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What Am I Going to do When I leave High School?

And, How Will I Get There?

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Unit 3.0• The purpose of this unit is to get you familiar with

choices you must make for when you leave high school.

• You will learn about colleges and how you apply for them

• You will learn about options in the military and at community colleges.

• By the time we are done with this unit you will be able to evaluate yourself vs. your goals and figure out what you need to do to reach them.

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You will also

• Understand the vocabulary of higher education• Bachelor’s degree• Associates Degree• Masters Degree• College major• Transcript• GPA

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Imagine your career….1. What time do you get to work?2. What do you wear?3. How do you get to your workplace?4. Describe your work environment – office vs. factory; outside or inside? In a

vehicle or in a cubicle?5. Do you work with others? What are they like – your friends or just people you

work with?6. Who is your boss and what is he/she like?7. Do you meet with customers or clients during the day?8. Are you in charge of other people or just responsible for yourself?9. Do you go to meetings? 10. What do you like to do the most at work?11. Where do you eat lunch? With whom?What do you eat?12. Do you leave work at the same time every day? 13. Do you take work home to do?14. Do you have to travel for your job?15. Can you earn any bonus pay over and above your salary? How?16. Do you enjoy going to work every day? Why or why not?

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When you graduate from high school, you can choose from several different “life plans:”

1. Pursue full-time employment in a job that requires no special or advanced training.

Jobs like these will be primarily low paying and with few benefits. There will not be much of a chance for advancement in the future, so you cannot plan on making more money down the road. Examples: day care worker, employee in a retail store, waiter or waitress, receptionist, some government jobs.

Your goal here is primarily to make just enough money to survive. Most of the time these jobs will not provide enough income for you to live on your own, have a car, and buy the extras that you want.

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Attend a 2-year community college to receive specialized training in a career area:

• This type of training will open up many career fields for you. Many of these students receive multiple job offers when they graduate.

• Examples of job fields: specialty medical fields like radiology; interior design; electronics; electricians; automobile mechanics; landscaping; culinary (cooking).

• These fields will pay well, you will see your income rise over time, benefits and hours will be good.

• Your goal should be to get training in an area that you are interested in and one that has good hiring potential in the future.

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Attend a 2-year community college or junior college and receive an “Associates Degree.”

• Once you have this 2-year degree, you will transfer into a 4 year college to finish your final 2 years. You will end up with a 4-year college degree.

• However, you must achieve good grades during these first 2 years in order to get ACCEPTED into a 4-year school.

• Why would you do this rather than go directly into a 4 year college after high school?

• It’s a lot cheaper, you may not have done well enough in high school to get accepted into a 4-year school, you may only want to attend school part-time so that you can work, you want to live at home.

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Attend a 4-year college

• Issues: good schools are competitive and cost money. For some students, going directly into a 4-year school when you have no interests or goals is a waste of time and resources.

• However, a 4-year degree in the right majors can prepare you for a lifetime of good jobs.

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Go directly into the military

• “Going into the military” does not just mean that you will be carrying a gun on the battlefield.

• The military can and will train you in 150 different career fields.• What careers you can train for depends on how well you score on the

military aptitude test called the ASVAB. The higher you score, the better jobs are available to you.

• Goals: You can have several different goals if you choose this path: you may want to go to college and the military can help you pay for that;

• you may want to get trained in electronics and the military can train you cheaper and faster than attending a 2 year program at a community college,

• you may feel that you have no other options, you may believe that the military will help you to figure out what you want to do

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How do I Get There?Full time job Apply. Interview. Be better-qualified than the other applicants.

2-year Technical degree

Find a CC with the program you want. Take the ACCUPLACER Exam. Apply. Meet with advisor. Take courses. Graduate. Get job.

2-year Associates degree.

Take the Accuplacer Exam. Meet with counselor to determine schedule. Do well grade-wise. Transfer to 4year school after 2 years.

4 year college. Take and score well on SAT or ACT. Have good grades in high school. Research which college for you. Apply. Figure out how to pay. Go.

Military Research – which branch offers you what you want. Meet with recruiters at Trask or contact them in Wilmington.Determine: do you want to attend college and have military pay OR do you want military to train you for a career?Take: ASVAB Exam. The higher you score, the better jobs you can get and the more $$ you will be offered for school.

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ONE JOB — TWO WAYS OF GETTING THERE

• Oliver: Network Engineerjoined the Army right after high school.

• a routine checkup showed I had a minor heart condition and just like that, my military career was over.

• But my military service provided me with a lot of free educational benefits. I took a 14-month network engineering program at a local computer school.

• Getting this certification has opened a lot of doors for me. Now I work at the Pentagon where I support thousands of system users.

• Nina: Network Engineermy mom encouraged me to take some programming classes in high school.

• The school counselor helped me find a college known for its technical and engineering courses.

• After getting my degree, I began working for a large consulting firm doing network support.

• Along with in-house training, my firm has sent me to several seminars and certification programs to keep current with the latest technologies.

• I'm planning on returning to college to get an advanced degree.

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What tests do I take, why do I take each of them, and when do I take them?????????

School year Test Why it’s importantFreshman None; just do well on your

9th grade English EOC and Algebra EOC

Sophomore If you take Algebra II this year, you should take the SAT exam after you finish the course.

Good practice; you may score higher on math by doing this.

Junior PSAT Exam.

SAT or ACT

Qualifies you for scholarshipsNeed for 4-year colleges – practice.

Senior ASVABSAT or ACTAccuplacer

For military4-year College2-year college

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What career and technical pathways are offered at Trask????

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Business Technologies

Construction technologies

Engineering Technologies

Transport systems

Health Services

Public Service – foods focus

Public service – cosmetology focus (courses at Pender High School)

Public Service – Manicuring/Nail focus (courses at Cape Fear Burgaw campus

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Your high school transcript – what is it, who needs it, what does it say about you?

• This document contains all the information regarding your grades. classes taken, SAT scores, EOC scores, class rank and GPA.

• It is updated at the end of every semester – 2X per year.• All colleges, either 2 or 4 year, the military, and all employers will require

it before they will accept you into a program.• I can look at a transcript and tell if a student has: worked hard, taken

difficult classes and therefore challenged himself, competed well with his/her peers.

• Since companies and colleges only want to hire the “best of the best” they will look carefully at your class rank and the difficulty of the classes that you took.

• No one is only interested in knowing that you “passed” high school. Passing high school is the minimum acceptable performance that will win you a job or a college acceptance.

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What resources are here at Trask to help you in figuring all this out?

• Your Career Development Counselor is there to help in many ways:1. Offer tests to help tell you what you are good at; what

environment you would be happiest working in; what you like or enjoy doing. Once these areas are uncovered, I can help you to pinpoint possible career fields for you to look at.

2. During your senior year, if your course load allows, you can pursue an internship in a field you are interested in.

3. My department has many books and manuals for you to use to research careers

4. F4Kids website; ASVAB website5. Military recruiters are here frequently6. We hold many evening workshops on topics like:SAT preparation,

how to pay for college, how to evaluate colleges, etc.

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Can I Earn College Credits while in high school??

• Answer: yes• Why would you want to do?1. The more college credits you

earn for FREE in high school, the fewer college credits you have to pay for when you go to college.

2. You would possibly be able to graduate from college in less than 4 years.

3. Colleges will look at you as an outstanding student which will enhance your chances at getting accepted in a college.

• How?

1. Take classes called “Huskins classes” offered at your high school. These are college-level courses and if you pass, you will receive both high school and college credit. You must be 16 and normally either a junior or senior to take these.

2. Take a college class at UNCW or CFCC in a course you want that’s not offered at Trask (French). You will have to pay for these yourself.

3. Take Advanced Placement (AP) classes and pass the national exam with at least a grade of “3”, you will earn college credit for the class.