Last Monday, in sophomore English classes across FHC, students participated in Missouri Connections, an online website which goals are to “determine their skills and interests, explore careers, create an education plan, search for colleges and training options, and find a job,” according to Missouriconnections.org. Counselors began with a 7-10 minute introduction and then gave students a handout on instructions for logging in, which included resetting everyone’s password since Missouri Connection for the first time has decided to not let schools have access to students’ passwords for security reasons. What followed was the planning for the future.

“We wanted to introduce them [the sophomores] to start thinking about possible careers,” Mr. Trevor Wolfe said. “In theory, during ninth grade, students would take an entrance inventory exam, and are first introduced to Missouri Connections in eighth grade. The ultimate goal is, by the time they are sophomores, they have had two years of introduction to the program to help it all sink in.”

During the program, students reflected on the inventory test they took last year and then did some further research in terms of possible careers, the wages of these careers, and classes that should be taken during high school.

For students, the program helped uncover what can be done in high school to plan for the future.

“The program really opened my eyes to what I should be doing in my high school career for college and, ultimately, my career,” sophomore Taylor Schlotzhauer said. “My top interest was finance, and I was previously thinking about engineering, but now I am thinking about doing something like accounting that has to deal with finance.”

Sophomore Bri Shatto also felt the program was beneficial, even though she already knew that she wanted to be a pilot and after that an aerospace engineer.

“I already knew what I wanted to be, so it helped me look where to find info,” Shatto said. “It suggested I look at Embry Riddle Aeronautical Universities, which I was able to find different locations, one of them being in Florida. I also learned that I must have a masters or bachelors degree. It also helped me learn a little about myself when I got ‘investigative’ as my top interest.”

To help make amends for the future, the guidance department will meet to discuss the success of the program.

“I think both counselors and teachers felt it [the program] was a success,” Mr. Wolfe said. “We will sit down and evaluate it to see how we felt it went and take feedback from teachers. Some teachers incorporated it in assignments and there seemed to be different expectations.”