by Anthony Anselmo, Herald Review

Explore. Experience. Excel. Evolve. These are the four steps implemented by the Itasca Area Schools Collaborative (IASC) NEXT Career Pathways program for local students. The main goal of these steps is to inspire curiosity, provide opportunities, and unleash boundless possibilities for students in the program.

Exploring, experiencing, excelling and evolving are pillars to breaking free from comfort zones, and they are steps that anyone, not just students can take in their lives to pursue positive change.

On Thursday, Jan. 9 and Friday, Jan. 10, 8th grade students from the IASC gathered at the MN North College–Itasca Campus in Grand Rapids for the third annual Intro to Careers Pathway Day.

Approximately 500 students from Grand Rapids, Greenway, Nashwauk-Keewatin, Bigfork, Hill City, Northland, Deer River and Floodwood attended the two day event.

These students will soon be registering for high school classes and this event prepares them for selecting courses with their futures in mind. The Intro to Careers Pathway Day is an exceptional event that not only introduces students to the different careers available for them to pursue, but also gets them thinking about their futures at an early stage. It is never too early, or too late, to foster great aspirations.

To take inventory of who you are now, and who you want to be someday. Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra once said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” What a timeless phrase. Do you know where you are going? If not, step one: explore. After all, knowing where you are headed is the first step towards getting there.

At the Itasca Campus, the students did just that. They explored and experienced six different career pathway presentations: education, natural resources/agriculture, business, computer science, healthcare, and a choice between automotive, construction or manufacturing.

The presentations included hands-on exercises that provided an idea of what each career looks like. Some of the demonstrations and exercises were given by older students in the pathways program, showcasing their knowledge gained through their experience and handing it off to the younger students. It was a true testament to the success of the IASC, as well as the students and staff involved in it.

Program Director Scott Patrow explained that one of the great benefits of the program is the direct community involvement that students receive with local businesses and tradesmen. When these students are older, they are capable of doing an internship during their junior or senior year where they obtain real-life job experience in their pathway of choice. This opportunity not only gives students local job experience, but also lets them discover if that career pathway is right for them or not. An invaluable insight to gain before investing in post-secondary education.

Aptitude tests are great for narrowing down a person’s interests, but nothing substitutes for hands-on experience. Small, rural schools historically don’t have as many resources or class elective options as larger schools, and NEXT Career Pathways helps level the playing field by providing students with opportunities and experiences they wouldn’t otherwise have. Biology and Healthcare Pathways teacher, Allison Butterfield, teaches 9th-12th grade classes at Greenway High School, but is also able to reach students at Bigfork and Nashwauk-Keewatin with online classes through the pathways program. Classes that students at those schools might not otherwise have access to. This is just one of the many examples that showcases the benefits of Itasca area schools extending a helping hand to one another.