BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — It’s never too early to start building experience towards a career, that’s the idea behind the Kern County Superintendent of Schools College and Career Pathways program.
Director of the program Kierstin Webb says they’ve partnered with each school district to bring these pathways to students.
“Anecdotally we are talking to industry professionals, and we are noticing with their influence that students are more prepared to enter into the workforce," she said. “We’re talking about a series of courses a student can take which at the end of that if they complete that path or at the end of that those courses they are, they have a skill set to be hired in a specific area or they’re ready to to take on higher education or to pursue higher education in that field.”
The pathways cover 15 of the state's leading industries. Not only will you receive a technical education, but an understanding of future career requirements and potential salary earnings. Depending on the school, most of these courses would be taken on campus as part of the students regular schedule. students could even finish high school with an associate degree.
“There’s also opportunities for dual-enrollment but there’s something also called concurrent enrollment where a student can design there own path and take courses at either a community college or a four-year university that is free of cost for that student," Webb said.
The idea is to build interest in local careers paths for our students. The program is even starting to work with middle schools to get 7th and 8th graders thinking about potentials pathways they could take. Supplying Kern County industries with Kern County workers.
“Identifying what needs we have in our county to produce a workforce that we grow in our own county so that we don’t have to pull from outside," said Webb.
Parents and students can visit Ihaveaplankern.org to see the different pathways. On the website, you can see exactly what pathways are offered at your school and whether or not they fulfill A-G requirements or college credits. You can also map out how those programs will translate to college or university.
