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Opportunities and Possibilities

For the last nine years, our school has hosted a Career Day program for our middle school students. It's part of our career awareness program. After last year and brainstorming with my amazing school counselor (he's the brains behind the Career Day), we wondered about adding a College Fair piece to it. He took that idea to his colleagues in the guidance department and they made it bigger and better than we could have anticipated.

Yesterday, our entire student body sat in on four self-selected career sessions. We had nearly 20 careers represented including state trooper, photography, cosmetology, sound technician, military, and culinary. Many of our presenters graduated from our district and were able to come back and share "their stories" with our kids. Each presenter went out of their way to connect middle school learning to his/her career. There were messages of perseverance and commitment throughout.

After the career awareness part of the morning, we collected our students in the auditorium to explain what would happen at the College Fair. Each 6th and 7th grade class had 40 minutes to tour the expo. Our 8th graders were given nearly 80 minutes to tour the fair as they were the closest to entering high school and we wanted them to have the full benefit of exploring options.

The college fair included representatives from community colleges, 4 year colleges, some employers, BOCES, police, and Army. Days leading up to the fair, some were worried how students would relate to being in a "college fair". I had the chance to speak with many of the college reps and they indicated they had not participated in a middle school fair before. 



As I stood in the center of the gym and watched our students (and staff), I realized the potential this event brought to our students. I saw..

  • Students asking teachers how they decided to become a teacher.
  • Students introducing themselves to college representatives and sharing their goals for the future. 
  • Students telling each other about what different colleges would offer.
  • Students asking potential employers about their companies.
  • Students smiling and running from table to table collecting literature and free items from the representatives.
  • Students sharing with each other the pros and cons of different programs.

The night before the event, I had the opportunity to talk with a staff member about the fair. He was asking me if I really thought kids knew what college they wanted to go to (as a middle school student) or even if they wanted to go? I reminded him that the event wasn't about kids picking a college. The event was about our kids knowing they had opportunities and possibilities ahead of them. He nodded and smiled in acceptance of my answer.

But, that's really it. Our job is to model for students what possibilities exist for them after they leave us. Our guidance team gave our students an incredible gift yesterday. Sometimes, you can't see what's right in front of your eyes until someone helps your adjust your focus or gives you the materials you need to paint your own picture. 

What was accomplished yesterday will never show up on state test scores or matter much to those that evaluate "school systems". What was accomplished yesterday can't be measured in percentages, points or HEDI scores. 

It's measured in degrees of hope....for a future. 

A future for each student that is full of opportunities and possibilities.

-----

My thanks to the Post-Star for attending our event and publishing this article. 

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