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Post-secondary decision-making remains a challenge for today’s youth, their parents, and educators, and research indicates that the middle school years are among the most important for exposing youth to career education. Research shows that exposing middle school youth to career education motivates students and improves school relevancy by giving students a sense of why particular classes are important to their future goals. In addition, teaching students how to make well-informed educational and career-related decisions enables them to become smarter about career research at an earlier age.

 

FutureConnect, a comprehensive school-to-career program, is proud to partner with the Pennsylvania Middle School Association to offer free program access to all school districts across the Commonwealth. Using the resources available from any Internet location at www.futureconnect.org, youth, parents, and educators create secure, individual accounts that follow a student through high school graduation and beyond. Students, parents, and educators can research careers and industries, work-force trends, volunteering and service-based learning experiences, and educational opportunities; correspond securely and anonymously with e-mentors about career-related questions; take an interest inventory profiler, and

~ FREE RESOURCES ~

Available to all PMSA Educators

much more.

Educators:  To take advantage of this free offer, please visit www.futureconnect.org for details on how to register your school! Once you reserve the program for your school, all students, educators, and parents can access FutureConnect’s resources.

 

FutureConnect also offers additional programming that includes student, parent, and teacher training, and FutureConnect is working to fund this programming through state legislators, business and industry, and higher education. We are currently serving four PA counties and individual schools throughout the state. About FutureConnect, an administrator comments, “[FutureConnect] is much more comprehensive than anything we have had the opportunity to use in past years, and I do believe that it will greatly aid not only students but also many of the faculty.” FutureConnect and the PA Middle School Association have two proposals under review in the PA House of Representatives and are in the process of approaching other funding sources. To support this programming in your county, please contact Erica Barone at ebarone@futureconnect.org. FutureConnect does not intend to charge K-12 institutions for any part of the program.

 

 

For more information about FutureConnect or how to bring the program to your school, please contact Brian Petula, Chief Operating Officer

at (570) 840-4500 or bpetula@futureconnect.org.