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Bellerose student is Paris bound

Holly Strang will put Bellerose Composite High School on the map next month when she participates in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Education Policy Forum in Paris.

Holly Strang will put Bellerose Composite High School on the map next month when she participates in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Education Policy Forum in Paris.

The forum, Investing in Skills for the 21st Century, will bring together policy makers, researchers, business people, analysts and education ministers from around the world to talk about education policy in the future.

Strang is the only student to sit on a panel of speakers during the event, which runs Nov. 4 and 5.

She was chosen to attend the forum because she sits on Alberta Education’s Student Advisory Council, a group of 24 students aged 14 to 19 who meet four times a year to discuss the education system in Alberta with Education Minister Dave Hancock.

One issue that caught Strang’s attention is how students in Alberta breeze through so many topics as part of the curriculum without being able to explore issues in any real depth.

“We’re not able to go in depth as much into the curriculum as I think we should be able to because we’re just given a whole bunch of information and we memorize it and then we spit it out and that’s it,” Strang said.

“I think it would be beneficial if we were able to have a little bit less but go more in depth and be able to learn and develop on our own,” she said.

While at the forum in Paris, Strang will be talking about Speak Out, a forum for youth to share their experiences and ideas about Alberta’s education system.

She’ll also be discussing the skills and attributes she thinks students will need to be successful in the future.

“I think that there needs to be a variety of things going on in the schools, not just the core subjects or only taking stuff like humanities, or only taking the maths and science; you need a variety to be able to function,” she said.

With the increased use of technology, such as texting and Facebook, Strang said it will be especially important in the future that students have a solid grasp of vocabulary and spelling.

“I think that being able to teach students how to do that so that when they get thrown out in the work force, they are able to communicate effectively and write formally if they’re in business,” she said.

But there is definitely a positive side to the increased use of technology, she added.

“I think it’s also opening up a lot of opportunities. There are tons of opportunities that can be taught to us that we can use using technology.”

Strang, whose mother is a kindergarten teacher, said she plans to get her bachelor of education degree and possibly even a law degree after she graduates from Bellerose next spring.

Vice-principal Jyoti Mangat said the Bellerose community is very proud of Strang for involving herself in education at a provincial level.

“It’s really gratifying to see someone who is concerned about the big picture and who cares about education for a lot of people, not just herself, and who is committed to doing what she can to make the system better for those who come after her.”

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