by 
How are you encouraging your students to reach out to people in their field of interest?
Donald Super, a career development expert, once declared that a vocational role model is the single greatest factor involved in identifying a career pathway that not only fits, but excites. Centuries ago, a career path was determined by the father. If your father built wagon wheels, better get your planes and shavers sharpened.
Times have changed, but not excluded previous options. How many superstars in the NFL find they have a son running for touchdowns? Coach Dunleavy of Duke coached the Olympic U.S. Basketball Dream Team. As a father, I would suspect his biggest dream came true when he got to coach his own son at Duke and as he watches his son plays for the Milwaukee Bucks or any NBA team. Parents still hold a lot more power than they may realize to influence their offspring. Ample room exists for others to impact pathways as well.
Ketchikan High School has a few unique classrooms that have seen significant numbers of students follow a path for which their curriculum prepares them by building on that concept. They are unique in that they place students in situations in which they are working with others in that field—watching, learning and oftentimes visualizing themselves years in the future. Many end up pursuing that profession in college and life.
One such class is called Medical Terminology. It is a dual enrollment class that introduces students to all the various medical professions that are available. Students study rigorous coursework and learn sophisticated vocabularies that make medicine a serious subject. Of the 20 students per year who take the class, nearly all end up pursuing something in medicine.
All of our doctoral level health science students have been in that class. All our future physicians, vets, dentists and opticians have taken it. They spend one semester following a professional holding that career. The class has not only been successful, but popular too. Well over the maximum accepted try to sign up for it each year. Many have sat on a waiting list a year before entering it.
At the bachelor’s level, similar results follow another dual enrollment course. Applied Educational Psychology appeals to many students. It has attracted many who go on to become future educators: classroom teachers, counselors, specialists of all sorts come out of it. Out of our 120+ graduating seniors, up to 15 start college with aspirations of becoming an educator who impacts young minds. Experiences in which they all have real classroom responsibilities in our local elementary schools help them find if they have the aptitude or passion to manage their own class one day. They do so by developing, conducting, and evaluating their own lessons while working with our district staff.
At the associate’s level, we have a culinary program and automotive set of classes that appeal to several each year. Some go on to complete either an associate’s or earn a certificate to stay in that field. We have many dedicated college scholarships that have evolved and are available to students choosing these paths. Whether learning to repair your auto, keep your diesels running or feeding those in the mess-halls or restaurants of tomorrow, students do real repairs and feed our students with hands-on experience that gives them a real taste of life in that field. They leave it knowing what to expect and how to enter the schools and training programs that continue their education.
At the skilled level, we have a construction program that does likewise. These students spend a two period block learning construction skills and earning points that make acceptance into a skilled trade union easier and more likely. Welding has that same format as they have real experiences working with real employers and doing real work in the field. Several get referred for paying jobs allowing them to not only earn extra money, but start to feel like professionals in the field.
When students work with professionals in the field and do “real” work in the field, transferring skills become automatic. They need not wait to see if the classroom work will simulate the career. More importantly, they actually focus upon the career options directly related to the field of study while still in high school. It makes school and those special classes more meaningful, and they often work particularly hard in those classes.
Parents need not rely upon high school programs though. They can take matters into their own hands. A parent of a graduate of our school described how they intervened themselves. They had brought their daughter to a children’s museum in the Chicago area as a child. It had a pretend dentist’s office. They noticed she had donned a dentist’s smock put there for children, and she did pretend extractions on her younger sister. They had fun doing so and pictures taken reminded the eldest how much fun she had while only in fourth grade having that professional role.
Playing dress-up dentist in a small museum exhibit made for children planted a seed. At her next dental appointment, the parent asked an orthodontist if he would mind letting the daughter spend a portion of a day watching to see how he conducted his work to see how it compared to the pretend version she tried. He was pleased to do so.
Another dentist who had appointments with her later was less supportive. He said that as a girl, she should focus on dental hygiene so she wouldn’t have so many professional responsibilities associated with running a practice. I mention that because the latter could have been persuaded to let her spend a day as well. Fortunately, the job visit was made in the office of a supportive dentist.
That girl found out how much science was required, and she found a reason to exhaust the science dept. courses and excel in them. She went on to attend American University and earn a BS from their Honor’s Biology Program. She ended up in Harvard’s School of Dental Medicine and completed a DMD. She is now doing a residency at UCLA in Pediatric Dentistry while completing an MPH. All this took dedication, drive and commitment. All this came from one chance visit & a little follow-up.
That one fortuitous incident at a child’s museum that sparked a few moments of fun and inspiration and pursued with a job shadow by someone changed her life. That dentist encouraged her and invited her in to make teeth molds. Later she was asked her by that orthodontist to organize pre and post pictures of clients. That orthodontist sparked an entire life path with little effort—simply by inviting her to see what he did, but an important piece of this formula was that he really enjoyed his profession. I wonder if she would have still labored to pursue the dental path she spent the day with that dentist who thought that as a woman she should instead opt to be a hygienist, or if she ended up following someone who found only discontent in their field of work.
Donald Super is right in my opinion. A supportive, encouraging role model who encourages someone and takes an interest in them and their career can make a world of difference. If a student sees someone enjoying their career, and they invite the child to pursue the path and opens the doors to do so can change their entire future. It has the added benefit of making school seem more relevant. It allows students a reason to choose a harder curriculum or experiment with a different path altogether.
Parents and educators alike are in positions to be that agent. The inspiration to help a child and student create a vision towards which they can work and find meaning in the classes they take and in the experiences they try. Like a seed, once planted, nurtured, watered and fertilized from time to time, it can result in a budding career that came about because of a singular intervention. That seed can be planted at any time, but remember some plants take longer to reach their full height.
