REVIEW OF Rosseau Lake College BY student, Christopher Gan
- Date of Review
February 08, 2018 - Grades
Gr. 7 - 10
(4.5) Student Experience
Rosseau Lake College is an incredible outdoors, future forward, and inclusive school. Personally I love this school, Outdoor Education and annual out trips (4-5 day camping trips) offers activities that you would not regularly see in other schools exposing me to different and more interesting experiences. I also love the small teacher to student ratio which makes me feel important to the teachers and staff. Having one on one tutoring and mentorship with subjects especially for me like math and history have helped me develop strong and effective work habits such as collaboration, determination, initiative, and self regulation. One thing I wish I would of known is how supportive and kind the students are. At first I was a bit skeptical in coming here scared of new experiences that were outside my comfort zone but if I had known how supportive the students and staff were my decision to come would of been much easier. One thing I would change about this school and this is the have more winter sports time. Fall and spring sports we have 5 days of sports a week however in winter we only have three sport days and even sometimes our facilities are being used for either basketball or volleyball competitive games so there can be as little as 2 practices a week. I personally love athletics thats why this is the thing I would change.
(5) School Leadership
Rosseau Lake College is a success immersed environment where staff really help students strive to their full potential weather that be in athletics, academics, and leadership. The staff here at Rosseau Lake College helps students achieve Manslows Hierarchy of needs. I really don't think there is much to change when it comes to school leadership. This is really a strong point in RLC with meeting with mentors twice a week and really really great mentors. My mentors were in RLC were definitely Mr. Len Beaulne, Mr. Trent Howell, and Mr. Nathaniel Smart. This only further backs how Rosseau Lake College immerses itself in a caring and success immersed environment
(5) Teaching
Teachers here don't ask too much or not enough of you. What they ask for is for you to take responsibility and initiative of your learning. Success I feel is definitely reflected by your grades however what they really define success as is that you realize and achieve your fullest potential. Also through out your RLC career teachers will teach you very important work habits and qualities. Not just how to do quadratic formulas or the causes of WW1 but things like determination, leadership, initiative, collaboration, and self regulation. Also the small student to teacher ratio definitely helps for progressive future learning.
(5) Academics
Personally for me it really depends on the subject. For me math has always been new for me. I've always needed a bit extra help when it comes to math. Same with history, however when it came to like Outdoor Ed, and Science I never needed much help. The big thing I feel you will take away in life from RLC is "Discovery Day". Discovery Day is not just about discovering ways to link your subjects together it's about the future planning aspect and without the restrictions of the classroom it gives you more opportunities to take initiative. You also have to have discipline. With more freedom comes more responsibilities. Teachers will not be breathing down your neck with Discovery Days so you have to self regulate your time in order to succeed. That is what I feel are the most important skills to take away and to be used later on in life.
(4) Extracurriculars
RLC participates in various extracurricular clubs and athletic teams. One thing I really think the school needs to address is the length of our sports teams practice time. During the winter term I feel our athletic teams do not have enough sports time to practice. You will see that during the spring and fall terms our athletic teams succeed more frequently than our winter term athletics. This is because our teams in fall and spring have one hour of practice time every day 4 days a week and 1h 30m of practice on Fridays. In the winter term we have 45 minute practices on Tuesday and Wednesdays and 1h30m on Fridays. You see the issue here... In terms of is there enough variety of so that students are able to do the things they want to there is definitely enough variety in my opinion.
(5) Students
Rosseau Lake College is filled with students who are diverse and extremely inclusive, kind, and caring. With the small school size RLC does not feel like a city, or a town, it feels more like a close knit family. Students when first coming to RLC might not succeed at first in my opinion... I definitely did not. However a lot of foreign ESL students who have learned the things we have learned like math from abroad they do succeed. Those from the area have to adapt to actually more freedom. With more freedom theres no teacher to hound you to do your work you have to take the initiative to learn something that needs time to become a habit. Everyone in RLC feels included I feel. Again the small size school everyone knows everyone really.