A unique course was presented to School District 57 Trustees during Tuesday’s meeting, to be approved as an authorized course.
The Equine Assisted Learning and Animal Care 12 course has students spend afternoons on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s working and volunteering with animals for skill building and relationship building exercises.
Alternative Community Programs (ACP) Teacher, Christopher Olivier said giving the students these opportunities they would never have in any other situation is powerful.
“It’s something they would never be able to do otherwise, and it allows them to learn skills that are going to carry them through the rest of their lives.”
“There’s skills involved with working with the animals, but we also make sure as a major point to relate everything back to how it can work in your daily life working with people, yourself.”
Olivier said while this is only at ACP, there are options to expand it to other schools.
On Tuesday’s, students visit the Miworth Equestrian Centre to work directly with horses on skill building and relationship building exercises, with Thursday’s at different animal shelters or facilities to volunteer with the animals.
Trustees unanimously approved the authorization of the course, making it a more formalized course.
More information about the course, along with the full meeting agenda can be found here.
Other items discussed at the meeting include the 2024-25 Statement of Financial Information report, the budget process and timeline, and SD57 class sizes.
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