College-bound? Training-bound? Not sure? Our college and career pathways events are for you

If you're a high school student, now's the time to start considering the next steps after graduation. Whether you're planning for college or career training, VSAC wants you to know there are options for you and your family. During March and April, you're invited to VSAC’s 2024 College and Career Pathways events. Over six weeks, throughout different campuses around Vermont, we're inviting students, parents, and families to learn more about options for college, career training, and career choices.

These free events include four weekday high school events:

1. Thursday, March 7, 9:00 am–2:00 pm at Landmark College
2. Thursday, March 14, 9:00 am–2:00 pm at Saint Michael's College
3. Monday, April 8, 8:45 am–1:00 pm at the Vermont State University Lyndon Campus (with an early departure option if needed due to eclipse)
4. Wednesday, April 10, 8:45 am–2:00 pm at the Vermont State University Castleton Campus (in partnership with the Rutland Area Guidance Counselors’ College Fair)

There's also a larger event on Saturday, March 23 at the University of Vermont (UVM) in Burlington for both students and parents. Our Saturday event features 12 workshops to offer students guidance in choosing a career path that matches their interests. Workshops also offer students and their families pointers on navigating the admissions processes, standardized tests, paying for college and career training programs, and more. You can learn about the different workshops and register to join in-person or remotely.

Career guidance to create your journey

Across Vermont, nearly 2,000 students from 38 high schools  are already registered to attend 1 of 4 weekday events. These half-day events are aimed at ninth, tenth and eleventh graders so families can start preparing as early as possible.

Kathi Terami, Executive Director of Careers CLiC and a longtime College & Career Pathways event partner, presents "Career Search: Finding the Right Fit" at all 4 weekday events. “I get really inspired by rooms full of young people when we talk about careers,” says Terami. “I love that VSAC does this.”

The student session isn’t based on giving advice, she explains; instead, it’s an interactive workshop designed around helping students figure out what their interests are and helping them match those interests with job opportunities.

Terami starts the 45-minute workshop by having students pull out their phones to perform a 3- to 5-minute interest assessment, called the RIASEC Test. The multiple-choice questionnaire presents students with various job-related tasks and asks them to rate each one on a five-point like-or-dislike scale. Do you enjoy laying tile? Have a knack for biological research? Or would you enjoy running a store? Once completed, students get a personalized score, called a Holland Code. The Holland code describes the types of jobs that would be the best fit.

For the second part of the workshop, economic co-presenters from the Vermont Department of Labor show students how to use their Holland Code to find in-demand jobs. Presenters reference lists from the Vermont Department of Labor website and on the McClure Foundation’s “most promising career pathways” list. They also show students how to research potential salaries and educational requirements for job titles that interest them. 

“Instead of giving them advice, we’re giving them access to all the information they need to research and explore,” says Terami. “Our message is, ‘Make sure you inform yourself along your career journey.’”

Workshops to discover your next steps

Other workshops high school students may choose to attend cover non-degree pathways, college search, admissions process, paying for education, taking a gap year, and more. Registration for these weekday events is through participating high schools, so families should check with their schools to see if they are registered to attend.

A weekend event with workshops and options

If your school isn't registered for a weekday event or if you prefer to learn more about college and career options as a family, we encourage you to attend VSAC’s College and Career Pathways on Saturday, March 23, 2024. Families can join in person at the UVM Davis Center or online via Zoom. You'll join our presenters and other families in live workshops that will help you discover free resources and connect with local experts that will help prepare you for education or training after high school. The in-person program runs from 1 pm to 5 pm, with a Resource Fair, and the online version runs from 2 pm to 5 pm.

Register for the March 23rd Event

Families are also invited to join UVM the morning of the event for an admissions information session, student panel, and student-led tour. Info sessions and tours will be offered at  9:30 am and 11 am.  Interested families will need to register separately for the UVM tours/sessions.

At the Saturday afternoon event, attendees will be able to choose from 12 workshops:

1. The College Search: Finding the Right Fit 
2. Money After High School
3. Strategies for the SAT & ACT 
4. Supporting Your Teen’s Career Search
5. Financial Aid & Managing College Costs
6. I Wish I Knew That! Programs to Pursue Before You Graduate
7. Navigating the Admissions Process
8. Navigating the College Search for Students Who Learn Differently
9. College Options for Students with Developmental Disabilities and Autism
10. Exploring Career and Education Pathways with MyFutureVT
11. Scholarships: Free Money!
12. Writing the Admissions Essay

Terami from Careers CLiC will present the “Supporting Your Teen’s Career Search” workshop.  She based the presentation on dozens of interviews with college admissions officers, employers, recent high school students and parents, in which she asked: “What advice was most helpful to you as you chose your career, or what do you wish people had told you?”

“We saw a lot of patterns in the responses. The consistency surprised us,” says Terami.

Some key recommendations that came out of that process:

First, we encourage families to come to terms with the fact that their students may want to pursue different goals than the ones they may have envisioned for them. We also encourage parents and guardians to support the ‘it takes a village’ concept when it comes to career advice.

Terami refers to her own children—now 21 and 17—as real-life examples. “With my kids, I felt like I had all the advice they needed, but oftentimes they didn’t want any advice from their mom. That’s really common."

She adds:

We encourage families not to be offended by that, and to think about other ways they can be supportive. For example, I encouraged my daughter to have lunch with her friends’ moms to talk about their jobs. That really helped her, and gave her the distance she wanted from her own parents.

Watch Kathi Terami's 2023 "Supporting Your Teen's Career Search" Workshop

A jumpstart on tomorrow

Renee Soutiere, who has been a key logistical partner for the College & Career Pathways event for several years, plans to attend the event at UVM this year with her son, who is a high school sophomore. As the Senior Conference Coordinator for the University of Vermont, Soutiere has observed the conference from the sidelines for the past two years and hopes that this year it can help her son jump-start his thoughts about his future. 

“The conference offers so many great workshop topics, both at a high level and into the specifics of writing the essay and applying for financial aid. We may do it this year and next year,” she says.  

“He dreams of being a professional hockey player,” she says with a smile. While hockey will continue to be a big part of his life—the family is sandwiching the conference in between tournaments—“it’s time for him to start thinking about other career options too. Just in case the hockey thing doesn’t work out,” she chuckles.  

College & Career Pathways is funded by VSAC; Vermont State GEAR UP, a federally funded program; and the J. Warren and Lois McClure Foundation. 

For more information  or if you have any questions, Call 877-961-4369 or e-mail us at collegepathways@vsac.org.