My Year as a HirePaths Teacher Ambassador

As an agricultural education teacher, I spend my days with students who have a passion and drive to make the world a better place. It is my purpose as their teacher to provide them with as many unique experiences as possible. Post-secondary life is scary. It can be overwhelming, and it is something some students push off until the last moment. Programs like HirePaths allow for us as teachers to help bridge the gap with those students who are dreading life after graduation. Follow along as you see some of the things that HirePaths inspired in my classroom this past year!

• September: The beginning of a new school year was the perfect time to incorporate HirePaths into my classroom. This month was our “web surfer” month during which students used time allotted in class to browse and become familiar with the website.
   
• October: I was lucky enough to be sponsored as a HirePaths Teacher Ambassador this past year by BHS Construction Inc. As we all know, the world works in crazy ways, and the school I work for was having a bond issue project completed by BHS. Talk about my students having career opportunities in their back pocket! Drew Deters, a member of the BHS staff, took time out of his day to share with my students about career skills he looks for when hiring, opportunities available within the company and so much more!
   
• November: When we think of November, we often think of things that we are thankful for. To play off this, I assigned my students to create a “Thankful for …” poster highlighting a specific career or person they found on the HirePaths website. This could be a person or career they were passionate about, a field they plan to go into, or a field or career they wanted to learn more about.  
   
• January: We used both of the Bingo Worksheets during the month of January. As the teacher, I loved that these were laid out in a user-friendly template but also required the students to do some research to collect the right answers.
   
• March: It may be the month of luck but my students used the Real Success Stories and the Scavenger Hunt Worksheets to realize what it takes to be successful. They also saw how many great job opportunities there are right here in the great state of Kansas!

Getting to share all the great things HirePaths has to offer over the past year truly has been an honor. From speaking to other CTE teachers to sharing valuable information with my own students, I wrap up my first year as an Ambassador knowing that the world is in a better place because people like those who created HirePaths care about the future for all students.

Cade Fiske was the 2023-2024 BHS Construction HirePaths Teacher Ambassador. He's an agricultural teacher at Mission Valley High School.