A group of students at The Bridge Alternative High School in Brighton have completed a 10-hour course in workplace safety and safety-related employee rights.

Some 16 Bridge Alternative High School students were presented with certificates for successfully completing a course in work place safety and employee rights at ceremonies Wednesday evening. The certificates, given to the 16 students who took the course, are earned through the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, known commonly as OSHA.

The ceremonies were held at the Brighton Education and Community Center, with about 50 students, parents and supporters in attendance. The Bridge Principal Colleen Deaven says that instructor Dan Bastien, who is certified by OSHA to teach courses in work place safety and procedures, offered to teach the 10-hour course at no cost in memory of son Daniel, a former Bridge student who passed away.

Deaven says it is the first time the course has been offered in a high school setting in Michigan and the students were given one-half-hour class credit for passing the course. Next fall, a 30-hour OSHA course in work place safety will be offered to the Bridge students, again at no cost. Deaven says The Bridge is the perfect place to present the course, since the majority of its students either directly enter the work force, or enroll in a technical school, upon graduation from The Bridge.

Commencement exercises for the 2017-18 graduating class will take place on June 12 at the Brighton Center for the Performing Arts. The Bridge, with about 120 students, was named the Michigan Alternative Education Organization Alternative School of the Year in 2016. (TT)