Deciding on a career and a college is a lot easier these days because of a computer program that students and their parents can access online. And for those students who are not college or university bound, the program provides information about job opportunities, technical schools and the military.
Jayne Fonash, Potomac Falls High School guidance director, said students use the Internet to access the CX Online program. They answer written questions about their key interests and then learn what careers or jobs best match them. From there, students would select one career or job from the list, push a key and learn the educational requirements, the average salary, the growth rate in the profession and how big the demand is for it. CX Online also gives information about scholarships and grants.
"IT HELPS YOU to find something you love and how to make a living at it," she said. The program covers numerous occupations and careers, including the unusual. If a student types in the word, "artist," for instance, he will learn about a career as a Foley artist. He would spend his life creating sounds such as a ghoul feasting on human flesh and a vampire ripping out a beating heart.
Anne Lewis, supervisor of Guidance and Health Services for the county schools, said the program acts as a bridge between families and their future. Because the software program is a product of the Canadian company, Bridges.com, educators call it "Bridges."
"It helps the students examine themselves, their interests and what they value," she said.
Bridges also provides easy steps to write a resume that students need regardless of their destinations. Fonash said the students type in answers to questions about their accomplishments and work experience, and then the program formats their responses into a resume. Students create the resume during their freshmen year and update it throughout high school.
BRIDGES ALSO PROVIDES sample phrasing for different parts of the resume.
Fonash said one of the best aspects of the program is that parents and students can go through it together. "This program is going to help students make decisions about their post-high school plans," she said. That's a difficult discussion for parents and students with different expectations.
She gave an example: "I want my daughter to be a doctor and she wants to be an artist and how do we find common ground?"
Bridges provides the common ground to discuss options, Fonash said. It also would help with another common conflict: when a highly educated parent's child wants to attend a technical school or enter the military. "That's a hard sell," she said.
Parents and students can access the program by calling their area high school guidance office for the user name and password.
County high schools have a similar software program called "Choices," but it is not online, takes longer to use and doesn't have fun graphics, according to Fonash.
Soozi Allder, college, career and resource specialist at Dominion High School, said the graphics are really important. "When you are dealing with an audience that is accustomed to cable TV and computerized pieces, the students want something that attracts them, appeals to them," she said. "I think many of the adults do, too."
Fonash said middle school students also use the program to start matching their interests. Elementary school students use a different program, PAWS, to explore careers