Quebec student Amélie Ducharme expands her horizons with OVS
Did you know that Ontario Virtual School serves many students from outside of Ontario?
Well, meet Amélie Ducharme! A student from Quebec who enrolled with OVS through our educational partnership with Laval, QC-based Northern Pre University. Amélie found that enrolling in a school outside her home province allowed her to improve her education, and reach her academic goals.
“I recently graduated from CÉGEP (Part of our education system here, in Quebec) and got my DEC (Diploma of Collegial Studies) in Literature. I am now studying English and French Literature at McGill University in Montréal. Writing and reading are my passions, and I am grateful to have studied these [subjects] at OVS, which, I believe, has prepared me for higher education in English.”
Amélie took two courses at OVS: Grade 10 English (ENG2D) and Grade 11 English (ENG3U).
“I decided to take these courses because although the English program at my French school was ‘enriched’, I wasn’t challenged enough. My teacher noticed that I was bilingual and responsible, so she suggested I take this online course.”
Though her teacher noted Amélie’s sense of responsibility even before recommending her to OVS, Amélie feels that OVS helped encourage this trait and prepared her for her post-secondary education.
“OVS prepared me for post-secondary by making me more organized and autonomous about my schedule and studies.”
At the same time, Amélie felt that her classes with OVS allowed her to learn more than she would at her day school, by allowing her to immerse herself in English literature, giving her more experience with the language, and allowing her to practice her skills while indulging in classics that she would not have otherwise studied.
“My favorite parts of learning with OVS? Not only the fact that I was able to choose my own pace of learning, but also that I was learning SO MUCH MORE than I was in my old English courses at my day school. I was able to study two great English literary classics — Frankenstein and Macbeth — something I never would have had the chance to do at my French school.”
Amélie also appreciated that she was able to move through the courses at a pace that was more her speed.
“Compared to my day school courses, my courses at OVS allowed me to learn and study faster. Also, it was quite pleasant to only reach out to my teacher when I had questions, but to do the rest (learning, reading and organizing) on my own.”
Given her experience with our program, we asked Amélie if she had any advice for students interested in enrolling with OVS.
“If you want to take online courses, the most crucial thing you need is organization skills. If you don’t take the time to do the course, it won’t complete itself without you, and you will have to continue your studies throughout the summer — this happened to a friend of mine who was taking the course (and procrastinating a lot!), so organizing your time is really the key.”