Creating a Future is a youth employment service available to students at Garden Valley Collegiate. The program provides employment counselling service for youth who have dropped out of school or young adults who have trouble finding or staying at one work place.

"Creating a Future is for young people to be successful employees" stated Mrs. Helen Janzen, the project coordinator for the program.

This program aims to help youth who have graduated or dropped out of school and who are unemployed. It is like giving them a second chance. If they have not succeeded with school or at work, this service will train and assist them in whatever they decide to do.

The mission of Creating a Future is to assist unemployed and underemployed in finding work and to provide support to employers during the training period and the longer term placement. The services provided in this program include matching an individual's strengths to possible placement, analysis of the individual's strengths, and seeking out the support of prospective employers. It also introduces young people to a work site, to employers and to co-workers.

Students who need assistance from the Creating a Future program con apply at the student service room at GVC or at Morden Collegiate, the Carman Adult Education Centre or Rhineland Adult Education Centre.

This program originally started in the Western School Division about four or five years ago, helping youth between the ages of 16-30. Realizing that a number of students dropped out and that even graduated students were unemployed, Western School Division started to assist them with training and to succeed.

Creating a Future is developed and supported by the Western School Division, Midland School Division, Garden Valley School Division, Rhineland School Division and Human Resources Canada.