"Your career is like a garden. It can hold an assortment of life's energy that yields a bounty for you. You do not need to grow just one thing in your garden. You do not need to do just one thing in your career." Jennifer Ritchie Payette.

The purpose of career awareness is to expose students at a young age to a variety of different careers. There are currently over 800 occupations to choose from. One of my favorite parts of this program is watching the students light up when they like a career or activity and even attempt to try the activities they do not think they will like.

This month, Eastwood, Dorr Elementary, and Lake Elementary were able to explore the Transportation, Distribution & Logistics Cluster. Unfortunately, due to time and testing this was Eastwood's last lesson but they had a blast and cannot wait for next year! Swanton and Northwood elementary explored the Human Services Cluster. We also traveled to Otsego Elementary to explore with the second graders a variety of activities based on six of the career clusters.

A special thank you to Mr. Adame's construction class for fixing our busy busses. The second graders did not understand the concept of "lefty loosey, righty tighty," and accidently stripped some of the parts off. We also would like to thank Mr. Horani's CAD class for making us more plastic screws to go with the take apart trucks for the kit.

Stay tuned for next month when we roll out the Business Management & Administration Career Cluster Kit to Mrs. Kern's Dorr Elementary second grade students.

Check out all of the fun in the pictures below and another update on the amazing things Mrs. May is teaching in her Career Connections Class at Otsego Junior High.

Dorr and Eastwood Elementary students enjoying the fun activities and learning about the Transportation, Distribution & Logistics Cluster.

The 5th graders at Northwood Elementary and the 2nd graders at Swanton Elementary showed their nurturing side while enjoying learning about careers and doing activities in the Human Services Cluster.

We traveled to Otsego again to visit two more second grade classrooms for a career kit preview of all of our lessons in one day! We read, "There's a Hat for That," by Kevin Fleming and students were able to try out twelve of our career kit activities from six of the career kits.

Otsego Elementary 8th graders began exploring the Health Science Pathway this month. They completed two one hour online training courses in concussions and sudden cardiac arrest. They were really impressed with the certificates they got for doing this. They also practiced CPR and AED on a training manikin, learned about vital signs, and the importance of proper handwashing. She incorporated technology by having the students use the ZSpace to explore the anatomy and organ systems, looked at the various parts of the brain and how trauma affects it, and analyzed X-rays to see what they could learn from them. Additionally, the students looked at nutritional requirements, created individual meal plans, and learned about allergies and how to properly administer an EpiPen. Finally, students made a lung model to learn about the respiratory system and learned about different types of wounds and how to prevent them and provide care.

The 7th graders at Otsego Junior High just finished exploring careers in the Arts and Communications Pathway. They participated in perspective photography "trick shots," painted pictures, and did sketch drawings. They incorporated technology by using a graphic art program on the Zspace, used iPads for graphic design, did stop motion animation with their Chromebooks. Next, they used the Dremel tool for some wood sculpting, and used the Glowforge to create character keychains and other little art projects. Next up for the 7th graders is the Information Technology Pathway!

Next month we will introduce our Business Management & Administration Career Cluster Kit to the mix! A special thank you to Medical Office Management Lab instructor Michele Johnson, Inventory & Warehouse Operations lab instructor Heather Musgrave, and Business Exploratory Instructor, Michelle Roe for contributing to some of the fun ideas! Check out Penta's Business Management & Administration program choices below!

Email: memerine@pentacc.org
Website: https://www.pentacareercenter.org/CareerAwarenessforMemberDistrictsK-12.aspx
Phone: 419-661-6468