Co-op students, mentors celebrated at bi-annual CHSS breakfast
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
Throughout the entire school year, the co-op program at Central Huron Secondary School (CHSS) helps students figure out what they want to do after high school. But, once a semester, CHSS celebrates all the hard work done by the program’s students and supervisors by holding a legendary morning meal known as the CHSS Co-op Breakfast.
On June 11, the spring 2025 edition of the CHSS co-op breakfast took place. Principal Scott Richardson welcomed representatives from all the businesses that had accepted placement students this year. “I’m very proud of the things that we do inside the school,” he told the crowd as they ate. “But the reality is, sometimes the best learning experience can happen outside of the school. Thank you very much for taking on our students, and giving them that valuable learning experience - it’s something they will remember for the rest of their lives.”
Co-op program co-ordinator Shane Taylor also thanked another essential group that makes the CHSS co-op program so special - the Nutritional Management Services team. “Thanks to Heather, Deb, and Cindy for making our breakfast this morning,” he said. While attendance at the previous edition of the bi-annual fast breaking was somewhat reduced due to the wild winter Huron County had this year, program participants came out in force last week to enjoy an expertly-prepared breakfast, replete with all the classics: eggs, bacon, sausage, French toast, hash browns, coffee and juice.
Taylor welcomed one of the placement employers who was just stopping in for a mid-shift meal. “We thank the Huron County paramedics for coming out,” he declared. “They’re all on duty, so we need to get them rolling, in case they need to go. We appreciate them, and we appreciate that we now have the co-op students allowed back in the ambulances for the first time in almost 20 years.”
He pointed out that it takes a village to raise a student. “We really appreciate the board supporting that, and all the community businesses supporting us, and all the community businesses that are practising our students, and hiring our students for the summer.”
Ashley Stevenson is People and Administration Manager for one of the community businesses participating in the program: Cowbell Brewing in Blyth. She handles the onboarding, hiring and training of employees at Cowbell. They’ve had a few co-op students throughout the years, but this is the first time Cowbell has had one from CHSS: Tanner Brooks, who is currently working as an operations assistant on the production side of things. “He’s helping to package products, clean tanks, quality control - all of that stuff,” Stevenson explained.
Having Brooks on board has been good for Cowbell, in her opinion. “He’s been a great asset, for sure,” she said. “It’s great, because this gives us the flexibility of actually having more hands during the day, Monday to Friday, and it also gives the student the opportunity for a job down the road.”
Brooks is getting a lot of hands-on experience. “I worked there before, and I just thought it’d be interesting to learn what the brewing process is,” he said. “It was just a cool experience to learn what grains and malts go into it, and how long it takes to brew it, and all the processes and steps behind it… I might probably stay working there for a bit and see what happens.”
Taylor also pointed out that the co-op program can lead to career opportunities for CHSS students even before they graduate from high school. While many students use their co-op experience to stand out from the crowd while applying to college or university, others go straight into an apprenticeship program. Over the last five years, the CHSS co-op program has helped over 45 students find an apprenticeship. “These were students from our high school that started their apprenticeship while they’re still in high school,” he said.
This year, nine students have entered an apprenticeship, and three students have achieved their Level one this semester. “We’ve had three students this semester do their level one for two months, every single day,” Taylor continued. “So, not only will they have their apprenticeship, they’re going to graduate with their first schooling, so that they can graduate, work for a year, and go get their second level… we had three students do that this year, and we’ve had three students do that almost every year, for the last several years - it’s just phenomenal.”
Taylor also welcomed a representative from Merit Ontario to the breakfast. Merit Ontario is a member-driven organization that helps connect employers to potential apprentices by helping to manage the administration side of an apprenticeship for construction-oriented skilled tradespeople. This removes barriers that can prevent an apprentice from continuing their apprenticeship after graduating from high school. “They'll handle the paperwork and support the apprenticeship journey for local businesses, making it easy for employers to hire, train, maintain and retain apprentices,” Taylor explained.
Not everybody who enters the CHSS co-op program is looking for a stepping stone to a specific future - some are just interested in the prospect of approaching learning in a different way. Cole Hugill is spending his co-op working as a farm labourer at Flynn Farms, just north of Clinton. “I just heard about it - you know, from seeing the board at school, and seeing the pictures on Instagram. And I just thought I wanted to do co-op - you can do pretty much anything you want, so I just wanted to find the right thing for me… you actually get to do things, and you get to learn and try. And if you’ve messed up, no one’s gonna get terribly mad at you - you just try again until you get it right.”