For some students, planning for their future is very exciting. For other students, it can seem overwhelming to actually start serious steps toward planning for their future. With a plan in place, college and career planning can be fun and productive. Many elements of college and career planning is built into the curriculum taught through the counseling department. In 7th grade, students take a Career Interest Inventory on Careercruising.com*. This interest inventory provides them a long list of possible careers based on their interests. I ask students to choose three of the most interesting jobs and start doing research. Students have the opportunity to find out educational requirements for each career, earnings potential and detailed descriptions of the work involved. After this initial research of their top three jobs, the student should consider, "Could I see myself doing this job everyday for the next 10-20 years?" If the answer is yes, students should take this information home to continue researching further.
In 8th grade, students create an Individualized Graduation Plan. Students map out what kind of classes they will take based on their career interests. To aid in the process in creating the initial graduation plan, I often tell students that are confused about how to proceed with college and career planning to start with the end goal in mind. Go to a job search site and look at the requirements for that job. This will help the student figure what kind of post-secondary education and skills they will need to acquire this job. Successful students will start working on improving their needed skillset during middle school. There also several opportunities in various industries to get hands-on experience during their middle school years to gain insight into the technical knowledge that is needed. Overall, the most important part of planning for the future is for students to research, research and more research. Then to put a plan into action. *Students can receive their careercruising.com password from their school counselor.
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Ms. Pratt
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