Introducing Co-op Corner

Greenwood students are consistently engaged in learning opportunities both in and out of the classroom, and “Creating Opportunities through Co-op” combines both facets of learning into one course. Students choose their placements at the start of the course, attending course lessons every Wednesday and travelling to their placements Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings. 

The course encourages students to develop interpersonal skills and placement research, which they will engage in naturally through their placements and the course’s integration days. A personalized placement learning plan is created during the course and allows for students to manage what experiences they get out of their placements and the goals they set for themselves throughout the course. 

For its next four issues, Life @ Greenwood will highlight 12 students in the co-op course and their experiences working at their placements. In this issue, Indi George ‘27, Henry Hogarth-Rosmus ‘27 and Dylan Kussner ‘27 will share their thoughts on the course and what their day-to-day is like at their placements. 

Stay tuned for more Co-Op Corner stories in the coming months!

Placement: B Well Now 

I am working at B Well Now, a wellness company owned by Vanessa Evans. This business has run a couple of different programs like Mindful Monsters – a kids program, and also wellness retreats to facilitate people with overall mental health and wellness. I work at Verity, which is a women's business club in downtown Toronto that allows us to use a beautiful space to collaborate.

I work one-on-one with Vanessa to plan and market events, learn about different wellness techniques, and to create curriculums for programs that this company offers, specifically the ‘Mindful Monsters Wellness Program’ she is planning on running again in the future.

Everything I am learning from Vanessa is helping me with my goal to study psychology and to work in the mental health field. I’m really glad that I was able to find the perfect placement that is relevant to my personal future career goals.

Placement: Yallen Associates - a law firm 

I work with my uncle at Yallen Associates. Yallen Associates specializes in civil and immigration law. 

My role has been helping my supervisors and co-workers in creating packages, documents, and summaries. More specifically, something I have created a lot of are country condition documents. These documents help support immigrants’ cases on why they should be able to come to Canada, and why it is unsafe for them to stay in their current country. 

It feels very productive to be spending my time developing such important skills, and experiencing a functional workplace, especially because these things will stick with me forever. Also, working with my uncle is so interesting, as I get to see everything he has built, and how I can one day build something like this myself.