Spring Lake High School welcomed 45 community volunteers to speak to students during their Seminar C period. Through the hosted activity, “Career Connections,” various community members connected with students. They were instructed to share details about their paths to the career and elements about their day-to-day job responsibilities.
Students were assigned to different seminar classrooms based on recent Naviance results—a website designed to help students create a career path—where different clusters were present. Some examples include Law, public safety, corrections, and security, Finance, Health Sciences, Hospitality and Tourism, and Manufacturing.
Kelli Heavilin, Spring Lake business teacher, played a big role in organizing and putting together Career Connections. Her goal was to get students to be more open to the variety of options available in each career cluster. “I didn’t want kids to get so caught up in the specifics of the cluster, but rather hear various career stories and how they often don’t have a linear path,” says Heavilin.
After the event concluded, students were provided with a feedback link where they had the chance to share what they learned, enjoyed, and what they may change for the future.
Heavilin also made it clear that this activity isn’t a one-and-done. The school plans on making adjustments to Career Connections based on student, teacher, and volunteer feedback to improve the impact and provide this opportunity for students annually.
