Saskatchewan students will have a new opportunity to get connected with tourism in the province with a new set of courses being offered by the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Corporation (Sask DLC).
Their tourism courses cover grades 10, 11, and 12 and allow students to work with the tourism industry to get a better insight into it.
Kelli Boklaschuk, superintendent of student programming with Sask DLC, talks about their partnership with Tourism Saskatchewan to bring these lessons to students.
"It's been a great opportunity for us to partner with Saskatchewan tourism to provide opportunities for our students to take tourism courses at the high school level, grades 10, 11, and 12. So the 10/20/30 courses and be able to provide students with opportunities to have work placements at the 10, 20, and 30 level, so grade 10, 11, and 12."
"This gives the students an opportunity for real-world experience to understand the different aspects of the tourism industry. So they get to really connect to their interest area and look at choosing between those five different industries that make up tourism, including accommodation, food and beverage, recreation and entertainment, and transportation and travel services."
Boklaschuk says the program would help students in a number of different locations across the province connect with local businesses.
"We're able to really have our students connect with the local communities, local businesses, the tourism businesses in the area, and connect in there, so really looking at the culture of the region, the economy, the availability, and the languages, so many different opportunities for students to connect right in where they are in the province."
The courses will be split between both active work and in-class work with Boklaschuk saying they'll take the proper steps to make sure students stay safe.
"Our courses are 100 hours and 50 of those hours are online theory-based. So getting to know the different aspects of tourism, focusing on customer service, the economy, and things like that. Then they have 50 hours of work placement. So at that point, our coordinator would work with a business in the tourism industry and ensure that the safety measures are in place. But it's a good fit for what the students looking for and what the business is looking for."
Boklaschuk is excited about the program and what it will do for both students and the province's economic growth.
"I just think this is such a great opportunity. Certainly, Saskatchewan has got a growth plan and a goal around growing the tourism industry. We know that tourism has been growing throughout the province in the last number of years and this is certainly something where we're seeing it in our labour force."
"It's a great opportunity for our students to be starting to think about their career earlier on and getting some real-world experience and making choices about their future as early as possible, so this is something we try to do with as many of our courses at Sask DLC so that students can be thinking ahead and then trying different things out to see what's the best fit for them moving forward into their career."