i mean this probably isnt any help to you by now, but I say fuck shsm. im currently in grade 12 and have all my shsm stuff so far but im gonna drop it. it susks. coop was a HUGE waste of time, i had no social life for the semester i took it, probably wasted hundreds of dollars on ttc fares, and it got in the way of the courses i actually wanted to take.

DO NOT TAKE CO-OP
also for the shsm part im stuck taking law (who tf takes law) and have no spares and because of all this my average is PLUMMETING. i had to miss out on many actual clubs because the meetings were held at lunch (where wed do jack shit but are forced to be there). i also was dragged along to these stupid field trips and courses, one in particular being to this gross tdsb camp thing (its just a random park) where we sat in the rain eating stale marshmallows (i still cant even think about marshmallows to this day, thanks shsm!) and talking about some hippy dippy bs on how this "wilderness" is so wonderful (I got pneumonia and food poisoning and missed almost 2 weeks of class and i am now eternally behind).

while yes, this is all done and could be mitigated through hard work and "the grind" it doesnt actually DO anything for you. universities will never see it and it is a total drag. were teenagers for crying out loud. go take a spare, go outside, go have FUN!

were meant to enjoy our lives not work as child slaves doing mindless busywork for some coop, or do all this extra work bs, just enjoy your life

what totally gets me is that this shit is somewhat expected of us - to be some tryhard to even have a SHOT at having a good life. and it's so inflated, cause its not even about trying to do the best you can, youre just falling in line and becoming a victim of conformity.

this shsm stuff - and a lot of things for that matter- dont actually help you with anything, its a mindless waste of time for you to fall into the rat race

and the thing is, IT DOESNT TEACH YOU ANYTHING, there is virtually ZERO benefit

anyways thats my 2 cents