Project Success: An Opportunity for Career Exploration
By Stacie White, CTE Teacher
In my family no one asked if my brother and I were going to college. They asked where we were going to college and what our majors would be. Fast-forward about 15 years, and my parents will tell you they wished they’d encouraged my brother in one of the two vocational routes available while we were in high school: Automotive or HVAC. My brother, like so many of our peers, thought that college was the only route to a successful career. So after six years in college for a four-year degree in communications and working several odd jobs in retail, he went back to school to become HVAC certified. Now he runs a very successful business doing what he loves while being his own boss. Maybe college isn’t the answer for everyone. Maybe when my AC goes out in the 105-degree heat of the Texas summer, I’d rather pay someone to cool off my home who only has nine months of education as opposed to someone with a college degree. This is in the back of my mind every day I walk into my students’ and my classroom.
I teach a course called Project Success where I learn alongside seventh and eighth graders the value of hard work, dedication, proactivity, listening to others, teamwork, and what it means to be a productive adult in today’s world. In short, I have the best job in the world. I can’t even call it a job, really. We learn together and we grow together. We do life together. I follow a scope and sequence, and throughout the year I invite about twenty guest speakers from all different walks into our classroom to introduce us to their professions. However, the students really lead where the discussion goes.
In the first semester, we dive into the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey. We do role-playing activities and talk about real life. What happens when your parent yells at you for no reason? (Let’s face it, parents, sometimes we have bad days, and our family bears the brunt of it — or maybe that’s just me). How should you react? Take it a step further — what if it was your teacher who was having a bad day? (Because we never have those, right?) Now, let’s take it even further. What if it was your boss who yelled at you for something you didn’t do? It happens. How are you going to handle it when it does? These are the scenarios we get to talk about. Students begin to come to grips with the idea that just because it’s not fair, doesn’t mean you don’t have to handle the situation in a mature manner. We laugh, we cry, we learn. Together.
Career Management Plan
Around October we start discussing the second habit: Begin with the End in Mind. Students are encouraged to seriously think about their futures. They take an interest survey, do extensive research, and decide on a career for the remainder of the year. It is at this point they are introduced to the idea of a Career Management Plan. This is a digital portfolio where they keep all the hard work they produce throughout the year. Every assignment from here on will be completed in relation to the career field they have chosen. For example, the third habit, Put First Things First, incites thoughts on how time management will play into their lives as young adults in their specific career fields. What will it look like when you have multiple cars to work on in your auto shop? Or, when you have multiple projects in your engineering firm? Or, when there are people who desperately need your help as an Emergency Medical Technician, but your kid has a ballet recital that same night? How are you going to juggle it all? Students begin to see all that being an adult entails, and they start planning for it.
Budgeting
In January we begin the real adulting: budgeting. Students must research the starting yearly salary of their chosen career field and complete an extensive monthly budget including taking out income taxes, choosing a healthcare plan, rental agreements based on a third of their income, utilities based on the city where they will live, car payments with interest that they calculate, gas and car maintenance, student loans, phone and internet, savings and retirement, and “fun money.” After a particularly invigorating discussion on health insurance where my students were shocked and appalled at the cost, one of my students said to me, “You know, this is the first time ever that I see how important the lesson is.” Every teacher lives for those lightbulb moments.
Employer’s Choice Award
In the next months, my students create relevant resumes complete with their current and previous activities and accomplishments. They learn how to take professional photos using their own devices, and the dos and don’ts of interviewing. They create interview plans and learn the importance of thank-you notes. All of these things are stored in their digital portfolios waiting for their shot at the Employer’s Choice Award at the end of the year. To win the Employer’s Choice Award, they submit their Career Management Plans to a panel of judges who are grouped based on their profession and the projected profession of the candidates. The panel reviews the portfolios and interviews each candidate based on the information presented. In the end, three to four candidates will earn a $200 scholarship and one candidate will earn a $500 scholarship toward the purchase of an item(s) that will help them on their career path. These items are donated by community members and our district foundation. Last year a student won a full-bodied mannequin and drawing tablet to help her in a fashion design career. Another student chose a few pairs of Nike shoes which he promptly sold for a large profit to begin an entrepreneurial business. These students are still using these tools today to begin their careers while they are still in high school! In our Project Success class, there is no career out of reach. Nothing is off the table, and everything is attainable.
Opportunities for Career Exploration
I told you, I have the best job ever. My students get to have the benefit of an individualized education where I am just the facilitator. I get to learn about all the different careers out there and guide students on a path toward responsibility and empowerment. My true goal in all of this is to inspire my students to find their passions, find a career that embodies that passion, and go after it. Maybe we can save some kiddos the heartache of going down the wrong path before running down the right one. My brother could have used a course like this to help him discover his passions.
My brother’s example begs the question, if all students don’t have the opportunity for concentrated career exploration, how can teachers of all disciplines engage students to expand their visions of their futures? How can we help students like my brother? To start, we can use more relevant examples in class. Instead of just giving the students the math word problem, what if it is in relation to a specific career field that uses that particular math? What if our informative passage in reading was about a lesser-known career? What if we made connections with the chemistry that takes place every time we order food at a restaurant? If our endgame is to teach kids to become responsible adults, then shouldn’t career explorations be a top priority? So the real question is this, how are you going to spark career curiosity in your students?
Let’s connect! I’d love to hear how you ignite the spark with your students and how you inspire others to do the same! Or, if you’d like some help kicking off a course like this in your district, find me on all the socials @amazingmrswhite.
Stacie White is a wife, mother, and 19-year veteran teacher. She has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from LSU-Shreveport and a master’s degree in Teacher Leadership from Lamar University. You may see her cheering her 5 kids on from the sidelines, the stands, the audience, or grading papers while waiting for them in the car. In her spare time, Stacie teaches Project Success and Spanish 1 at Pine Tree Junior High School in Longview, Texas.
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