You Want To Do What

1. You Want To Do What?? Dakota County Technical College and Independent School District 196 Non-Traditional Training & Employment Project

2. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 You Want to Do What? Need: High school students are often unaware of non-traditional occupation choices. Many local employers are seeking qualified employees to fill positions. To encourage students to pursue alternative avenues of education and to provide businesses with qualified employees in the future we proposed this project. Purpose: To expose underrepresented groups of high school students and adult learners to non-traditional career opportunities.

3. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 Program Process At a planning meeting in early September, it was decided to contact teachers in ISD 196 who taught non-traditional classes and ask them to choose students who might be interested in participating in this project (based on their interest assessments and interviews). As the request went out, resource materials were prepared for use in the class room. These included: permission forms (both student & parent signature required), career cluster info, career outlooks, reflection materials for student use, etc. Cameras, poster boards, and markers were purchased for use by each participating HS student. They were asked to document their participation in this project. This presentation was to be presented at the end of this project at a wrap-up session.

4. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 Students prepare in classroom� HS students have previously taken career assessments and other evaluations to help them discover their likes and dislikes, talents and skills. They also learned how attitudes influence career choices. Teachers discussed these with students and using the career clusters helped them discover options. Students learned to identify and analyze traditional gender roles in the workplace

5. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 Student to Student Shadows High School students chose which program area at DCTC that they wanted to explore. HS students were matched with students from DCTC. In cases where there were no students available, HS students were matched with a professional (e.g. 3 students were interested in law enforcement. They spent their shadow time with one of the Dakota County Sheriffs.) HS students were given disposable cameras to document their day.

6. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04

7. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 College for a day� 40 HS students arrived on campus to a short orientation sessions, that included a welcome from the Director of Admissions. General information given about what to expect. Students were divided into 2 groups. Students were given a taste of college life. One group shadowed their DCTC student (or professional) counterparts & spent 2 hours with them going to class or labs. HS students had opportunities to ask questions of their guides, as well as faculty The second group took the Computerized Placement Test. It is used to place students in college classes. This gave the HS students an idea of how they would place in college classes. For some it meant that they needed to do some more work in high school� The groups switched Lunch vouchers were provided. When possible, both DCTC students & HS students ate together. During the wrap-up session, HS students were given a quick overview on how to access financial aid; they were also given a common MnSCU application to fill out so they could learn about the kinds of information required.

8. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 Business Tours 100 students participated in 3 business tours. These were opportunities to see education in action. Students had opportunities to ask questions and observe people working.

9. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 Student Comments From Price Waterhouse Coopers Accounting Tour

10. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 Other Events On April 14, students were encouraged to attend a job fair at the Rosemount Community Center. They were asked to observe the types of jobs offered and whether or not they were gender specific. Questions were welcomed by the presenters. They were also encouraged to apply for jobs by filling out application forms. The pictures students had taken throughout the project were developed and shared.

11. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 What we learned� This project became very difficult to complete due to illness and family crises of project coordinators. Because of this we were not able to do all the projects in the way we had initially planned and were not able to hold the final event or complete the guide. Students who have chosen a career or education path should not be part of the project. We need a method to determine this. The shadowing experience seemed to work well, earlier in the semester would be better timing. Student tours of businesses are particularly good when businesses are given information on student interests prior to the tour. Project participation needs to be tied to HS grades. Everything needs to occur earlier in the school year. While it seemed that spring would be a good time for tours, it was very difficult to work these events into schedules.

12. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 Future Plans We have a good plan of action to follow. With some tweaking, it can be a great plan. We would like to request to use the extra funds this year as seed money to run the program next year. More schools would be included. Marketing to be done early in the school year. It�s too early to predict how this program impacts future class enrollment, but it is hoped to have a positive effect both in term of enrollment and preparedness of students.

13. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 Budget

14. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 Budget Narrative & Goals GOALS Facilitate student career awareness especially in non-traditional careers Develop roster of speakers on non-trad careers Identify students who would benefit from expanded career exploration activities in non-trad career paths. Purchase materials and supplies to implement the program Facilitate student understanding of career clusters and training required to pursue a non-trad career Discover non-trad careers within a company Offer students opportunity to shadow and employee in a non-trad career or visit or tour a company who employs non-trad employees. Seek out companies at career fairs who offer non-trad careers Create a final project to demonstrate student learning Publish a guide for other institutions to follow so that they may replicate this program NARRATIVE Classroom materials (permission forms (both student & parent signature required), career cluster info, career outlooks, reflection materials for student use, etc. were developed Through the Pathfinder project, the roster of classroom speakers was launched Materials (cameras, poster board, etc.) were purchased and distributed for student use Working with college faculty, staff and student senate, shadows were set up for HS students. In-kind contributions covered the costs of college instructors� time to talk with their students and gain their support for the project, as well as supervise their classrooms with the HS students involved. In addition the students� time to answer questions and show the students their area and projects. In-kind contributions also included the costs of using office equipment both to create materials and to communicate with other participants.

15. You Want To Do What?? DCTC & ISD 196 2003-04 Thank you for providing the grant dollars to conduct this project!