Today's students, tomorrow's entrepreneurs.

Larah Bigras already has her Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD), but the 18-year-old is back at Sudbury Secondary School (SSS) for an extra year to challenge herself, beef up her marks and better her chances at winning a few scholarships and bursaries en route to college.

She hopes to teach in a high school someday, and is taking classes like chemistry, biology--and entrepreneurship. "I took it as a general interest," she says, thankful to be pulled from class if only for a few minutes. "I want to understand how business works."

She is so not alone.

Bigras is just missing the start of something special at SSS. The downtown Sudbury school has just launched a new, innovative Business Certificate Program (BCP) that will see its students get a head start in the world of business--and the business of interacting with the world--from orientation week to commencement.

The program has course elements and extra-curricular features designed to teach the students hands-on what it takes to run their own business and carve out a successful working career. It is the brainchild of business department teacher Paul Sauve. Sauve currently teaches a popular course on entrepreneurship at the school.

That course will form the core of the BCP program when it launches this fall. The BCP is an umbrella for three similar but separate certificate programs: Arts Administration for arts-based students, Small Business Development for students taking a general academic stream and Business Technology for students taking trades-based programming.

Every student that takes a BCP stream will have to run a small business at increasing levels of involvement several times during their high school career.

In Grade 10, students run a small business together as a class. In Grade 11, they must develop and launch a business on their own. In Grade 12, students are given the freedom to take any specialty courses they like (chemistry, mathematics, English, etc.) in order to prepare for their next educational or career-related choice, but have to establish and run a business for at least six weeks. Students can receive co-operative education credits for the activity.

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The idea had been brewing in Sauve's mind for over seven years, he says. It went into official production last fall when to his surprise the head of the arts department, Ralph McIntosh, approached him. McIntosh told him the board of education was encouraging innovation within the schools, and had cash for whoever could provide it. The concept built upon the success Sauve has had since joining SSS two years ago. Since his hire, his students have won over $35,000 in cash and prizes at local and provincial business challenges. So Sauve put together a proposal, submitted it, and with time was awarded the full amount of $20,000.

It was a relief for Sauve, since he was holding off on proposing the program for fear of stepping on the arts department's toes, traditionally the school's bread and butter.

What has happened instead, with the art department fully on-board, is the development of a three-stream certificate program designed in part to help the arts-intensive students gain skills that will allow them to become self-employed artists or successful employees in the field.

"We want them to use their passion in the arts and some marketing skills to be able to work in their field and make money doing something they love," he says.

The $20,000 was used in part to hire Anne Cooper, an adult educator and consultant with Learning Initiatives.

Putting together a program with the scope of the BCP was a gargantuan task for any combination of full-time teachers, she says, so she has been consulting on a number of fronts.

The obvious benefit of the program is a head start on the ins and outs of business, but a secondary benefit to the student is a general knowledge of how to market their skills in the ever more complex job environment.

Cooper recalls, for example, running into a student on the street. Where some kids may be shy to catch the eye of a teacher outside school, this business-savvy student walked right up, said hello and before long was networking with Cooper--and Cooper with she.

"To me, that's pretty exciting," she enthused. "Her response sounded no different from what I would expect from other business people. It's a comfort level in interacting with the world."

By CRAIG GILBERT

Northern Ontario Business 

RELATED ARTICLE: Business Certificate Program Quick Facts:

* Half of the community service hours required to graduate high school must be done in a business context.

* Grade 9 and 10 students are paired with a senior student as a mentor.

* Each student must job shadow with an entrepreneur for a day.

* Students are expected to attend a total of 10 guest speaker events before they graduate; guest speakers will be invited four times a year.

* Students must sit on a BCP steering committee for at least two semesters.

* They can choose between the BCP Ambassadors (media relations, events and publicity) and BCP Support Services (marketing, finances and communications).

* Students must accumulate a portfolio showcasing their accomplishments and work including positioned resumes, testimonials, news clippings and letters of reference.