Programs: Achieve! Career and College Initiative: News

News from Achieve! Career and College Centers

Career and College Center Initiative Update
January 2008

We are very excited to report that from September through December, 30,291 students connected with the Achieve! Career and College Centers and there were 1,519 visits from parents, volunteers and other community partners.  We are truly excited that lives are being impacted and relationships between our staff, counselors and school administrators are being strengthened to build a solid force for making sure that all Minneapolis public high school students have access to planning tools for their futures.

Achieve! Career and College Center Connections
December, 2008

Edison
The coordinator has been meeting with all of the senior advisory groups to get students acquainted with the My Life Plan Naviance tool.  As a result of persistent contact, students are learning about opportunities they once thought were out of reach.  This quarter there are several success stories about students who have gotten college acceptance letters from 4-year institutions, after being encouraged by the coordinator or some other staff member in the building to apply.  One example is from a young lady who was only considering community colleges, was recently introduced to local private colleges and was admitted to Gustavus Adolphus.

Henry
The center at Henry continues to be a very busy place with a constant stream of students seeking college and career information.  This quarter the coordinator worked with the students and staff to present a parent forum on college planning that was very well received.  The center hosted a brown bag lunch about the career path of a paralegal.  Additionally, the center was host for resume help sessions, college admission representatives, and many student visitors, both those currently enrolled and those graduated. 

Lehmann
The Achieve! Career and College Center at Lehmann Center is a very busy place that serves a unique student population.  This quarter, the center hosted workshops on media careers, work based learning seminars, Step Up summer job application help sessions, resume workshops, orientation to scholarships using Naviance, and many other student centered activities.  Lehmann has a partnership with volunteers from Deloitte Consulting where volunteers come on a regular basis to lead students through a curriculum that teaches various life skills. 

North
Students at North High have the added benefit of having a Career and College Center Coordinator and a Work-Based Learning Coordinator.  This quarter 9th grade students worked on completing the personality inventory requirement of My Life Plan. 11th grade students explored post-secondary options and how they will go about reaching their goals.  Additionally they took the PSAT test in preparation for college.  12th grade students were visited by former students who did presentations on the realities of life after high school.  North has developed a solid team of counselors and coordinators, which makes this site a model for how all schools could operate.

Roosevelt
The center at Roosevelt works very closely with the schoo’ls AVID program and is the host site for AVID meetings and group sessions that deal with career planning.  The coordinator works closely with all of the leadership in the building and participated in a 9th grade workshop on respect, which was sponsored by Youth Frontiers.  Many students were deeply impacted as was indicated by a shift in behavior for some students.  Roosevelt also was the host site for college representative visits, resume help sessions and a brown bag presentation from a lawyer from Hennepin County Juvenile Court Division.

South
The center at South is a very high traffic area where students go for all kinds of post-secondary information. The coordinator hosts many class presentations in partnership with the school’s counseling team, including scholarship workshops, information on My Life Plan, Step Up summer job information sessions, resume workshops and a brown bag lunch on careers in the field of law.  The center has developed into a very warm and welcoming place and students have really taken notice.

Southwest
Southwest is another strong AVID site.  Students are making connections with resources and learning about their post-secondary options through the use of Naviance and information sessions.  The coordinator does a great job of connecting the planning process with students and their parents as this center has very high parent participation.

Washburn
The coordinator at Washburn is continuing to build a presence in the building.  9th grade students are coming into the center to work on their My Life Plan requirements.   The Coordinator is working with the counseling team and the principal is very supportive of the work that is happening in the center.  Washburn students are increasingly interested in the center and really seeing the coordinator as a valuable resource.