High School and college counselors are often so busy with their day-to-day work that there isn’t time to think about what the future of the workforce will look like.
As providers of educational pathways for students, community colleges play an important role in informing high school counselors and 9th – 14th grade students about high demand careers of the future. The annual CTE counselor conference in Sacramento serves as a model for what a relationship can look like when high schools, community colleges and business leaders work together.
More than 300 high school and college counselors attended the “Hands on the Future: Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Workforce” conference December 4th at the Citrus Heights Community Center. Teri Munger, K-14 CTE Pathways Technical Assistance Provider in the Greater Sacramento Region, coordinated the event in partnership with high school and community college leadership.
Cristina Mendonsa, former TV news anchor, served as the event’s emcee. Munger said Cristina’s presence helped add excitement to the event. Cristina opened the event with a powerful personal story of her own transformation due to a college counselor’s advice. The advice led Cristina to an educational pathway that resulted in a long and successful career as a TV anchor and journalist. She profusely thanked the audience for the impact they make in guiding lives.
“Having Cristina emcee the event was a thrill for the audience,” Munger said. “She’s very well-known and respected.”
Futurist Glen Hiemstra (www.futurist.com) presented the event’s keynote address. He spoke of the critical importance of lifelong learning as essential to the future of employment. Jobs today and jobs of the future are changing at a rapid rate, artificial intelligence and other technologies are transforming the way we work. The understanding that employees must continually learn, adapt and grow is essential to the 21st century workforce.
Breakout sessions centered around the future of work and included perspectives from industry leaders, Deputy Sector Navigators (DSN’s) (http://doingwhatmatters.cccco.edu/WEDDGrants/GranteeRoles.aspx#dsn), counselors, and students who found successful careers as a result of their eyes being opened to their own personal career passions and the educational pathways to reach their dream jobs.
“It was a real treat for our audience, who focus all their time on students, to take a step back and hear about the workforce of the future,” Munger said. “It was a day of listening and learning. New Ideas and information were shared with counselors with the intent they would take the information back to their schools and share with other counselors, teachers, administrators and students.”
In addition to the presentations and breakout sessions, each of the region’s community colleges staffed tables with information about their colleges CTE educational pathways including certificates and degrees.
Additional tables were staffed by Deputy Sector Navigators. DSN’s partnered with the Center of Excellence (http://coeccc.net/) to create fliers highlighting the job outlook and salary information for high demand CTE sectors in our region.
Planning for next year’s conference will begin over the summer. For more information or to be added to the mailing list for future events, contact Munger at MungerT@arc.losrios.edu.
