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School News
Tom Bean students explore careers
By Tom Bean ISD
Nov 11, 2009
Ms. Yates’s eighth-grade students went exploring! They explored different avenues for career choices.
Ms. Mary Park, HDH Career Consortium Director, visited and walked them through Bridges, a plan-and-achieve software program that helps students recognize what their interests are. The program helps guide students toward certain career choices that they make.
Students established an online portfolio that will follow them through high school which includes an assessment of their interests. They can monitor their own progress as they move closer to graduation, increasing their motivation and making them more accountable for their future. Parents can track their credits and online activities through this site. The portfolio can also follow them to a different school if they move.
Ms. Park and Ms. Yates helped the eighth graders determine what their choices indicated and directions they could go. They can also look at the expenses of living on their own and complete a Reality Check showing how much that would cost.
Because students start thinking about dropping out of school in the third grade, it’s important to keep students interested in school and guided in the direction of their interests. A motivated student who chooses a pathway is a more focused, achievement-oriented student. This passion and enthusiasm can lead to better study habits, better grades and greater course involvement.
Mrs. Royal, the high school counselor, said, ”Bridges is a wonderful tool to help students explore and find out more about themselves. We, at Tom Bean ISD, are helping our students to map out their future. We want them to have a direction to travel after they leave us, and be confident in their choices.”
By utilizing the Bridges program, as well as other career exploration tools, we are helping our students to be successful in their future educational goals and career options. Each student at the high school has created an individual portfolio, which may also be accessed from home.
By starting in the 8th grade, students have a jump on the game plan. As they explore and research various careers and colleges, they may save the information into their portfolio for future reference. Parents may also create portfolios of their own. There are even tools to help build impressive resumes, practice job search and interviewing skills, and much more.
Bridges utilizes the 16 career clusters mapped out through Achieve