Customize your high school experience with SHSM

AVOVE: Marshall Alfonso's co-op placement has provided him with a newfound sense of belonging.

The Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) is a high school program geared towards helping students focus on a career path that connects to their interests while they earn their diploma. Many students find that their regular high school classes do not meet their needs or match their interests. SHSM is a great way to develop skills through experiential learning, achieve industry recognized certifications and to reach ahead for post-secondary education.

Students such as eighteen year old Marshall Alfonso, have benefitted from SHSM. Alfonso is a grade twelve student who joined SHSM because of his interest in co-op, one of the components of the program. The program offers a wide variety of topics students can specialise in, including arts and culture. a Canadian arts supply store.

Currently, there are 42 programs being offered at schools across the Ottawa Carleton District School Board. As part of SHSM, co-op placements Alfonso’s is working at DeSerres, one of the placements in the arts and culture category. The Saint Laurent location has partnered with SHSM to help students acquire new skills — both in the artistic and business fields.

“What I like most about SHSM is the different experiences and opportunities I get. I get the chance to do things and meet people that I otherwise would've never done or met,” says Alfonso.

SHSM offers seven to nine grade 11 and 12 credits, including two co-op. Students who choose to partake in this program are provided with essential skills for entering the workforce and complete industry recognised certifications, like first aid and CPR qualifications. In addition, pursuing SHSM allows students to customize their high school experience, earn credits that are recognised by post secondary education institutions, explore career goals and transition to apprenticeship training after graduation.

As one of the many young Canadians who has battled mental illness, Alfonso says that SHSM has given him another reason to live. His co-op placement has provided him with a newfound sense of belonging. After being told countless times, by adults that art is not a real job, and that he will never succeed, SHSM has proved them wrong.

“There are real opportunities and real ways to be an artist and be happy, you just have to look for them and remember that if you're happy doing what you're doing, then you're successful. You don't have to make a profit, you don't have to be famous, all that matters is your personal happiness, and I thoroughly believe that you should do whatever it takes to be happy with your life,” says Alfonso.

Students who graduate with SHSM receive an Ontario Secondary School Diploma with an embossed SHSM seal, a SHSM record documenting their achievement and a formal recognition on their Ontario Student Transcript.

“I'm so grateful for the experience I've been given. I plan on using my experiences from to hopefully find a way into college” says Alfonso.

Though SHSM is not widely known, it has a positive impact on students. It is important to acknowledge the benefits of the program so that more students feel connected to their studies and can engage in these experiences.