Igniting Imaginations

Igniting Imaginations seeks to enlighten and motivate students by providing insight into future career opportunities to underserved seventh graders within the Charleston and Berkeley County School Districts. This project will initially engage students from two underserved area  middle schools with local industry professionals to learn about possible careers in three key fields – healthcare, manufacturing and logistics & aviation. Overviews from each of the three sectors will include information such as descriptions of various jobs at different levels within their organizations, work environments (hours, attire/uniforms, field v. desk), expectations (timeliness, professionalism, focus on safety), educational attainment and other criteria needed for hiring and tips as to the biggest challenges/barriers facing potential employees (including soft skills, certificate attainment, drug testing, etc.).

Engagement

Igniting Imaginations will involve a two-part engagement with area seventh graders.

(1) Students enrolled in the seventh grade at both Cross Middle School in Berkeley and Jerry Zucker Middle School in Charleston will participate in on-campus, interactive, round-robin career forums featuring representatives from each industry.

TARGET DATE: FEBRUARY 5-6, 2019

(2) The forums will be quickly followed up by engaging on-site field visits to one of three area companies representing each industry sector.  Students will be assigned by teachers to one of the three field trip opportunities based on a student-selection ranking.

TARGET DATE: FEBRUARY 26-28, 2019

Follow Up

Participating students and teachers will be asked to complete a brief survey, including feedback that can be provided to companies requesting additional information about the business or the sector for potential future outreach to students.

TARGET DATE: MARCH 2019