With a renewed focus on career preparation at Alliance City Schools, Alliance Middle School (AMS) launched a new Career Connections class for all students.
Aimed at helping students in grades 6-8 explore potential career paths and prepare for their future, the course provides a structured approach for students to discover their interests, aptitudes and passions, and to begin considering the educational paths that will help them reach their career goals.
AMS students participate in this course for one quarter in 6th and 7th grades and for a full semester in 8th grade. With the multi-year course in place, each grade level will focus on a different aspect of career exploration. In 6th grade, students are introduced to various careers and the possibilities within different industries. By 7th grade, the students dive deeper, exploring their individual strengths and how they align with career options through tools like the YouScience assessment. In 8th grade, students select careers of interest to research further and create presentations to demonstrate their learning, culminating their three-year career connections experience.
“We wanted to provide a course that helps our students find what they are passionate about and have an interest in to help them start to think about possible careers that they would be interested in as they transition into their adult lives,” said Principal Tim Mosher. “This course not only helps them focus on what they need—education, training or apprenticeships—in order to achieve a career they are interested in, but furthermore, it creates discussion between students and their families about possible careers.”
The Career Connections course is designed to spark these important conversations. In 7th grade, students use the YouScience assessment, which matches their aptitudes and interests to over 800 careers, many of which students may not have heard of before. Each year, students revisit their results, encouraging self-reflection as their interests evolve and they gain a sense of what they would like to do careerwise. This program is made possible with funding from the Alliance Area Chamber of Commerce, providing each student with a paid YouScience account, and the district’s affiliation with Stark Education Partnership.
“My hope is that students will become more aware of career opportunities available to them, but also become more self aware of what they are good at,” said Matt Horning, Career Connections teacher. “We’ve been having some really good conversations in class about the difference between a job that pays the bills for the short term versus a career that you prepare yourself for and can enjoy for the long term.”
For the past couple of years, Alliance Middle School has hosted Career Cafes, bringing in community members from various businesses and career fields to speak to the students about what they do and what led them to their chosen career. Horning hopes to see the program grow and introduce more career professionals to the students. The connections they make and the information they receive during the career cafes is invaluable.
If you are interested in speaking at a Career Cafe, please reach out to Matt Horning at horningma@alliancecityschools.org.