École Highland Secondary School

History of the Program

In 1981, Highland was selected to pilot Tourism education at the secondary school level for the province in B.C. Since then, the program at Highland has striven to maintain the energy and innovation needed to keep pace with the fastest growing industry in the world, an industry which boasts more than one in every ten jobs in Canada, spread across eight career and business sectors. By 1995/96, Highland offered four Career Preparation 'streams' of Tourism, with approximately 140 students enrolled in three Tourism courses (Tourism 11, Tourism 12, and Hospitality 12) and more than 50 students taking full Career Preparation Programs.

Also, in 1995/96, Highland became one of four schools across Canada selected as 'Founding Pilots' for the Canadian Academy of Travel and Tourism.

In November of 1996, as a founding pilot of the new Canadian Academy Of Travel & Tourism Program, Highland hosted a conference for secondary school Tourism students from around BC (and one student from an Academy School in Winnipeg, Manitoba). This conference, entitled Tourism Immersion 96, boasted an array of excellent speakers from both Post-Secondary educational institutions and industry. The truly unique feature of this conference however, was that it was entirely 'Student Run'. A small cadre of Grade 12 students from Highland's Tourism Program arranged for every student participating in this conference to play a significant role in the operation of the host hotel and/or the conference functions themselves.

1997 saw the 160 students of the Tourism Program assist in some 90-odd school and community-based functions, as well as a budding international partnership (with Wolsingham Comprehensive School, located in northen England). As a centrepiece to this agreement, with the assistance of the U.K. Travel & Tourism Programme, the Pacific Rim Institute Of Tourism, and a variety of local and national sponsors and service groups, Tourism Immersion 98 became an international gathering, including 151 students from other schools across Canada and several schools in Great Britain...hosted by the scenic Mt Washington Ski Resort.

The 1999/2000 school year began with roughly 170 Highland students enrolled, and a 90+ percent Completion Rate in recent years. There is also an Articulation Agreement in place, allowing eligible graduates Advanced Standing access to any Tourism Program offered by a BC Community College - and for those so inclined full Bachelor Of Tourism Management degrees can now be obtained, either in BC, or from several universities in Ontario. While those preferring to work after graduation have the benefit of a certificate from a long-established and credible program, enhanced by a network of successful graduates already employed around BC -- and in several overseas locations.

The 2005/2006 school year brought several developments in quick succession. First, the new Provincial Tourism Curriculum was signed off by the Minister Of Education – providing a new updated core curriculum for all programs in BC, while giving more flexibility to teachers of Tourism in the selection of options to offer students in accordance with local Job Training needs. For Highland, working with their Local Industry Advisory Group (represented by the Directors of Comox Valley Tourism), this led to:

• The new Dual Credit pilot with North Island College - a program which allows qualified Academy Gold candidates to fast-track careers by taking 1st year college courses toward their Tourism And Hospitality Management Program, from college instructors, on the North Island College Comox Valley campus while they are still completing graduation requirements at Highland
• The new Tourism Training Elective pilot – a program which allows students to fast-track into the workplace, and gain national certification in the process. More...

For more information, contact:

• your Advisor or House Vice Principal
• or
  Phone: 250-339-5525