The school hosted its first of three sessions of Next Steps on Thursday, Oct. 2 with many universities, credit unions and trade workers attending.
This event was open to all grade levels with the intention of getting more student engagement. Sophomore Bella Gonzalez finds this event helpful for planning the future.
“[Next Steps] is good for the kids that don’t know what they’re doing in the future so they can see colleges and trades to figure out and explore what they want to do before their senior year,” Gonzalez said.
Counselor Patricia Chandler wanted this event to be a chance for the students to learn about life after high school.
“It’s an opportunity for students to learn about the different post secondary opportunities that they may have whether it’s going into a university, a trade, workforce or the military,” Chandler said.
Although this is not the school’s first time putting on this event, when first starting this event last year, Chandler wanted to find a new way to make it more engaging.
“I had talked to other high school counselors and [asked], how do you guys handle college reps? And that’s what started the whole process. Then when I was brainstorming with Dr. [Gail] Holder about it, we were talking about opening it up to employers and trades, so that way it doesn’t just have to be college reps,” Chandler said. “The unique thing we’re doing is we’re allowing them a less than a 30 minute blurb about them, so that way, it breaks the wall down for students to be able to go and ask questions and they know a little something about that person, that university, or that company.”
Chandler received positive responses from students, but also from the representatives that have come to the event.
“I’ve had representatives that have commented that they have had more meaningful conversations with students in this short amount of time than what they’ve had in the last 10 years that they have been coming here. They are also meeting more students in that short amount of time,” Chandler said.
Gonzalez had a similar good experience with this event where she enjoyed learning about the organizations.
“My favorite part is seeing how each of the colleges work and seeing what types of jobs I can get and how they work,” Gonzalez said. “It’s just a cool experience to see just how many different career paths there are and learning how these organizations operate.”
