Frontier invites local colleges, businesses to help students take their next steps
Front: Ohio Means Jobs Career Coaches Sherri Nolen (left) and Laura Adams talk to a group of Frontier High/Middle School about programs available through Ohio Means Jobs Friday at the school. (Photo by Kristen Hainkel)
Frontier High/Middle School seventh graders Ava Hanel and Addison Edgar (front) and Gabby Brunoni and Mason Arnold (back) balance a hula hoop on their fingertips during a session with Building Bridges to Careers Friday. (Photo by Kristen Hainkel)
Front: Ohio Means Jobs Career Coaches Sherri Nolen (left) and Laura Adams talk to a group of Frontier High/Middle School about programs available through Ohio Means Jobs Friday at the school. (Photo by Kristen Hainkel)
Frontier High/Middle School seventh graders Ava Hanel and Addison Edgar (front) and Gabby Brunoni and Mason Arnold (back) balance a hula hoop on their fingertips during a session with Building Bridges to Careers Friday. (Photo by Kristen Hainkel)
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NEW MATAMORAS -- Frontier High/Middle school invited local colleges and businesses to help their students take their next step on Friday.
The day started out with a career fair in the Hank Morus Gym where juniors met with representatives from Hocking College, Muskingum University, Artisan School of Cosmetology, and Washington County Career Center
"The goal of today is for students to know what their next step is," said guidance counselor Holly Cunninghamn.
Throughout the morning, students rotated between different groups such as mock interviewing, learning more about financial aid, S.T.E.M. activities with Building Bridges to Careers, and interacting with career coaches through Ohio Means Jobs.
"We do several career readiness days like this," Frontier High/Middle School Principal Todd Bradford said. "We want our kids to be ready for life after high school. We bring back our alumni and local businesses."
Kristi Leonard-Weber of Building Bridges to Careers in Marietta is one such individual. She graduated from Frontier and taught there for decades. Today she works as a Community and Career Connected Learning Coordinator. During one session, she supervised a class of seventh graders on how to work together.
For one of the activities, she gave students a piece of plastic pipe and advised them to figure out a way to transfer a plastic ball across the classroom into a basket. She told them there was more than one way to accomplish the goal as long as they worked together.
Another activity was hosted by Sherrii Nolen and Laura Adams, career coaches from Ohio Means Jobs through the Marietta office. One of the programs they work to help students is called Comprehensive Case Management and Employment.
"It helps them overcome barriers they might have to a career," Adams said. "A student may qualify due to income, if they are on an individual education program, a disability or become a parent."
Adams and Nolen, along with one other coach, visit all six schools in Washington County and work with students individually. They provide services ranging from tutoring, mentoring, obtaining work experience, dropout recovering and obtaining funding for college or trades.