Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Feb 06/02) - When Norm Sargant had trouble with Social Studies 20, he knew where to go.

He turned to St. Patrick high school's drop-in centre. There, the Grade 11 student received the help he needed and he is now back on course to complete his French immersion bilingual certificate.

"I'm not in a hole any more," says Sargant. "It was a lot better than taking it in the classroom."

He's one of many St. Pat's students who have received help through the two-year-old support program.

The school's drop-in centre is the place to go for students struggling with courses, in need of a make-up exam, or simply a helping hand digesting subjects like math or social studies.

"It allows flexibility and a safety net," says Sister Nancy Wales, the program co-ordinator.

Wales and assistant Julaine Hamer offer hard-pressed students a break and a chance to start over.

"Otherwise, they would have to do it with Distant Education or print modules," Hamer explains.

A key advantage to using the drop-in centre, says Wales, is that the students get valuable one-on-one consultations, something that is not always easy to get in the classroom.

"The hope was for students to get that kind of smaller sense of community," says Wales.

"That's hard to achieve in a rotating high school setting."

Last semester, 60 students who needed to complete core courses from the year before did so thanks to help from the drop-in centre.

To date, approximately three-quarters of them have completed or will complete the courses they need by the end of the year.

Another 176 students accessed the centre on a drop-in basis, of which 141 wrote make up tests.

Grade 11 student Janina Raftery, who moved to Yellowknife from the Philippines last year, found that she would need to take Social Studies 10 if she were to graduate on schedule.

The only problem was that the class conflicted with her already full course load.

"I probably wouldn't have finished the course if I didn't have Sister Nancy pushing me along, because I find Social Studies a little bit complicated, especially since I'm new here," says Raftery.

She finished the course with an 85 per cent average.