High School
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West Central High School has an advanced and developing career program. Recently, most of the career exploration and development activities were integrated into the English curriculum. This is an excellent place for students to explore careers for a number of reasons. First of all, all students have to take an English class every year so we know we can reach all WC students. Also, many of the career activities stress good writing skills and students can hone those skills with the help of their teachers. The following is an overview of career activities completed at each grade level: 9th grade: Freshmen complete Myers/Briggs personality inventories and the South Dakota Career Assessment test, work with CHOICES Explorer, read the short book Teenagers in the Real World, write a career research paper on a field of interest, and update their career portfolios. 10th grade: Sophomores heavily utilize CHOICES Explorer and Planner for career and post-secondary exploration, attend Sophomore Tech Days, investigate dream colleges, complete career cluster group presentations, keep track of service learning hours, and update their career portfolios. 11th grade:
Juniors write cover letters, resumes
and interview questions to prepare for a day-long
job shadow in career
of interest. They view unitedstreaming and CHOICES videos related
to career of interest. After job shadow, students write a thank you
letter and an MLA format job shadow journal. They prepare PowerPoint or
Windows Movie Maker presentations of their job shadow experience. A good
deal of the literature they study during the year focuses on work place
themes. They secure a letter of recommendation, keep track of service
learning hours, and update their career portfolios. Juniors also
utilize CHOICES new Test Gear to prepare for the PSAT and ACT.
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