Rotary learns about Gateway program

The benefits of collaboratively tackling a challenging issue all school districts face was brought to the fore at a recent meeting hosted by the Rotary Club of Kelowna. The issue is that not all students fit comfortably into the traditional school system; these students often can be individuals who struggle academically, socially, and emotionally.

Central Programs and Services offer a wide variety of alternative educational pathways for students to experience success. The Gateway Program is one such initiative aimed at providing vulnerable youth an opportunity to experience post-secondary trades training.

Gateway provides at-risk students an opportunity to explore a variety of vocational trades they may wish to pursue upon graduation.

To date, the Gateway program has hosted 105 students with many going on to pursue apprenticeships through Okanagan College.

Rob Law, Central School’s Gateway teacher and facilitator, says: “Gateway is an experience for the student to build self-esteem and discover what underlying passions they may have in applying themselves. It gives them a reason to want to achieve. Without Gateway, the student drop-out rate would have been assuredly higher”

Rick Potter, president of the Rotary Club of Kelowna, stated “Rotary has been involved since Gateway started. As with all tradesrelated education, there are expenses, such as tools and books, that students have to incur and are not funded by the government. We wanted to ensure no interested student faces a financial barrier in joining the Gateway program. We work closely with the faculty at Central Schools and Programs in identifying the students’ financial needs.”

Kevin Kaardal, superintendent/CEO of Central Okanagan Public Schools, said: The Rotarians commitment to serve our Gateway program has allowed us to further ensure that students, such as those attending this program, have the needed supports to ensure success.”