The Center for Career and Workforce Programs hosted a two-day career exploration event titled the ‘College and Career Connection’ through a newly formed partnership with Sequoia Union High School District and Junior Achievement. The purpose of the College and Career Connection is for students to gain practice in relevant career skills and to discover career pathway options available after they graduate high school. It also acts as a capstone learning experience for students by preparing them to write a personal resume, practice job interview skills, learn proper business etiquette, and the exploration of expanded career education pathways. This event took place on April 5 and 6, 2017 at Skyline College and engaged over 250 students across Sequoia Union High School District.
Sequoia Union High School District offers career technical education academies in health, biotechnology, computers, digital arts and green construction at their four high schools: Carlmont High, Menlo-Atherton High, Sequoia High, and Woodside High School. High school students experience general education courses that are contextualized and taught in the lens of one of the above career academies.
The “College and Career Connection” Event was composed of a keynote speaker, employer/student panel discussion, mock interview session, and a career education simulation. Each day started with a welcome from Andrea Vizenor, Director for Career and Workforce Programs, Laurent Ford, College Recruiter at Skyline College, and Gregory Stein, Industry Outreach Coordinator from Sequoia Union High School District. Following the welcome, special guest speakers provided inspirational keynote presentations – Ray Edwards from Aeris Communications on April 5 and Danny Allen from SAP Corporation on April 6. The students took part in an engaging panel session that highlighted Skyline College Promise Scholars and speakers from various industries such as Cisco Systems, California Pacific Medical Center, Genentech, Marriott, iQ360 Inc, and KRNV. In addition each student was able to engage in hands-on activities through simulations that highlighted CTE pathway programs at Skyline College career education pathways from the following areas: Biotechnology, Center for Sustainable Construction, Digital Arts, Health Careers, Entrepreneurship and Journalism.
This event was a valuable experience for high school students to not only learn about the many opportunities Skyline College offers but also serve as a guide and preparation for the students to expand their journey into college and careers through learning from others and hands-on learning.
The Center for Career and Workforce Programs would like to thank the leadership from Sequoia Union High School District and Junior Achievement for the high school student outreach and bringing them to experience Skyline College. We would also like to extend our thank you the Skyline College faculty and students who conducted the career simulations and the 120 mock interviewers who participated each day to interview the high school students and to the Skyline College Outreach and Counseling Student Ambassadors in helping with the event activities and logistics.
To learn more about this event and to get involved in a similar event, please contact Andrea Vizenor, Director for the Center for Career and Workforce Programs, at vizenora@smccd.edu
Article by Elizabeth Tablan | Photos by Claudia Paz
