Co-op Corner: At a Record Label, Public School and Senior Care Centre

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 classroom lessons every Wednesday and travelling to their placements Monday afternoons and Thursday mornings. 

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

For the last issue of this year’s Co-Op Corner, Life @ Greenwood will highlight three more students in the co-op course and their experiences working at their placements. In this issue, Sammy Bekhor ‘27, Sasha Shime ‘27 and Téa Stoute ‘27 share their thoughts on the course and what their day-to-day is like at their placements. 

Thank you to all the students that shared their co-op experiences with us!

"For my co-op, I work in a remote position at Kolossal Records. I usually work at a café or at school. Kolossal Records is an independent label. They only sign one artist at a time to ensure they can focus on developing new artists, supporting their creative growth, and helping them release music through strong promotion and management partnerships. Their current artist is AMARII.

Some of the tasks include creating multiple fan accounts over all platforms, like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts, to help promote AMARII, and I post almost every day. During my co-op times, I will make many posts and save them to drafts, then I will post them throughout the week and at peak times. Some other tasks I have done are making websites for AMARII and Kolossal Records.

Lately, I have learned a lot of transferable knowledge because I am taking marketing this year, and I use the knowledge that I learn in this co-op to help me succeed in marketing, and I use things that I learn in marketing to help me with this co-op placement."

"I work at Whitney Public School. My dad, both of my sisters and I all attended Whitney Public School. 

As an assistant teacher, I will usually jump between different tasks and responsibilities depending on the day. Sometimes I help smaller groups with math and spelling to help guide them through the basics, break down instructions or complete worksheets. Other days, I work one-on-one with students who need extra attention or assistance. 

A few of the kids weren't listening and I realized soon after that it wasn't because they were disobeying, but just because they were tired. I shortened the set of tasks that they needed to complete and they were much more inclined to work with me. Being a leader doesn't mean jumping to frustration or anger; it's about feeling out the room and understanding everyone's needs."

"I work at Sprint Senior Care at the Ewart Angus building. They specialize in taking care of people with early stage dementia and Alzheimer's.

I am there to socialize with the residents and aid my supervisor with setting up their different activities. I get to set up different sports games (basketball, football, bowling), season-themed crafts (poppy making for Remembrance Day, Christmas- themed colouring for December) and sometimes baking.

I've always wanted to work in healthcare and being able to care for patients with special conditions will really help me in the future if I decide to go into a healthcare focused job. The residents are interesting and have a lot to offer. I look forward to going to my placement every day just so I can get out of the stressful environment of school and grades, and into a warm place full of love."