Our Second Conference Day of the year was scheduled for Friday, December 7, 2018.  The themes for the day are Communicating Student Learning, Career Exploration, and Mental Health Awareness. Students will attend informative presentations that focus on building their own toolkit to be successful learners and sessions that will help prepare them for opportunities beyond their years at Burnett.  We are fortunate, to host a number of workshops and learn from the expertise of guest speakers from both the district and the larger community.

We are excited to offer workshops by The Rick Hansen Foundation whose focus will be on raising awareness around disabilities and empowering students to challenge themselves to remove barriers. In addition, Andrea Paquette, who is an award winning mental health activist, educator, facilitator and published author, will speak to our grade 8 class about mental health literacy and focus on “destigmatizing” debilitating language and mindsets around mental health.

Other presentations cover a wide variety of topics related to the themes of the day.  These include healthy relationships, career awareness and scholarship application tools. District consultant Connie Easton will define the characteristics of healthy relationships and assist students with negotiating difficult social situations. Brittany Palmer is a speaker from Unlocking Your Future who will focus on helping the grade 12s navigate the scholarship application process.  Students will also use the myBlueprint web application to track and communicate their learning progress. Grade 12 Teachers will conduct Grad Transition interviews with some of our graduating students.

Additionally, members of the Burnett Yearbook have scheduled time for the Grade 12 students to write their graduating comments for the yearbook. To support the learning outcomes of the day, students will engage in thought-provoking lessons that require the critical analysis of texts and video clips.