makes sure all her homework is done during tutorials at Okotoks Junior High after classes end at around 1:15 p.m.
Jordan Scholes is a recent grad at Foothills Composite High School. He needs to up his math mark by four per cent to get into SAIT in the future.
“I’m doing much, much, much better,” Scholes said. “It is difficult because I started a new job from 5 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. stocking shelves. School starts at 10:30 a.m. for me, so it is tough.”
The students aren’t the only ones spending their summer in the classroom.
So are the teachers.
“I’m a new teacher and having the opportunity to teach two new courses in a month is a good learning experience,” he said. “I don’t have as many students but it is really fast-paced.
“You have piles of stuff to mark every day… You have to get the feedback to the students on time.”
Just like the students who have had to manage their time in the condensed courses, he has to be organized.
While the students and teachers focus on their work, other high-school aged students are catching rays, not studying The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man In the Moon Marigolds.
However, their sunshine days are going to come.
“We’ve go very lucky — it’s been pouring for the last couple of weeks,” she said. “For the majority of summer school it’s been bad weather. Right now, I want to be outside, but it’s almost over. I’m glad I took it.”
