This year, the Office of Career and Technical Education at the Providence Public School District and PASA teamed up to better connect middle school interests with relevant high school choices and career possibilities by ensuring that students in PASA’s AfterZone programs understand the relationship between their program interests and career options.
OCTE provided PASA with funding to offer special trainings to AfterZone program providers on how to better integrate career connections into their program activities. To bring these connections to life, AfterZone youth go on career-related field trips linked to their program choices, while a series of “CTE Days” make it possible for OCTE staff to provide 7th and 8th graders with career awareness information around national career clusters, as well as to make students aware of their program of study options in high school as they relate to the students’ areas of interest.
PASA’s partnership with OCTE ensures that middle school students understand the long-term relevance of the interests they express through their choice of AfterZone programs, linking middle school to high school, college, and career.