I walked past the senior kindergarten classes and their “100 Day” celebrations this week. It doesn’t take a whole lot to get 5-year-olds excited in the first place but celebrating the 100th day of school is a really big event. And while it seems like just a fun day for the students, skills like counting to 100, learning to read and learning to play co-operatively are the building blocks of the rest of a student’s career in education and beyond.

A few minutes after walking past the celebrations, I checked in on Facebook and the school’s alumni page. As I scrolled through the names, I was able to remember many of those same kids (some in their 30s now) when they were in kindergarten and I thought it would be interesting to see what the members in the group are doing now. The following is not a scientific study…I simply went to the first 10 names on the list that had an employment status and came up with the following:

Registered Nurse at Credit Valley Hospital
Relationship Manager at TD Bank
Student at University of Zagreb School of Medicine
Student at University of Alberta School of Dentistry
First Responder at Newfoundland Ambulance Service
Staff Accountant at Walsh and Company
Partner at Fresca Films
Account Manager at Royal Bank of Canada
Software Developer at Soho VFX
Music Teacher at Mentor College (yes, this is Mr. Hoare…he is not an alumnus of the school, but he is in the group!)

The list is actually pretty indicative of what our graduates end up doing in post-secondary studies. The percentages change from year to year but the three most popular academic streams are science (with a tendency towards health sciences), business and the arts.

If you have a senior kindergarten student (or any other age), can you see your child in one or more of those 10 positions listed above?

Chris Starkey
Administrative Principal
Mentor College/TEAM School