Ghi Huang

Posted on Thursday, July 7th, 2016

How did you learn about the dual credit program? Who did you complete your application with?

I heard about the dual credit program through my guidance counsellor. I’m doing SHSM, co-op, “Summer Company”, and dual credit. I tried all the special programs you can do. My guidance counsellor mentioned dual credit so I went to Algonquin.

Ghi Huang

Did you attend an orientation session? What did you find most helpful about orientation?

The orientation session was helpful. You know that there is somebody you can go to for support.

Did you think you were you prepared for the course?

I started with SHSM, taking the environmental science class. Then I baked healthy deserts. People thought I could make it a business, so I went to “Summer Company”.

Do you think the dual credit was a good fit?

Yes. It was a good fit. I learned so much. For the college pathway, you learn more that is hands on. But it was related to a passion, not an academic pathway. It still opened doors. What if I really wanted to pursue baking? I realized, “not really, I still want to go into the medical field.” But you don’t know until you try. My parents are the reason I have to go in the medical direction. Baking is my passion. It’s my backup. I stayed for half of it. I dropped the course right before mid term.

Did you require any accommodations? Were your needs meet?

No

How was transportation?

I got the bus tickets. Sometimes my mom gave me a ride. It was okay. I had a spare period. It helped that we had bus tickets. Some people say they don’t know how they’re going to get there. My class was earlier, so people could come back. For people with a late class, they sometimes miss class. I was missing some class. It was university biology, so it was a little hard. I was OK.

How comfortable were you with the technology aspect of the course?

My professor posted some stuff late so it was a little hard. He told me to check in the morning or afternoon and nothing was updated. That was a little stressful.

If you needed to communicate with your College instructor, what was the best way?

I had strong communication with the dual credit support teacher about making my decision to leave. If I needed help, they gave it. If it is stressful, they help you. It’s important to know they are there. Some of my friends were saying it’s hard to communicate with the guidance counsellor at school because they don’t know how it works at college necessarily. This gives both ends. When I was switching out, I was able to ask about it. Margie Chaput, my dual credit support teacher, helped me. She said, “don’t worry about it.” I was kind of worrying about it before the program. I know I am more academic.

What were the biggest challenges? Why didn’t it work out?

Baking is not where I’m going to end up. I dropped it because I couldn’t balance both. I was missing university biology to go to baking. I had to cut it off half way through. It was affecting my average. In school, I can do high 80s or mostly 90s, and in baking class I was getting 70s. That’s the reason I dropped out. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it. I learned a lot from the instructor and I liked all the tools and outfits. I learned a lot. I loved learning about chocolate decoration skills. After the course, I was able to write with chocolate. It ended up helping with my business, so it was all sort of connected.

Would you recommend that other students take a dual credit? Why or why not?

I highly recommend the dual credit program. It was a good experience overall.

What do you hope to do once you’ve graduated from High School?

My pathway is university more than college. I am going into biomedical science and I want to be a paediatric dentist.

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