The Solomon school district works diligently to engage the students in opportunities available to them in the community while in school and prepares students for college or career. While there are many options put in place for our students to engage in either trajectory, we are especially proud of our annual Opportunity Night.
This year the event was held on February 13th and geared toward our current and incoming high school students. This event is similar to a vendor fair where attendees can visit booths and learn more about that organization or college. It gives attendees a snapshot of which classes, clubs and community events to get involved in that may directly impact their current college or career plan. Jakalya Melleny, sr., who represented her internship as a CNA, was happy to be a resource. “If someone has questions, they get further information out there at an earlier start.”
Our college and career counselor, Jodi Howard, who plans the event, structures each visiting organization strategically for the best student impact. There is a heavy focus on the surrounding local community to showcase all of the opportunities available close to home. She relays the importance of face to face interaction between the attendees and local organizations. “You have somebody telling you what exactly they go out and do, now [students] are able to connect what activities go with what types of jobs. I think it’s important that they see how many people are out there supporting them.” This year, we were able to host eleven local businesses, five local colleges, and five school related clubs and organizations.
Booths were laid out in a way that focused on career paths, education paths, or current school related paths. For career paths, we were joined by Abilene Machine, Almost Home Realty, Dickenson CO CEO, Dickinson County Economic Development Workforce, Early Learning Center, Great Plains Manufacturing, Kaw Valley Engineering, Marine Corps, Memorial Health Systems and Kansas National Guard. Students were able to visit these local colleges: Hays Academy of Hair Design, Kansas State University, KSU Salina, Salina Tech, Cloud County Nursing Program. Finally, our seniors and staff coordinated efforts and we had booths for Silverback Customs, FBLA, FCCLA, FFA, FACS and Gorilla Grub.
Solomon’s superintendent, Justin Coup, opened the event with a welcome introduction to attendees and organizations. Each booth then had a chance to introduce their organization and how it may fall in line with students’ education plan. Students and parents were able to meet with the representatives and inquire how their current interests could pair with the local organization or school. Kennedy McMillen, sr., who represented her internship as a CNA & CMA as well as school organization FBLA, feels that eighth graders would benefit the most. “It’s the best for middle school going into high school because you don’t really know what is offered and you can experience a little bit of everything. It might spark an idea for something.”
As the internship students interacted with the attendees, Tiana Nye, sr., was especially impressed “that the parents asked so many questions”. Though you can never predict the turnout or engagement for events like this, staff were glad to know that the event was successful in many ways, but especially in the aspect that families are more likely to engage with their students’ plans and help them stay on track for their future.
Several of our student attendees feel a lot more capable of their next steps after the event. Ryder Sutton fr., feels that “it made [him] feel better about [his] plans, [taking classes at] Salina Tech to be a mechanic.” Aiden Shreap fr., appreciated the “multiple paths that [he] could take in architecture and construction. [What tools were available] to help [him] get involved with things easier”.
Outside of the opportunities to learn what is available to the students, they also felt reassured in their next steps. Kadin Heller fr., felt like it helped him realize that, “some of the stuff that [he] was planning on [studying], [he] might not be able to achieve and this night helped reset [his] expectations.” This concern is a large reason why Jodi Howard created this event. “I have so many stories of students that tried something and found out they were really good at it. I also have seen the opposite effect where students go and experience their [chosen] classes thinking that it’s going to be fun and they absolutely hate it. I don’t want them to graduate from high school and go to college for one focus and then discover that that’s not what they want to do.”
Incoming freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors now have a better understanding of their next steps. Our hope is to see more attendees next year. According to Breken Coup, so., “students miss out on getting their name out there to some businesses and schools.” Kadin Heller, Ryder Sutton and and Aiden Shreap remarked that students all should go because it helps to see where you want to go and all the opportunities available to you.
The Solomon staff work hard to ensure that each student has a trajectory for their future. Both students and their gorilla guidance advisor have a plan in place at the beginning of each school year and often revisit the conversation throughout the year. Opportunity Night provides a variety of opportunities locally and showcases the options students have to get involved in their future while still in school.