Golden Apple: W-H-A Students See Possible Career Paths at AVID Showcase

There are many paths a student can take after completing high school. Last week at Walker-Hackensack-Akeley’s first AVID Career Showcase, students heard W-H-A alumni speak about the career paths they took after high school.

AVID, or Advancement Via Individual Determination, is designed to help make learning more meaningful and engaging and put students on a path for success. The AVID program at Walker-Hackensack-Akeley High School is still in its infancy, as it’s only the second school year the elective class has been offered.

“The AVID program exposes students to all the things that they need, the foundational skills that they need to be successful once they leave high school,” said W-H-A High School AVID Instructional Coach Susan Freeman. “We also give students a lot of opportunities to look at job shadowing and building resumes and working with the community.”

For the first time, the AVID program hosted the AVID Career Showcase. Community members who graduated from W-H-A High School spoke to students to discuss the different paths they took after high school.

“They’re sharing with the students their journey from high school into their career along the way,” explained Freeman. “What colleges they may have gone to, they didn’t go to college, do they wish they went to college? Do they need college for the opportunity or the job that they’re in now? What other things helped along the way? And kind of just sharing that journey with our students and so that students kind of have a more tangible idea of what life after high school is.”

Students were eager to learn from as many speakers as possible.

“I was really interested when I heard about it, and I really wanted to learn about all the careers mostly, but I was only allowed to take four,” said junior Nevaeh Brinston. “So I’m really hyped up.”

Seeing so many people take time out of their days to tell students about their careers, life experiences, and to give advice is something that a lot of the students at event really appreciated.

“I’m very grateful for them because like, a lot of kids don’t know what they’re going to do after high school. And so having the opportunity to look into other careers, like what all our speakers are coming here for a purpose and just to give the students knowledge about what they’re doing. And I think that’s very important.”

24 speakers held interactive demonstrations for the AVID Career Showcase.