By: Rachel Livingston, VP of Programs
As our students are checking their class lists and buying school supplies, Fulfillment Fund’s
Programs team is gearing up for another active school year. At this time last fall, we were excited but nervous about the upcoming year, unsure what the return to in-person learning would look like. This year, we have a much better understanding of the education landscape our students are working with, which allows us to create programming with meaningful resources and supports for all of our students.
This year, we are creating more opportunities for our high school and college students to explore careers and build their career-ready skills. Along with our in-depth college preparation and persistence programming, the expansion of robust career-themed programming is the logical next step in the growth to prepare our students for the real world. We know that the best way to help them decide on and prepare for their chosen career field is to give them as many opportunities as possible to learn about the myriad of options in the job market and the skills they will need to thrive.
In our College Success Program, expanding our career readiness for college students brings about the exciting addition of a new team member – a dedicated career advisor. This newly created position will launch in January 2023 and will allow us to enhance our career advising in both breadth and depth. In anticipation of the team’s expansion, we are creating a new career-themed curriculum, planning career-focused events that will run throughout the year, building new internship opportunities with program partner organizations and companies, and expanding our existing partnerships with colleges and universities. Our signature fall event for college students, Career Expo, will be held virtually again to ensure the maximum number of students can attend and participate in thoughtful workshops and career panels designed to inspire them and enhance their knowledge of career fields.
Our College Access team has also been focused on career readiness, as our students and high school partners continue to tell us that career exposure and preparation is an area of high need. For many years, Destination College was our premier event for high school students. Located on a college campus, the event featured a college fair, workshops about college planning and preparation, and gave students and their families a chance to learn together as they planned for life after high school. When the pandemic forced us to pause hosting the event, we took the opportunity to reflect and reimagine what it could be. Fulfillment Fund is working to create an inclusive event for high school students that focuses on career exploration and readiness as well as college preparation. We are thrilled to bring this event back in person in the Spring of 2023; stay tuned for more details!
We are so fortunate at Fulfillment Fund to have many amazing supporters and partners, both individuals and organizations, who are actively helping our expanding career readiness initiatives. The Programs team is excited about all the new opportunities we will create this school year that will enhance the excellent work we are already doing. We look forward to sharing more details about these new initiatives in the months ahead.