These 9th grade students are participating from Benton High School in Bossier Parish, Louisiana. Most of them have few opportunities to connect with professionals in the fields in which they are interested. You can play a major role in helping these young people achieve their college and career goals by serving as a mentor for them and making sure their work meets an industry standard.

Students will focus on completing the three assets of the Mentored Pathways program, including a portfolio of work, career and education plan and a professional network. 1. Portfolio of Work: Document past projects, internships, volunteer work that the student is proud of and is eager to share with post secondary admissions staff and employers. 2. Career and Education Plan: Students will complete the 31 sections of the career and education plan in their student area at Mentored Pathways. This information will be reviewed by the mentor and the student will work with the mentor to close any gaps that would prevent them from successfully interviewing and attaining a position. All requirement categories of relevant positions from Indeed.com will be addressed. 3. Professional Network: Students will learn how to develop a professional network that will guide the rest of their time in high school, through post-secondary and into the workforce. The professional network will include their mentor, alumni from post- secondary institutions, hiring managers and others.

Students will complete a competitive and comprehensive career and education plan, create a portfolio of work and develop a professional network. Each of these assets will be vetted by the mentor and at the end of the project the student will understand any gaps that need to be filled and work with the mentor to develop a plan to address those gaps.

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Career and Education Planning

Career and Education Planning

Students will submit pre and post surveys as part of the Mentored Pathways project. They will also present their work to their mentor and any other professionals that are part of their professional network.

Nick Moore's role includes the following: 1. Ensure all students are using the project tracker and communicating at least twice a week with the mentors. 2. Provide weekly updates for the mentors, sharing which project step the students are on, sharing examples of excellence and inviting questions and comments from mentors. 3. Ensure all student work meets an industry standard based on job openings at indeed.com and feedback from mentors. 4. Students will present their work to an authentic audience throughout the project, including mentors. 5. The bar of quality for the project will be set by industry expectations.

Mentors are asked to meet the following requirements: 1. Communicate proactively with their student a minimum of twice a week. 2. If something comes up that prevents that level of communication, mentors are asked to contact the teacher, student and program staff. 3. Support the student to achieve quality work in the areas of developing the three assets: portfolio, plan and network. 4. Work closely with the teacher to ensure student benefits are maximized.