As the ACT and Career Coordinator at Great Bend High School, my primary focus is working with all students (9th-12th) to help prepare them for life after high school. This includes providing assessments, resources and opportunities to enhance students’ levels of college and career readiness. Over the years, I’ve also filled in to teach various business classes. This year, while teaching Business Essentials and Business Communication, I was able to seamlessly integrate many HirePaths resources into course content throughout the year. I wanted to share a few highlights.

Whether you have a toddler or a teen in your life, thinking about their future can feel daunting! Helping them transition into the “real world” is a big task, and there are a seemingly endless number of options after high school — how are you supposed to help them find the right path? 

As a high school teacher with a bachelor’s degree in animal science, I thought I’d spend my life teaching agriculture classes and leading a school’s FFA program (formerly known as Future Farmers of America). I never dreamed I’d find myself also teaching shop classes like welding! But when I was hired at McLouth USD 342, my contract included teaching career and technical education courses across two different pathways, including Power, Structural and Technical Systems (or ag power for short).

You just boarded the plane and are settling in for your cross-country flight. The flight attendants have gone through the safety announcements, and you’re all buckled up. The captain comes on to indicate you are next for take-off. Wait, that sounded like a woman? Do we have a female pilot?

Data. It’s collected everywhere by seemingly everyone. With rapidly advancing technology and the ability to store large amounts of data affordably in the cloud, never before has there been so much information available to help us make decisions. But that’s also the challenge. Who is available with the fundamental training to analyze all of this data and tell the stories to help make data-driven decisions?

By Philip Brown, Marketing Director, Kansas Manufacturing Solutions (KMS)

What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s a common question asked of kids. Answers are often a fireman, a policeman, or an astronaut, but rarely do kids reply, “I want to be a MANUFACTURER when I grow up!” 

This may be because they don’t realize how cool manufacturing is or that manufacturing jobs have evolved. Maybe they don't know a career in manufacturing can be very lucrative.

For National Apprenticeship Week, observed Nov. 14-20, 2022, educators, industries, workers and employers are celebrating the benefits and successes of apprenticeships.

Kansas teachers and parents can help students “try on” in-demand jobs through an innovative career exploration program that delivers activities and resources directly to them.

When first becoming parents, most of us spend time learning from parenting books, blogs and one another about what we are supposed to do with these squirming, stubborn, tiny humans. Whether we’re learning to recognize developmental milestones or how to handle meltdowns, many of us depend on these resources to guide us through the journey of parenthood. This is especially true with our first child (not so much for each child thereafter!).

Spring is the season students often make commitments for their future. Whether that’s enrolling for next year’s classes, choosing a post-secondary institution of higher learning, or submitting job applications and resumes, these deadlines often approach as the flowers bloom.  

As you help your children and students make these decisions about their future, I’d like to share four newer ways to think about career training, some of which might differ from the mindset you were raised with.