Career Awareness @ ASA
Kindergarten Through 4th Grade

In 2012 Hanover Research confirmed what has been a practice at ASA over the years and is aligned with the competencies of the comprehensive school counseling program established by the American School Counselor Association, career exploration and awareness is critical for career and college ready high school students. Our fourth graders did this with style with the seventh annual career wax museum. The students learned about Michigan’s Six Career Pathways and surveyed themselves to see which pathway that they are currently aligned. It was fun for them to see how their hobbies and interests matched up to the different pathways. During the wax museum they were able to show off their poster presentations and shine with their sharpened public speaking skills for the museum goers, students in preschool through third grade, staff, family and friends. Way to go fourth graders and thank you to the parents for their support of this learning opportunity!

Prior to fourth grade learning, students at ASA develop career awareness as early as Kindergarten!

In third grade we spend more time developing career choice awareness. The third graders joined the fourth grade in a game of career bingo. This was a fun way to develop awareness of many careers. The third graders also enjoyed listening to the story written by Al Yankovic, When I Grow Up. This introduced to them that there are many options to choose from while then having the opportunity to teach their classmates about a career with a pair-share activity.
• LMNO Peas by Keith Baker, is a creative, fun story which helped our kindergartners begin to think about a variety of careers from A to Z. After the book was shared the students had a chance to color a letter representing one of many career opportunities!
• Our first graders shine knowing their future looks bright….Our first graders guessed the chosen career represented on sunglasses and had the opportunity to share how their future will look bright as they shared what they want to be when they grow up!
• Oh, the Places You’ll Go! These wise words from Dr. Seuss helped guide our second graders through a great story and message. The message supports all that career and college ready requires: resiliency, growth mindset, goal setting and, most importantly, opportunities! They are reminded they will continue to grow their brains, they will learn from mistakes, and they will succeed! They then had fun creating hot air balloons sharing what they want to be when they grow up!

Providing exposure to career choices, and the skills and preparation necessary to successfully obtain these careers, provides students the foundation needed to be self-aware regarding who they are and an opportunity to develop goal setting skills so that they can plan for who they strive to become as adults. At ASA, we believe this process should begin with the students in kindergarten and continue with this through their middle school years. Throughout the grades, we integrate the activities with the standards to create an interdisciplinary approach to career awareness. Collectively, we are providing students the opportunity to get a leg up on their vocation, career, and/or college choices.