College of New Caledonia encouraging youth to “create their possibilities” with youth strategy launch

The College of New Caledonia has launched a new youth initiative, aimed at having youth create their own possibilities in post-secondary education.

The Create Your Possibilities name was chosen by youth.

“Young people have told us clearly that pathways are not always visible, that confidence grows through hands-on experience, that relationships matter.” said CNC President Cindy Heitman.

“This strategy marks the beginning and not the end of an ongoing commitment. As we move forward, we’ll continue to learn, adapt, evolve this work alongside schools, partners, families, youth serving organizations, and you, youth yourselves.”

According to the College, students shared words and ideas through engagement activities that reflected how they think about their future, their interests and experiences with post-secondary education.

Themes such as discovery, possibility, and finding direction emerged consistently, and helped shape the direction of the strategy.

The strategy has four focus areas reflecting what was heard through consultation with youth:

• Early Awareness and Education – Strengthen early awareness of post-secondary pathways by engaging youth in accessible, applied learning experiences beginning in the elementary and middle school years.
• Youth Engagement and Experiences – Expanding accessible, hands-on and pathway connected opportunities for youth to connect with CNC through on-campus and community-based experiences that build interest, familiarity and confidence.
• Pathways and Transitions – Improve how youth and families understand and navigate pathways into post-secondary by providing clearer information, building readiness, and supporting key transition points.
• Partnerships and Community Connections – Strengthen collaboration with schools and community partners to align efforts, build on existing programs, and expand access to youth engagement opportunities.

The strategy was unveiled at an event at the College’s Prince George Campus, with children from elementary school up to in secondary schools in attendance.

Vice President of Student Affairs Shelley Carter-Rose said getting students thinking about post-secondary early will be a game changer.

“We have an opportunity to build that sense of comfort, and we have time when we start with a younger age,” Carter-Rose said.

“By having them earlier, maybe in grade 11 they’ll say “I want to do this, so I’ll take these courses in high school,” so it really is a systems approach in terms of engaging early, providing opportunities so that they have that sense of comfort.”

Carter-Rose said there’s also discussions about doing programs similar to the Tek-X program, which is a dual-credit program offered to School District 57 students, allowing them to earn college credits.

“If there’s a unique program that we see we want to develop, that takes a lot of time,” she explained.

“There’s feasibility work that needs to be done, but that’s the beauty of working with our community groups. If we see and we’re hearing lots right now from the industry and business communities of possibilities, and we’re working on those, whether they’re credential programs or continuing education programs, that always is happening.”