Success Stories

The Battle of the Restigouche

SchoolNet Digital Collections Program Opens Doors for New Brunswick Students

With youth unemployment running at around 40 per cent in northern New Brunswick, ten Grade 11 students in the Campbellton - Dalhousie area beat the odds recently and succeeded in translating technology skills into job opportunities thanks to Industry Canada’s SchoolNet Digital Collections program.

The project was carried out under contract to Industry Canada’s SchoolNet Digital Collections program, which gives people 15 to 30 years of age entrepreneurial and technology-based job experience converting collections of Canadian material into digital form for display on SchoolNet. The SchoolNet Digital Collections web site has grown to become possibly the largest single source of Canadian content on the Information Highway.

The students chose a subject close to home. The Battle of the Restigouche in June 1760 that ended the Seven Years War between the British and the French along with their MicMac allies. The students all reside near the actual battle site. Their SchoolNet Digital Collections project involved converting information from a Parks Canada book collection into digital form and launching it on the Internet. The web site describes the battle and its participants in detail and comes complete with dramatic background music. The recent excavation of one of the French battleships that sank in the Restigouche River is also described.

Gilbert Cyr, coordinator of New Brunswick’s School to Work Transition program in school district 14, says "the student team that built the web site is part of the Multimedia Mentorship program (a three-year initiative funded by Human Resources Development Canada). This program provided the students with computers in their homes, rigorous training in technology and on-line links to employer mentors. The SchoolNet Digital Collections contract has given these students an added advantage", he said. "They were able to develop some specific, job-related skills and experience".

According to Cyr, the students got some hands-on experience in how business actually works. They were part of the process from the beginning. They learned how to put a web site together, and how to work to exacting standards. They already knew something about the software, but this was a first chance for them to apply their knowledge to a real-life situation.

Cyr noted that some of the more important lessons the students learned included how to be a team player, leadership skills and how to cooperate with others. "These students come from two separate ethnic and geographic districts, and here that means a lot. They learned how to work together and how to solve problems together", he said. "The interpersonal skills they developed will help them in any job. I’ve never experienced a project like this one for bringing out so many different skills at once".

Several of the project’s team members have landed jobs related to their experience. Two young native men developed web sites on this year’s Pow Wow for their community. One young woman is now creating brochures for her school district on her computer. Another has a contract with the local port authority to develop a letterhead. "These students would not have been offered these jobs were it not for their experience with SchoolNet Digital Collections," said Cyr.

Team members Brandon Mitchell and Matt Metallic are enthusiastic about their experience on the contract . "We’ve been able to develop several job opportunities as a result of our work with Digital Collections. We’re hoping to set up a web site for the new school on our reserve. Also, we plan to develop a site for a friend who’s starting a business," said Mitchell.

Matt Metallic plans to continue studying computer programming at the post-secondary level. "This project was significant for me because it was my first real job," he said. "In addition to our web site work, Brandon and I plan to set up a business producing CDs. This project gave us lots of ideas and opened doors for us".

Other team members were James Bernard, Sarah Peacock, Kate Doucet, Sara Hickey, Renee Arpin, Heather Kelly, Justin Traer, and Lynn Roy. The instructor was Deborah Riordon.