Nov 28, 2007 - 04:05:28 CST
What to be when you grow up is an age-old question that school counselors are trying to help students answer in new ways.Counselors considered career preparation at a seminar by the Missouri River Educational Consortium at the Hughes Educational Center on Tuesday. It taught them about a career concept that looks at skills sets called career clusters.
"Career clusters have been around a long time," said Donna Fricke, a career resource coordinator at Bismarck State College.
Jobs are grouped by work environment and types of skills needed to perform the work into the career clusters. For instance, doctors, nurses, medical lab technicians and medical transcriptionists could be examples of careers in the healthcare cluster. The types of skills needed in healthcare would be research and development, diagnostic services and managing, according to the national career clusters Web site.
First, students need to get a feel for the career area they are interested in, then they need to learn the skills that the career area has in common, so when they graduate, they can focus on the job-specific skills, Fricke said.
For instance, a student who thinks they want to be an auto mechanic would need to take math and science classes, she said. The common perception by the student, though, is they don't need it. With the setup of the career clusters, it helps mesh career areas with academics.
"It builds bridges to careers for the future of our youth," Flasher Public Schools Superintendent John Barry said.
In his district, they work with businesses to provide job shadow opportunities. Through the MREC, the district offers electronics classes and agriculture classes online.
The MREC offers seminars like the one Tuesday for educators, as well as classes for students. The consortium pools resources so that students can have opportunities beyond those available in their district. Bismarck and Mandan public schools are members of the consortium.
There are 16 career clusters: agriculture, food and natural resources; architecture and construction; arts, audio/visual technology and communication; business, management and administration; education and training; finance; government and public administration; healthsciences; hospitality and tourism; human services; information technology; law, public safety, corrections and security; manufacturing; marketing, sales and service; science, technology, engineering and mathematics; transportation, distribution and logistics.
(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)
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