Ready for the next step

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This article was published 19/05/2015 (4037 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A high school diploma is a ticket for tomorrow, and tomorrow is looking pretty bright for some fresh graduates.

This year, nine inner-city youth graduated from the University of Winnipeg Collegiate Model School, marking the program’s largest graduating class to date. The senior students donned their caps and gowns in front of friends and family at the Duckworth Centre on May 12 and were all smiling as they received their high school diplomas.

“I never thought I would be graduating and it feels like such a great accomplishment and such a good start to starting my life,” 18-year-old Emma Arnott said. “I’m the first one in my little family to be going to university, so that is exciting and now my goal is to graduate university.”

The Model School within the University of Winnipeg Collegiate is “a school within a school” according to Ian Elliot, instructor and acting director of the program.

“It’s a program designed to give opportunities to students who are under-represented at post-secondary institutions a chance to get rigorous academic education,” Elliot said. “The goal is to take away some of the barriers that might face them so they can concentrate on their academics.”

To help students focus on their studies and future goals, the program supplies them with bus passes and nutritional food is available at all times. The Model School offers extra tutorial time, career exploration and resume building, CPR/First Aid courses and other options depending on a student’s interests, such as food handling certificates or Level 1 basketball refereeing.

“I like everything about it but most importantly, the support that we have in all areas of our schooling and our lives,” 17-year-old graduate Marik Beraki said. “It’s a smaller group, we have a lot of one on one time with the teacher, so the teacher is always pushing us to work harder and achieve more, so that really helped me get my assignments done and hold myself to a higher standard than other schools would have put on me.”

Beraki, originally from Eritrea, moved to Canada with his family in 2006. He says his family moved to this country so he and his four siblings could have a better future and get a great education.

“I’m the oldest so I will be achieving that goal first and then my younger siblings can follow,” Beraki said.

The Model School program is offered to students in Grades 9 through 12 who show great potential or could benefit from a supportive learning environment. The youth are often referred by past principals, teachers, or non-profit organizations around the city.

Both Arnott and Beraki expressed how confident and prepared they feel transitioning into university next year because of the way the Model School challenged them to meet high expectations. The students are both attending the University of Winnipeg come the fall.
Since the Model School launched in 2008, the program has seen 42 students graduate, including the nine students making up this year’s class. More than half of those graduates are currently attending university.

“In general, it takes several years for a program to find its stride and we’ve learned a lot every year, but I think it’s really been coming into its own within the last several years,” Elliot said. “We are looking forward to the future and would like to add more courses and more supports to students within the program.”