**Applications for Boussole and SHSM for the 2023-2024 school year are now OPEN. Please click here for more information on the application process.***
Do you want to develop the 21st century skills required to face the challenges of the future?
Do you want to be a leader in the community and for the environment?
These goals are achievable! École secondaire Ronald-Marion offers the Boussole Program, a unique and innovative educational experience. Boussole is semester-long, 4-credit integrated learning program that targets Grade 11 students. Its theme is “Environmental Leadership” and it is connected with both Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) programs offered at the school. Through Boussole, you will have the opportunity to go beyond the traditional classroom and experience education in a whole new way.
Browse our website to get an overview of the program, discover the courses that are integrated and learn how students complete the requirements of the SHSM program.
The key elements of the program are :
Community: By working together for an entire semester, students grow together as a learning community and develop a deeper appreciation of their friends and school environment. Many students have said that at the end of the semester, they felt like Boussole was a second home or family unit, that they felt comfortable at school and that their desire to come to school had increased substantially.
Experiential and Outdoor Education: Boussole aims to provide students with an educational experience that emphasizes environmental studies and science to better understand the importance of environmental sustainability in every discipline. We do this through 1) a variety of educational outings related to class projects (including one or more wilderness camping trips) and 2) by promoting interdisciplinary studies. What students learn in the context of one course is applied to other courses. Work from several courses is combined together to reduce the total number of different tasks to perform and allow for students to go deeper in their tasks. Visit our Trips and Outings page for more examples.
Communication Skills: The issues facing our environment have been well documented for a long time, but the pace of environmental change is not instantaneous. Many of the impacts of our actions today will not be felt for years to come. How do we communicate the urgency of environmental issues to the general public in order to encourage action without alienating our audience? Using today’s technological tools, students explore the role of both traditional and new media in communicating about the environment. In 2021, for their reportage video on water conflicts in Ontario, Boussole students swept the national Young Reporters for the Environment competition and two of our students won the international competition as Canada’s representative. Visit our Media page to see more examples of past student work and successes.
Leadership: We want to help students be better prepared to make responsible decisions and be positive contributors to society. Boussole students become leaders in the school and in the community by taking action and working on real projects that make a real difference. Visit our Media page to see examples of student produced documentaries on action projects that have occurred in the school.
Welcome to Boussole. We are guided by the past and focused on the future.