My Experience with Co-operative Education: By Eric Gingerich

I had the privilege of working with Jody and Paula Tysoski as well as Desiree Palmer for my co-op placement for semester 1 of my grade 12 high school year. I started my co-op placement at the end of October with an awkward interview because I wasn’t prepared and it was very rainy that day, although that was the case, Paula and Desiree were very understanding about everything didn’t criticize me in any way. I enjoyed every day of my placement from the cold autumn days of October, all the way to the end in January and the freezing cold weather it had to offer. I learned everything I was hoping to as well as more, everything about my placement was what I hoped to get from a co-op, which was graphic design and web. I learned a lot from Paula and Desiree over the few months I was with them and they were always very nice and helpful.There was always something going on whether it was work or a funny remark/ joke, I am also very appreciative of their inclusiveness in everything from being a part of weekly meetings where I had  the chance to speak as well as listen , and the opportunity to work on the monthly newsletters with Desiree. My favourite part of my co-op besides everyone around me would have to be having the ability to apply my newly learned knowledge from my placement to what I get to do, such as when I was researching SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to get more organic traffic to Paula’s website. I used the information I learned to transform and update Paula’s site so that it would show up higher in Google’s rankings. My least favourite part of my placement would have to be my walk here, especially in the cold winter weather, where I would have to walk 30 minutes there and back in below zero temperatures. Besides walking to my co-op, everything was amazing, from all the people and how they treated me to all the work I got to do and how  my skills were applied. I would have to rate my experience a 9.5/10, only because the laptop I used wasn’t the best, but me being the first co-op student here, that is forgivable. I would definitely recommend another student here that is looking for this kind of learning and work. As well as the knowledge I was looking to learn, I also learned a lot about Paula’s work in Real Estate and how much appreciation I have for her and everyone else here. Lastly, I want to thank everyone around me that I got to work with, Jody and Paula Tysoski, Desiree Palmer, as well as Lexi Tysoski in the last month of my placement, It was a pleasure to spend my mornings with everyone and I hope to see everyone again in the future!