Career Consulting — High School

Planning a future takes more than
good advice. It takes a system.

High school goes by faster than anyone expects. The scholarship windows open and close on fixed timelines. The French chain either starts at Grade 10 or it doesn't start at all. Most families don't engage a career consultant because something is wrong — they engage because they don't want to miss something that can't be recovered later.

Book my free 30-min discovery call Is this for your family? ↓

Who this is for

For parents who want a plan — not just possibilities.

The parent typically reaches out first. The student is the one who does the work. Both are part of the process.

At Olympia & Associates, the student is the primary client — the person whose future is being planned. The parent is a partner in that planning — the person who carries the financial and logistical responsibility for making it happen. Both perspectives matter. Neither is ignored.

The parent signs the agreement and makes the payment. The student attends the sessions. The Exploration Guide, Career Action Plan and all other deliverables belong to the family. Delivery is remote and national — grounded in Alberta, with post-secondary analysis that covers institutions across Canada and particular attention to newcomer families settling in Alberta.

Irreversible windows most families miss

The French language chain
For bilingual careers, federal roles, or specific programmes, French 30 is a requirement. That chain takes three years and must begin at Grade 10. It cannot be accelerated, deferred, or recovered after the fact.
Scholarship timelines
Most major scholarship windows open in Grade 12 — but eligibility is built on Grades 9, 10, and 11. The Loran Award, Explore programme, and most provincial awards reward a record built over time, not a resumé assembled at the last minute.
Immigration status dependencies
For newcomer families, government education grants — including the CESG attached to most RESPs — are gated behind immigration milestones. A SIN, an RCIC consultation, and registered beneficiary status can unlock grants already waiting to be claimed. We note your family's status because it changes scholarship and grant eligibility; questions about eligibility, applications or appeals belong to a licensed immigration consultant (RCIC) or lawyer, and we will point you to one.

Self-assessment

Is this service for your family?

Read through the statements below. Be honest with yourself. Each one represents something that is easy to miss — and hard to recover.

My child is in Grades 9–12 and we haven't done any formal career or pathway planning yet.

Course selection for next year is coming up and I'm not confident we're choosing the right ones.

My child has more than one interest and we don't know which one to pursue — or whether they have to choose at all.

I've heard about scholarships but I don't know which ones apply to my child, what the deadlines are, or what it takes to be eligible.

We're a newcomer family settling in Alberta and I'm not sure how our status affects scholarships, government grants and RESP contributions, or how our child's foreign credits and schooling will be recognised.

My child has a direction they're excited about, but nobody has mapped out what it actually takes — the courses, the credentials, the timeline, the cost.

I'm not confident that our current plan accounts for everything that can't be changed or recovered later.

I want to understand whether studying locally in Edmonton is a smarter financial decision than going out of province — with actual numbers, not assumptions.

My child's extracurricular and community involvement doesn't feel strategic — it's scattered, not intentional.

I want a written plan — not general advice — that my family can actually follow, step by step, with deadlines.

If you said yes to six or more of these — we need to talk. Not because something is wrong, but because something is time-sensitive. The windows described on this page are real, they are specific, and some of them close before the end of this school year. A 30-minute discovery call costs nothing. The cost of waiting is harder to calculate.

Book my free 30-min discovery call →

The engagement

What working together looks like.

Discovery call — free, 30 min

Parent and/or student. We discuss where the student is, what their early interests are, what the family's priorities are, and what the right level of engagement would be. Honest recommendation at the end — including if there isn't a fit.

Discovery session — 1.5 hrs, paid

The first paid session. Student and parent both attend if possible. We explore interests, academic record, and early career thinking in depth. This session uncovers the irreversible constraints and shapes everything that follows.

NOC/TEER mapping & Exploration Guide

Student interests mapped against National Occupational Classification codes and TEER levels. You receive an Exploration Guide of five possible futures and a Delivery Deck: credential pathways, institution options, cost comparisons, and the financial aid landscape specific to this student and family.

Decision gate & Career Action Plan

The student chooses which futures to pursue. From that decision we build the Career Action Plan: academic roadmap, scholarship targets with deadlines, community arc, a prioritised action list, an Action Plan Deck and a Calendar Handout. Pathways includes two coaching calls and a parent briefing.

What is included

Two packages. One add-on. Matched to your student's grade.

Foundations

Best for Grade 9–10 · Maximum runway, widest scholarship windows

approx. 5 hours

Discovery session (1.5 hrs)
NOC/TEER pathway mapping
Exploration Guide (five futures) + Delivery Deck
Follow-up call (1 hr)
Career Action Plan, for Grade 9–10 students in the pipeline

The earlier the engagement, the more we can build. Grade 9–10 families have the most course selection flexibility and the widest scholarship windows still open.

Primary offering

Pathways

Best for Grade 11–12 · Post-secondary decisions imminent

approx. 10 hours

Discovery session (1.5 hrs)
Deep NOC/TEER analysis
Exploration Guide + Delivery Deck + institution shortlist
Two coaching calls (2 hrs)
Parent briefing session (1 hr)
After the decision gate: Career Action Plan, Action Plan Deck and Calendar Handout

The primary offering for families where post-secondary applications are imminent and decisions are real. Specific, urgent, and built to be acted on.

Add-on

Family Navigation

Applies to either package · For families who want full alignment

approx. 2 hours

Parent briefing session
Written family summary
Q&A call
Add a sibling to the family plan

For families where parents want a dedicated session on financial planning, timelines, and how to actively support the student's direction — not just receive the report.

The work in practice

A real student. A real plan.

Grade 10 · Foundations + Family Navigation

Student A

Two careers held open. One plan built before the windows closed.

A Grade 10 student with interests in both AI engineering and global communications. A newcomer family with an RESP open but no SIN obtained — meaning government grants weren't flowing. The engagement built a 127-credit graduation plan, locked in the French language chain before the window closed, mapped five target scholarships to immigration milestones, and identified an $82,000 cost gap between studying locally and out of province.

$82K cost gap discovered and documented vs. out-of-province options

"I didn't know there was a scholarship gated behind our immigration status. I didn't know the Edmonton option could save us $80,000. What I got was a list of things to do, in order, with deadlines."

— Parent of a Grade 10 student, Edmonton

Foundations + Family Navigation add-on

See all case studies including Student B

new client spots per month

This service is intentionally limited.

Every family that engages Olympia & Associates for high school career consulting works directly with Brian Ssennoga. There is no associate, no junior consultant, no template handed off. That level of attention requires a limit — and the limit is three new families per month.

When those spots are full, new families join the waitlist. The waitlist is not a holding pen — it is the beginning of the relationship. While you wait, you receive practical resources, early access to workshops, and direct communication from the practice.

Families who come through the waitlist arrive at their engagement already informed. That makes the work better for everyone.

Join the waitlist

Leave your details and you'll hear back within 48 hours with your estimated wait time and your first free resource.

A free practical resource matched to your student's grade stage
Early access to workshops and group sessions as they open
Direct updates when a spot becomes available
No obligation — leave the waitlist at any time

Refer a family

Know a family who needs this?

If you refer a family who goes on to book a paid engagement, we'll send you a gift card as a thank you. No paperwork, no programs — just tell us who and how to reach them, and we'll take it from there.

Send a referral

Tell us the family's name and how they can reach them. When they book, we'll reach out to you directly with a gift card.

Send a referral →

Your student is a minor. Their academic record, interests, and any personal information shared during the engagement are handled with heightened care — used only to perform the agreed services, never submitted to an AI tool, and not shared with third parties. We are governed by PIPEDA (federal) and Alberta's PIPA. Full details in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Pricing is shared on your discovery call and in writing before you commit. All prices CAD. GST (757324769RC001) applies to all billable work. Payment: under $800 — 30% on signing, 70% on delivery; $800 to $1,500 — 30% on signing, 40% at midpoint, 30% on delivery; over $1,500 — 30% on signing, then bi-weekly installments. No work begins without initial payment received.

Planning a future takes more thangood advice. It takes a system.