New appointment to put Rossland's High School education on the map
By Seven Summits Centre for Learning
Visions for Small Schools Society secured funding from the BC Rural Dividend Program, enabling Seven Summits Centre for Learning in Rossland to appoint Vivienne Hurley to the new post of Youth Recruitment and Marketing Coordinator.
Her ultimate aim is to swell student numbers, by attracting local and non-local youngsters to Seven Summits’ vibrant learning community. She thinks her main challenge is to raise awareness among prospective families of the school’s unique cutting-edge learning philosophy, its flexible, blended personalized programs, and other advantages for students and their families.
Vivienne made the move to the Kootenays with her family, in search of a better work-life balance and attracted to the all-season outdoor adventure that the City of Rossland offers. She swapped a coastal home in the UK for a place here in the mountains. In doing so, she found an exceptional alternative to a big high school – Seven Summits Centre for Learning, with its small classes, academic rigor, sense of community, and the kind of custom education options you would expect from a private school, without expensive tuition fees.
“Seven Summits Centre for Learning is an absolute gem! The local families, as well as the International athletes who come here to train and study, are so lucky to have such a dynamic and progressive educational resource right on their doorstep,” says Vivienne. She will be applying over 20 years’ marketing experience, accrued within the UK’s not-for-profit and education sectors, to her new role.
To attract more students who don’t want to compromise their academic work while they pursue their dreams, she will also work in partnership with its associated academies: Red Mountain Academy for Alpine, Freeski and Kitefoiling, Black Jack Skier Development for Nordic Racing, and Kootenay Danceworks. “Having already spoken to many 7S graduates, students and parents, it’s clear that I’ve joined a highly supportive, close knit learning community which is run by people who really care about what is achieved in and beyond the classroom. They enable young people to get so much more out of their high school education than I ever thought possible,” she adds.
Vivienne has already begun working from the iconic red-roofed heritage building on First Avenue in Rossland, which has become home to Seven Summits Centre for Learning. Her remit is to create the marketing strategies and tools that will strengthen its local presence, elevate its global one and put it on the map as an exceptional place to learn, achieve and grow across Grades 8-12.
Vivienne goes on to explain: “From a marketing perspective, Seven Summits Centre for Learning has so much going for it and offers a solid foundation from which to build; its graduates do extremely well, there are wider course options, it facilitates early graduation, supports International travel and welcomes foreign exchanges. With the new introduction of ‘Free Fridays’ its students will benefit from the opportunity to work, volunteer and train alongside their studies and can set their own pace.”
Shelley Ackerman, president of the Visions for Small Schools Society, declares, “Vivienne joins a warm, friendly and passionate team here at Seven Summits. She’s hit the ground running, fitted right in and is fully equipped to embrace the challenge of raising our profile, communicating our core strengths and promoting Seven Summits as an exceptional option for innovative, advanced schooling. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia for making it all possible,” she adds.
Ann Quarterman, operations manager at Seven Summits Centre for Learning, notes, “Vivienne has already begun to tweak our narrative. She is reaching out to all young people, not just athletes and the academically gifted, to highlight the benefits of blending face-to-face learning with our SD71 Navigate NIDES online program to gain the skills and independence that many of their University-bound peers lack.”
Visions for Small Schools Society was one of nine projects in the West Kootenays to receive funding from the Province of British Columbia.
For more details on Seven Summits Centre for Learning, please contact Joyce via phone: 250-362-7772 or e-mail: Joyce@sevensummitslearning.com. Registrations are still being accepted and applications are available online: web:www.sevensummitslearning.com. Follow 7S on social media: @sevensummitslearning (Fb and Insta) and @7Summitslearn (Twitter).
