In middle school classrooms around the state, students are unlocking the answer to one of the most common questions they get asked—‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’

Throughout middle school, Career and Technology Education and counseling departments work together to encourage students to think about their future. They provide opportunities for them to explore their interests, expose them to a variety of career options and connect them with classes and experiences that will take them where they want to go.

“We start at a young age to get them thinking all throughout their middle school and high school career, ‘What are your plans for high school and beyond?’” Fort Herriman Middle School Counselor Chris Montague said. “We are starting with our seventh graders and right now it’s more of, ‘Do you like science? Do you like math? Do you like art?’ And that way we can start using that to plant those seeds to figure out what's the next step.”

Each October, seventh graders complete YouScience, a state aptitude and interest assessment, to provide insight into their abilities and interests. Eighth graders are invited to CTE field trips based on their YouScience results. In ninth grade, students take another assessment which yields a detailed 15-page report to help them register for high school classes that support their interests, skills and career and education goals.

Students learn about construction job opportunities at the Construction Expo. (Photo courtesy Julie Scherzinger)

“The goal is that we don’t have a bunch of graduates who don't know what they want to do, thinking ‘I should have taken this class,’ or ‘I should've taken that class,’” Jordan School District CTE Consultant Julie Scherzinger said.

The CTE pathway programs take a proactive approach in helping students identify a career in which they excel and enjoy.

“A student might show an aptitude in computer science and not even know it unless they take a class where they’re exposed to something that's computer science, then all of a sudden they realize it is really easy for them,” Scherzinger said. “We're trying to manufacture those experiences much earlier in life for them now.”

Through CTE department career-connected events and CTE field trips, students are introduced to careers they may never have considered and to jobs they never knew existed.

Last spring, 400 students who scored high in financial aptitude were invited to a finance career event. According to their assessments, only 117 of them were actually interested in finance.

Representatives from an auto dealership, sports stadium construction company, professional theater and the hospitality and tourism industry gave presentations on the finance-related jobs in their industries, which appealed to students with interests in performing arts, sports, construction, cars, tourism and travel.

“If I'm a kid who is only interested in auto shop, and they've got somebody there from the Lamborghini place, and he's talking about how you can work in the auto industry doing all the financing for the cars—all of a sudden, you're marrying their two worlds—their interests along with their aptitude,” Scherzinger said.

Students learn first-hand about a variety of construction jobs from those currently working in the industry. (Photo courtesy Julie Scherzinger)

 Throughout this year, students will be identified based on their YouScience results and invited to events exploring careers in education, computer science, agriculture, STEM and construction.

Scherzinger said CTE programs that line up with students' interests and abilities are the solution to common high school problems such as poor attendance, low engagement and opting out of full schedules during senior year. 

“When you put the right kids in the right experience, they are fully engaged,” she said. “It's kind of a Jedi trick. We know they're going to love it before they know they're going to love it because YouScience has already told us they’re going to love it.”

A CTE career connected event scheduled in November will highlight teaching jobs other than a traditional school teacher. Eighth and ninth grade students will learn what it’s like to be a school superintendent, school board member, education lawyer, speech pathologist, school counselor and sports team coach.

“What we're doing is just trying to really build out this exciting pathway of teacher education and let students know that it can lead to multiple careers,” Scherzinger said.

For students wanting to jumpstart their career-related education, JSD offers several career pathways which begin in middle school with basic classes and advance to college-level courses in high school. 

A panel of industry representatives answer students’ questions about their jobs. (Photo courtesy Julie Scherzinger)

This year, Mountain Ridge High School offers the only Principles of Education Instruction class in the district, the final step in the teaching pathway, which creates a complete and seamless K12 Teaching As a Profession pathway in the Mountain Ridge High School cone (or feeder system.)

“That's the whole goal, is that we can create these pathways and be very intentional in our activities that really connect the dots for the students,” Scherzinger said.

The seamless progression from middle school student to a teaching career doesn’t stop at high school graduation. This year, JSD hired a University of Utah student as a teacher apprentice through a USBE-sponsored apprenticeship program with the Department of Labor. The teacher-in-training works alongside a licensed special educator at a Jordan District school while earning their degree.

Scherzinger said the successful outcomes of students who follow a career pathway is something everyone can celebrate.

“If they're getting in the pathway earlier through these course selections in ninth, tenth and eleventh grade, and that leaves their senior year to do internships and apprenticeships and connect to industry partners, and really give them that bridge to post secondary—whether that's going to be higher education, an apprenticeship or a certification of some sort—that's really going to help build Utah's economy,” she said.