We asked our Educators Rising students to tell us what role they think K-12 schools should have in helping students identify and prepare for potential careers and reflect on the kinds of career preparation available at their schools.
Finding a passion
Matthew Freitag
K-12 schools should help students identify and prepare for future careers by having programs where students can find their passion and see what will be the best fit for them. From auto repair to entrepreneurship to teaching, programs that encompass a pathway to a student’s future career should be easily available and give students the experience that they will need.
I am a part of the Washington School District in Washington, Missouri. Our school district is lucky to have a career center where students can explore future pathways and see what they like. The Four Rivers Career Center has an abundance of skilled and project-based classes that students can take in their junior and senior year of high school. Some of the programs that are offered include entrepreneurship, building construction, graphic design, welding, auto tech repair, teaching careers, and more. There are six school districts that send students to the career center so that they can have the opportunity to explore their interests. The career center does a wonderful job giving students hands-on opportunities, whether they are learning how to put together an engine in collision repair, starting a business in entrepreneurship, or lesson planning in teaching careers.
Four Rivers Career Center is recognized for their innovative practices, hands-on learning, and career preparation. I’m honored to be a part of a school district where I can explore these opportunities before college and have the experience that other students may not have.
Matthew Freitag
12th grade | Washington High School | Washington, Missouri
Exploring interests
Torrey McClain
I think the main role K-12 schools should have in helping students prepare for potential careers is helping them discover who they are. An influential part of making a career decision stems from a person’s interests and their individuality.
Many peoples’ interests develop at an early age, and I strongly believe that the best thing elementary and middle schools can do for their students is nurture their interests and developing individuality. At the high school level, schools should continue to respect their students’ interests and individuality, while at the same time offering life skills in a classroom setting.
At my school, all students in grades 9-12 are able to take an optional but informative personal finance class as a math credit. I took it last semester and truly benefited by learning more about budgeting!
Torrey McClain
12th grade | Palmer High School | Palmer, Alaska
Sharing ideas early
Aubreanna Reeves
I honestly think there should be more help in grades 5-7 because that’s when you have to prepare them, before they move on to high school. That will let them start thinking on what they want to be when they grow up, before their life really starts.
My school does pretty well at throwing some good ideas out in a nice friendly way, and for the most part it is fun. Different job recruiters come to our school and talk about what they do and how much it can impact your life. They have the college counselor call everyone back to her office, and she will go through all the options and throw some college recommendations out there so students can start to have an idea of what they could do.
Aubreanna Reeves
12th grade | Pacific High School | Pacific, Missouri
Introducing options
Keiren Minter
I believe that schools should introduce students to different career options so that students can easily identify what career choice is right for them. My school offers programs like welding, teaching, nursing, and other programs that can potentially help students have a better understanding of what field they aspire to go into. In many ways, real life begins at graduation for students. They begin to put their knowledge into use and manage their own finances and life plans. So schools should focus not just on whether students have learned material, but where it will take students later.
Keiren Minter
12th grade | Watson Chapel High School | Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Trying out possible careers
Addison McKay Harden
I think that K-12 should provide services for students to branch out or classes they can take in order to figure out what field of work they want to go into. Offering services like this will help kids early on have an idea of what they want to do. My school offers the opportunity to go to Four Rivers Career Center, which allows you to work within the field you want to go into. This is helpful because if you go to Four Rivers, you are able to tell if you like the career before going through all of the schooling and figuring it out years later.
I think my school does a good job at providing services that help with careers, but I think that they could provide more classes or opportunities for kids to get involved with programs that allow them to experience a career they are interested in.
Addison McKay Harden
12th grade | Union High School | Union, Missouri
Mary Kathryn Gebhart
Offering experience through career centers
K-12 schools have a critical role in the career students choose. They allow students to learn about new careers and the endless possibilities the world has to offer. I’m lucky that my school district has a satellite career center, where I could see what I truly wanted to do, without wasting money in college. Personally it solidified why I’m going into teaching. Having the career center, in addition to Educators Rising, gave me endless opportunities.
Mary Kathryn Gebhart
Freshman | Capital University | Bexley, Ohio
This article appears in the March 2023 issue of Kappan, Vol. 104, No. 6, pp. 66-67.
