The HTS Global Online Campus

by Sandra Herbst, former Chief Strategic Officer, HTS

June 2026. Just like every June, the HTS community gathers to celebrate its graduates.

We marvel at their accomplishments and are impressed by the pathways that they have chosen for themselves. But this June, there is something different. There are students present who have rarely been on campus. As parents and members of the broader community, you haven’t seen them getting out of their cars in front of the school each morning or visiting you at home on weekends. Yet, they are part of the class of 2026 the first cohort of the HTS Global Online Campus to graduate.

As you sit in the gathered assembly and watch the students cross the stage to receive their diploma as well as a smile and handshake from Ms Pereira-Raso, Head of School, you find yourself wondering what they experienced. Did they feel a part of the HTS family? Did they have the same graduation requirements as the students did from this physical campus? Are they, too, receiving an Ontario Secondary School Diploma?

The simple answers to those questions are yes, yes and yes! However, to get a more complete picture of their experience, let’s delve into what it would mean to be part of the very first graduating class from the HTS Global Online Campus.

The HTS Global Online Campus will open to Grade 9 to 12 students in September 2023, as one pillar in the not-for-profit HTS Learning Network that includes the Richmond Hill Campus and the Centre for Transformative Learning and Leadership (see Corridors, 2020-2021 for an article about the Centre). Though a separate entity from the Richmond Hill Campus it will have its own Principal, Academic Director, and faculty it will still be Canadian Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) accredited and Ontario Ministry of Education inspected. It is a full high-school program for Grades 9–12. Students who want to accelerate their academic progress could enrol in all three semesters (winter, spring, summer), if they would like.More excitingly, this campus will bring HTS its ethos, culture and promise to the world.

Imagine that you live in another country and are interested in an exemplary Canadian independent-school education. Maybe you reside in another province or, even, a part of Ontario that is too far from the Richmond Hill Campus to attend daily. Perhaps you are a high-performing athlete or a student who is currently being homeschooled and would like a larger community with which to connect. Attending the HTS Global Online Campus, you are now able to experience the same personalized, student-driven learning environment as in Richmond Hill. In other words, students have the opportunity to receive an exceptional Canadian education without boundaries or borders.

Receiving a world-class HTS education, students at the HTS Global Online Campus will also be part of a community where individuals will learn how to learn. It is a community that honours self-discovery and helps individuals grow as a whole intellectually, emotionally and socially. Just like at the Richmond Hill Campus, students will be inspired to be the best version of themselves.

At HTS, the faculty has come to deeply understand how to engage students online in incredibly impactful ways. As a result, students attending the HTS Global Online Campus will benefit from carefully blended synchronous and asynchronous instruction. Unlike more traditional online schools, where students register for a self-paced course, at the HTS Global Online Campus, students can expect to meet with their classmates to work, solve problems and generate new thinking together. They will connect with their teachers not only through recorded videos and lessons, but more importantly, they will meet with them in real time, so that their teachers can come to understand who they are and how they learn best.

The courses will be competency-based and interdisciplinary. Each student will take part in experiential learning, whether that is a cultural immersion, professional practicum, service program or research-based internship. Like at HTS Richmond Hill, each student will also have an advisor who will be dedicated to a small group of students throughout their high school journeys and will provide specialized post-secondary counselling services. And just like at the Richmond Hill Campus, students attending the HTS Global Online Campus will be able to participate in co-curricular programming that will be delivered in partnership with international organizations.

Let us return to the graduating class of June 2026 and, specifically, those who are part of the HTS Global Online Campus. This will probably not be the first time these students have visited HTS Richmond Hill, as they will have been invited to orientation sessions that have taken place on campus at the beginning of each school year. Even if they have not been able to physically travel to Richmond Hill, they will have been immersed in a metaverse experience that provided a virtual 3D iteration of the HTS Richmond Hill Campus. They will feel connected to their classmates and teachers, who they will recognize immediately. And, most importantly, they will know what it feels like to be part of the HTS community.

Talk to any alumnus or their family members and what emerges time and time again is that HTS needs to be “felt” to be understood the sense of safety and the resulting courage to take learning risks; the sense of compassion, love and care that carries people through difficult times; the sense of curiosity that is nurtured and cultivated; and the sense that each student is seen for who they are and who they want to become. This is the HTS brand that is no longer limited to the Richmond Hill Campus. It is what the 2026 graduates of the HTS Global Online Campus will already know and understand; they will have experienced it firsthand through the thoughtful and deliberate design and curation of their online education and through the relationships that they have built.

So, look at those graduates from the HTS Global Online Campus and wonder no longer. They are the first group of students who have enjoyed, benefited from and contributed to the HTS learning experience, which has now been brought to the world.

To find out more about the HTS Global Online Campus visit hts.on.ca/hts-online

Transformations From The HTS Community

"The years I spent at HTS were a catalyst for me to grow into who I am today. It created a community that was nurturing, yet pushed me to find my own form of independence in and outside of academics. The supportive environment gave me the confidence to try new things without being scared to fail. The variety of opportunities helped me discover what I am passionate about. The diverse experiences allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and try things I wouldn’t have imagined. I am grateful I had a community that supported me on any decision I chose to make." - Irene Hou '18