Senior year might mark the end of your child’s K-12 education, but it’s only the beginning of the rest of their lives, which means it is of upmost importance that they know where they’re headed after graduation.
And that’s why the State of Michigan — in particular, Macomb County — works to put kids on the path to their future career as early as seventh grade.
“The Michigan Department of Education requires that every student create an Educational Development Plan (EDP) every single year from 7th to 12th grade,” says Sarah Pilarski, a career readiness and counselor consultant with the Macomb Intermediate School District (MISD). “Whether a student wants to go into college, university, trade school or the military, they still have to have an idea for the end game.”
Macomb County uses a program called XELLO to help students create their EDPs. This program logs a student’s personality, interests, likes, dislikes and other factors in order to develop the student’s career list.
The student chooses a career from the list and works with their school district’s counselors to develop a four-year plan that lays out the proper classes and information for them to build that career.
“When they know what they want to do, and when they have a plan that excites them, they tend to buckle down,” Pilarski adds.
Career Services in Macomb County
Beyond state-mandated EDPs, Macomb County also provides special initiatives and courses to help kids pick a career path and plan for their future.
“(The MISD) has created a website called Macomb Engage, and we created that website so that counselors, students, parents have a place to go to find all the career development information they need,” Pilarski says.
“We created videos for students to learn about a career in the Trades, the Military and if they are Job Seekers,” she says. “It’s a part of our Operation Senior program.
In addition, MISD also hosts monthly career spotlights, which bring counselors and professionals together to provide the counselors with the most up-to-date information on different career paths so they can better help their students, along with career readiness initiatives, career fairs and job training in a wide variety of industries.
For more information on living and learning in Macomb County, visit Make Macomb Your Home. Find more articles like this at Metro Parent’s A Family Guide to Macomb County.
