Conference Wrap-Up

On November 9 and 10th 2025, OSCA/ACOSO hosted its sold out two-day conference at the Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale Hotel, hosting Guidance educators from across the province. This year’s theme: “Leadership Starts Here: Empowering Leaders, Inspiring Change” focused on the role of Guidance Educators as leaders to their students, and leaders within their school communities. Both days of the conference allowed educators to reflect on strategies, programming, and advancements in the skilled trades, allowing them to share ideas and prepare for the ever-evolving landscape of guidance and career education in Ontario.

On Sunday, our keynote speaker was the best selling leadership author, educator, and speaker Drew Dudley. Both TIME Magazine and Business Insider have called Drew’s presentation, “One of the ten speeches that will make you a better leader”. This rang true with all conference attendees who were reminded of the impact they hold, and the power it takes to recognize leadership in their students. Drew shared strategies around impact, empathy, courage, empowerment, equity, and self-respect, as well as how important it is for educators to also take a few minutes each day to take care of themselves – a sometimes impossible task, when so much is given to their students
every moment of every day.

On Monday, we welcomed New York Times’ bestselling author Neil Pasricha, who passionately shared the importance of mental health, and the key overlaps between doing what you love with what pays well and what you’re good at. Neil reminded educators about the importance of taking a few minutes out of each day to re-centre and to remember to reach out to those we love and care about.

Both Drew and Neil provided signed copies of their books which were raffled off as prizes to our conference goers, and were an invigorating start to each day of the conference.

This year, OSCA/ACOSO also hosted a Skilled Trades Plenary called “Tool Time”, where speakers from organizations promoting the skilled trades shared the trajectories of the labour market, and how educators need to continue to expose students to the expansive pathways within the trades. Additionally, there was a broad list of workshops offered, all aimed at providing Guidance educators with resources and opportunities to delve deeper into topics such as: postsecondary pathways, financial planning, and student engagement. Each delegate was able to tailor their conference experience to their own interests, leaving with new ideas and inspiration to bring back to their schools. We are grateful to our presenters for sharing their time so that we could all enjoy this valuable opportunity to learn alongside our Guidance colleagues from across the province.

The conference is made possible by the generosity of our many sponsors and exhibitors. Our delegates networked with, and received resources from, 65 organizations who support guidance and career education in Ontario. It was thrilling to be able to award some lucky delegates with door prizes throughout the conference. We are looking forward to next year’s conference to reconnect with our guidance colleagues and to welcome new attendees. OSCA/ACOSO is incredibly grateful to all of those who made this year’s conference possible and to the delegates who invested their time to develop their practice as guidance educators. Thank you also to our OSCA oard of Directors for all of their hard work in making this year’s conference a huge success.

A Huge Congratulations to our Grand Prize Winners!

Download 2025 Conference Wrap Up PDF

OSCA/ACOSO was thrilled to mark its 60th anniversary this year with an expanded two-day conference. On November 3rd and 4th, over 400 Guidance educators from across the province came together to share, learn, and celebrate at the Hilton Mississauga Meadowvale Hotel. This year’s theme of, “The Future is Now – Embrace the Change” allowed counsellors to reflect on best practices for preparing students for the labour market of tomorrow and the ever-evolving landscape of guidance and career education in Ontario.  

We welcomed one keynote speaker each day to inspire delegates with their insights and experiences. On Sunday we were joined by Sandra Nagy from Future Design School who invited us to envision the future labour market that our students will experience and to reflect upon the skills that they will require to find success. Sandra challenged educators to harness the power of artificial intelligence to improve our own efficiency and to evolve alongside our students as we all work together to pave a path for the future. On Monday, we welcomed Natasha Ferguson from Ethelfox Construct Group to share her experiences as a woman and business owner in the skilled trades. She underscored the invaluable role that counsellors play in pathway exploration for our students and importance of highlighting opportunities that exist through apprenticeships.  As we look to the future, Natasha reminded us that as the labour market continues to evolve, the need for skilled tradespeople will remain essential. 

Our theme extended into the broad list of workshops offered this year, all aimed  at providing Guidance educators with resources and opportunities to delve deeper into topics such as: postsecondary pathways, skilled trades, mental health, emerging industries and student engagement. Each delegate was able to tailor their conference experience to their own interests, leaving with new ideas and inspiration to bring back to their schools. We are grateful to our presenters for sharing their time so that we could all enjoy this valuable opportunity to learn alongside our Guidance colleagues from across the province.

The conference is made possible by the generosity of our many sponsors and exhibitors. Our delegates networked with, and received resources from, over 55 organizations who support guidance and career education in Ontario. It was thrilling to be able to award some lucky delegates with door prizes throughout the conference. We particularly want to congratulate our grand prize winner Joe Idone who received a 2025 conference registration including hotel stay, our conference voucher winner and Shannon Green, our Hilton Points winner.   

In honour of our 60th anniversary, we celebrated with a gala dinner that honoured this year’s award recipients. We were especially excited to be joined by 11 of our Past-Presidents. OSCA/ACOSO celebrates the outstanding achievement of dedicated educators and guidance counsellors whose energy and creativity have contributed to comprehensive guidance programs. Thank you for your dedication, vision, and genuine concern for students’ success.

OSCA/ACOSO recognizes the recipients of the Anthony DiLena Student Pathway Awards. The winners were nominated by a teacher or counselor in their school for their ability to achieve success despite barriers that put them at risk. 

We are looking forward to next year’s conference to reconnect with our guidance colleagues and to welcome new attendees. OSCA/ACOSO is incredibly grateful to all of those who made this year’s conference possible and to the delegates who invested their time to develop their practice as guidance educators.There was no better way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of this organization and the invaluable work of Guidance teacher counsellors in Ontario schools.