The 8th grade JMG students have been thinking carefully about what they want their futures to look like. We discuss high school, their first jobs, trades, college and more. Over the last four weeks, they have been working on an in depth career exploration project where they were to choose one career of interest and learn about the possible paths they can take to get there. The students have been researching the careers, where they could work, and the credentials and education needed to pursue that career.
In addition to researching the careers, Mrs. Houle and the students reached out to connections within our community to set up job shadows and career interviews. Every 8th grade JMG student has interviewed someone in their career field and about 8 of the students have also participated in job shadows! Thank you to Mrs. Noone at Willard Elementary, Kiel Reynolds at Moody's, Detective Adams of the Sanford PD, Dr. Hamilton and Dr. Savage of the Archaeology department of USM, Mr. Brownell at SHS, Mr. Harmon at SRTC, and Officer Sheldon for allowing students to visit, shadow and ask you questions about your careers! And thank you to the many others that allowed students to email, Skype and speak with you in person about your careers.
Picture above: Gavin Haskell, an 8th grade JMG student, had the opportunity to meet and interview Dajuan Eubanks, the President of the Maine Red Claws, about his career. Gavin asked him for advice on pursuing playing basketball professionally and also about other careers in professional sports. Dajuan told Gavin to "put his education first" as that is the most important piece when your dream is to play sports professionally.