Future-readiness Means Allowing Learners to Explore, Test, and Try Career Options Earlier On.

A look at how two students thrived from starting in middle school — and got help from ASA’s EvolveMe® platform.

Research shows that 80% of middle schoolers already say they’re stressed about what they’re going to do when they grow up — and 87% are interested in ways to match their skills and interests with potential careers.

Middle school is prime time to begin engaging kids in career-connected learning, because the pressure isn’t quite as intense as in high school, allowing them to explore freely and gain information about their options without the stress of having to make a life-changing decision right away.

But in order to accomplish this, we need tools that allow students to explore, connect with mentors, and learn critical, durable skills that can be transferred across just about any career path.

Enter EvolveMe®, ASA’s award-winning career-readiness platform for teens in middle and high school that does all of the above and more.

Check out these stories from young people who began their career exploration journeys in middle school and used EvolveMe to push their process forward!

When’s the Best Time to Start Planning for Your Career? College Freshman Mehkila Matthews Says It’s Middle School.

What do you want to be when you grow up? While Mehkila Matthews was growing up in Atlanta, she always had an easy answer: she wanted to become a teacher like her mom.

The problem was, as she progressed through grade school and reached middle school, she just couldn’t get math off her mind.

When she started middle school, she finally started accepting her love for math and looked for ways to get hands-on experience. She found a way to do that by combining her interest in teaching and began tutoring younger students to help them learn what came so naturally to her. She realized the importance of doing internships or apprenticeships as early as possible to confirm — or not — that a potential profession was right for her. Mehkila shadowed her father at his accounting job and gained real-world, hands-on experience, testing and trying a career that would become her own.

Having had these hands-on experiences, Mekhila wanted to learn skills that would better prepare her for her future. Many students don’t realize that there are fantastic, fun and free digital tools available to learn about careers, obtain skills, and network. ASA’s robust platform, EvolveMe, gave Mekhila a chance to further explore accounting jobs and skills and feel prepared for studying accounting in college.

Magic Can Happen Between High School and Four-Year College. Just Ask Shelby Robbins, who Earned an Associate Degree, a High School Diploma, and Career Direction at the Same Time.

For Shelby Robbins, there was never any doubt about her future: she wanted to be a writer. Then, during her junior year in high school, she participated in a program that enabled her to take classes at a community college. She was mentored there by a history professor who inspired her to shift course and pursue a career in the history field. When she graduated, she had an associate degree, a high school diploma, and a caring mentor. She saved money for college by starting with an associate degree and avoided having to change her major during college. In short, she saved time, she saved money, and she gained support and direction.

Shelby advises students to start thinking about careers and tapping into their passions as early as possible, even before high school. She wishes she discovered her interest in history earlier but is grateful to have found that passion before she entered college.

She urges others to find what they enjoy doing and to use those years in high school to solidify those interests and get hands-on experience. If there aren’t official programs in their high schools for study at community colleges, there are certainly internships, apprenticeships, boot camps, and other ways to learn early on what you might–or might not want–to do with your future.

There are also great free resources that she used to explore careers and gain skills. She used EvolveMe to learn more about career options, and used Next Voice to build up those skills that are going to be most sought-after in the future.