New Programs and Initiatives

By the Gradworks Intern Development Program

Saskatchewan Crown Investments Corporation Recognizes the Need for Young Talent in the Workplace

Gradworks is part of a five-year, $20 million investment announced by CIC in 2003 to create more opportunities for young and aboriginal participation in Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations. Statistics show that half of the current Crown employees, or about 5,000 people, will retire by 2017. The Crown corporations will need to replace them with educated, skilled workers. Crown Investments Corporation officially launched the Gradworks Intern Development Program in February 2005. This program is designed to provide recent post-secondary graduates with challenging and career-focused positions within our network of Saskatchewan employers. At the present time, all internships are found within Saskatchewan Crown Corporations but Gradworks plans to expand its program into other sectors in Saskatchewan in the future.

To date, Gradworks has over 2000 graduates registered on its system and has offered 106 internships. Crown Investments Corporation’s commitment to the program is to offer 250 internships over five years (2004-2008).

In order to be eligible for the Gradworks Program, individuals must have graduated from a recognized Canadian post secondary institution within the last five years and have less than one year of related work experience (relevant to their field of study). Graduates must also be eligible to work in Canada and have not previously completed an internship with Gradworks.

In order to be considered for internships, graduates must register and add their resume to the Gradworks system online at www.gradworks.ca. At this point, graduates can apply to any internships they are interested in.

These full-time internship positions of 12 months in length are intended to allow recent post-secondary graduates the opportunity to gain experience and to develop specific career-related skills needed to gain permanent employment in Saskatchewan. Interns receive a 12-month salary of at least $2,300/month ($27,600/year) before taxes.

Interns benefit from being matched with a coach, often their direct supervisor, who provides mentorship to the intern as well as assisting the intern in expanding his or her professional networks. Interns also receive professional development training in areas such as but not limited to leadership, identifying personality indicators, career planning, financial planning, and stress management. Such development is very important in the intern’s growth as a new contributor to the workforce.

For further information, please direct inquiries to:

Shannon Roberts, Gradworks Program Coordinator
Toll free: (877) 789-4723
Email: sroberts@gradworks.ca
Website: www.gradworks.ca

By Amy Sharaf and UC411.com

The UC411 ‘Guidance Counsellor of the Year’ Award

UC411 has always felt that the great work of student counsellors across Canada was largely underappreciated, so we decided to create our own small way of saying ‘thanks!’.

We would like to introduce the first annual Guidance Counsellor of the Year award, from your students and UC411.

When a student showed guidance counsellor Ronald Facciol the bloody symbols she had carved into her arms so she could draw with her own blood, he knew he had to act fast.

“This girl had to be seen,” said Facciol, a counsellor at Francis Libermann Catholic High School in Scarborough, Ont. “She thought about (suicide) and had a method; as soon as a kid has a method (a counsellor) has to act upon it immediately.”

Facciol rushed the girl to the hospital where she was assessed by psychiatrists and admitted for further treatment. She later recovered and graduated from high school.

That was one of Facciol’s first experiences as a guidance counsellor, 15 years ago. Everyday Facciol and his fellow counsellors help students with everything from adding and dropping classes and university admissions to suicide and pregnancy scares. They provide refuge and guidance for even the most difficult problems.

Judi Martin, a counsellor at Sir Wilfred Laurier Collegiate Institute in Toronto knows exactly what it means to need someone to listen to you. As an abused child who left home at 16 while still in high school, Martin said counsellors at a women’s shelter helped her through her problems. After 20 years of being a guidance counsellor herself, she credits her experiences with helping her relate to her students better.

“I think it makes me a better counsellor. I think I have a greater understanding of the kid who’s not going through the ‘Leave it to Beaver’ life,” Martin said.

Like Facciol, Martin has had to deal with extreme cases including abuse and neglect. In one case, Martin returned to Toronto from a job in Oklahoma to testify on behalf of a girl who was badly abused by her boyfriend.

“(The student) said that the thing that made the biggest difference in her life was that I would go to all that time and trouble to come back all the way from Oklahoma to testify on her behalf,” Martin said. “In her mind, no one else had cared enough and she was surprised that I cared that much.”

Martin has also helped students approach their parents about difficult subjects. In one case, a male student came out to his parents during a counselling session and another girl approached Martin because she was scared to tell her religious family that she was pregnant.

Janice Walker, Student Services department head at Francis Libermann also urges students to come forward if they need advice.  She said conversations are always confidential unless the student or others are at risk.

“When a kid comes to me, my responsibility is to discuss with them their options, all options and to not be judgmental because that’s not going to help the kid and not going to put me in a helping role to talk to them about (decision making),” she said.

Walker adds that it means a lot when students thank her for helping them. “(As a counsellor) you don’t get a whole lot of thanks, but when you do, it’s really precious.”

We have always valued our relationship with student counsellors, as partners in providing education information and options to young people, and in assisting students in making their career path decisions. We share the same goals, and are proud members of various provincial student counselor associations, including the Ontario School Counsellors’ Association (OSCA), Manitoba School Counsellors’ Association (MSCA), Nova Scotia School Counsellors’ Association (NSSCA), Saskatchewan School Counsellors’ Association (SGCA), and the Canadian Counsellors’ Association (CCA).

We decided to take the initiative ourselves, and created a national award designed to recognize Canadian guidance counsellors who have demonstrated excellence in their field by having a profound and lasting impact on their students’ professional and/or personal lives. Students themselves nominate their guidance counsellors, and UC411 will administer the award.

The ‘winning’ counsellor and the student who nominated them will each receive a laptop computer courtesy of UC411.com, and will also be featured in FAZE magazine. Of course, UC411 feels strongly that all guidance counsellors nominated by their students are winners, as well as the students themselves.

To see if you have been nominated by one of your students, just visit www.uc411.com/Guidance_Counselor.asp for a list of all nominees. And keep up the good work.

UC411.com is Canada’s ‘Busiest Education Information Website’, with over 10,000 student visitors daily and over 250 college, private career college, and university partners listing. As the leading online resource of Canadian education options, UC411.com is committed to the advocacy of quality education in Canada.