For many grade 8 students, the warm and friendly welcome offered can be key factor when making the selection of their future secondary school. In an effort to ensure that the welcome offered is memorable, staff and students often imagine original themes and activities that reflect the spirit of their secondary school.
Since COVID-19 regulations makes it impossible for grade 8 students visit secondary schools, the welcome has taken on a new form. For example, École secondaire catholique l’Horizon (Val Caron) staff put their technological knowledge and creativity to good use and produced interactive video clips featuring its specialty programs such as hairdressing and aesthetics classes, volleyball and science labs. Students are featured prominently in the videos as they proudly showcase their school by playing the roles of journalists, paparazzi, aliens and NASA employees.
For ÉSC l’Horizon grade 11 student Émilie Denis-Plante, “It was great dressing up as aliens who virtually roamed the school to find out if l’Horizon was the best school. When I was in grade 8, the participation and pride of the students that I met at the school during their Open House events made me pursue my high school studies at l’Horizon.” “What a welcome offered to grade 8 students. I loved the skit featuring aliens because it added fun to the video,” explained Sophie Montgomery, grade 8 student at École Jean-Paul II.
