Pincher Creek Voice: Overview of Spring 2016 Experiential Learning Week at Matthew Halton High School

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Overview of Spring 2016 Experiential Learning Week at Matthew Halton High School

Entrepreneurship students show off their canned goods

Public welcome to come to Matthew Halton High School for Crazy Cakes tasting and tea at 11:00 am Friday May 6, proceeds to support the Red Cross wildfire relief effort

Josh Davis - Experiential Learning week is back at Matthew Halton High School (MHHS) in Pincher Creek. Experiential Learning Week gives high school and junior high school students the opportunity to explore their interests and potential future careers, signing up for activities including robotics, horsemanship, criminal justice, entrepreneurship, and many more! This year for the first time nearly 21 students from Matthew Halton and 7 students from St. Michael’s are present at Lethbridge College, living in residence while taking specialty courses in the Justice and Public Safety, Digital Communications and Media, or Interior Design Technology programs.

Matthew Halton Principal Tara Tanner

“Students are signed up for a variety of programs,” said Matthew Halton Principal Tara Tanner. “We have everything from ultimate frisbee to quilting to renovating old trailers to the group of students at Lethbrigde College. Lethbridge College has a group of professors coming out here for the week doing an environmental sciences course with some other students. We also have the STEM Learning Lab from Calgary coming down for a robotics course with our students.” Tanner explained that high school students will be receiving CTS credit for whatever module they take throughout the week, while the junior high school student receive a CTF option credit.

“There are all kinds of innovative and exciting hands on learning opportunities going on,” said Tanner. “We’ve evolved and we’ve changed. We’re really trying to partner with more of our community partners and our College partners to expand our learning opportunities.” Tanner mentioned that former students of Matthew Halton are helping out with the construction program. “Then they’re going to take a week in June and do some pre-employment certificates and tickets. So hopefully they’ll be ready this summer to go into the trades.”

As a part of the ELW Crazy Cakes course students are hoping to help out the Red Cross efforts in Fort McMurray. They are going to offer the tasting of their cakes and a gallery walk of the products they produced this week for a donation to the Red Cross. Members of the community are invited to come have cake and tea at 11:00 to help Albertans in need.

“They look forwards to this every year,” said Principal Tanner of student engagement throughout the week. “They are here first thing in the morning. We don’t even have to run the bells during the week, they’re so eager to get back to it.”