Lambert High School’s Pathways and Programs Night was held on November 4 and November 6 to showcase the school’s numerous opportunities for eighth graders who are beginning to look into their future careers. The event featured Lambert’s Career and Technical Education (CTAE) pathways, the Fine Arts department, the World Languages program and the Journalism and Yearbook programs. Many pathways were able to utilize the event as an opportunity to gain more attention from the rising freshmen and underclassmen.
At Lambert, there are many pathways that tend to get overshadowed by the more popular and larger career choices, like the Healthcare and Computer Science Pathways. These larger pathways are usually a student’s first choice due to the related careers being in high demand. Because of this, parents and students usually lack knowledge about Lambert’s other pathways, such as the Teaching as a Profession pathway. Ms. Isham, the instructor for the pathway, notes that in order to make the students and staff more aware of the pathway she has had to promote it in different ways.
“It [Teaching as a Profession] does not get a lot of attention,” Ms. Isham explained. “We’re trying to make it more noticeable, sometimes even making the staff aware of everything that we do is a part of that. We promote through having T-shirts that show our pathway for the students to wear at school, putting up signage…or work samples in the hallway that have to do with the teaching program.”
In order to get more attention from students, smaller pathways have to figure out different ways in which they can advertise to students and gain recognition.
Many pathways rely on word of mouth as well to reach students. While it may prove to be effective within Lambert, it’s difficult for the rising freshmen to acquire this knowledge since they go to different schools and may not have the same connections or opportunities to learn about these programs. According to Ms. Mcspadden, the Pathways and Programs Night was a good event to connect more with both students and parents.
“The pathway night is just really fantastic to start building those relationships with the eighth graders that are interested in taking art classes,” Ms. Mcspadden, one of the Visual Arts teachers, said. “It’s also a really great chance to talk to the parents and answer their questions as well.”
By giving students the space to explore, pathways teachers can connect more with their potential future students.
The event also allowed teachers to come up with creative ways to display their pathway. Many pathways gave tours of the classrooms for students to have a glimpse, with quite a few displaying their students’ works to show the projects that happen in the course. For the Teaching as a Career pathway, Ms. Isham put an innovative spin on presenting information through a game.
“I wanted to play a game that highlights all the positives of teaching,” she explained. “And a lot of the parents yesterday walked out of there wishing they had the retirement that teachers get when they retire.”
Lambert’s Pathways and Programs Night was a good event for both the students and the pathways. It allowed many of Lambert’s smaller pathways to step into the spotlight and inform students about the opportunities that exist outside of the more popular classes.
