This year, Career Visits are replacing Future Focused Fridays, according to Mr. McDermott, the Curriculum Coordinator here at GHS. Ms. Beauchemin, the library media/information specialist here at GHS, claims that she didn’t cancel Future Focused Fridays, but likes the idea of Career Visits, and that “we’re on the right track.” Mr. McDermott explained how Future Focused Fridays had time constraints, and the new Career Visits fix these time-related problems.

According to the librarian, Future Focused Fridays were created by Ms. Lewis, former School Counseling coordinator, because she wanted to give students exposure to career opportunities. Ms. Beauchemin also adds that Future Focused Fridays were held in the library on Fridays after lunch during either 5th or 6th period and were open to anyone whose teacher would allow them to come with a pass from Guidance. They lasted about 20-30 minutes and started in October of last year. Ms. Beauchemin also implies that she gave up space in the library to do these weekly events. The events happened on Fridays because everyone looks at Friday as a day of mixing it up and doing something fun. Ms. Beauchemin reveals that her favorite Future Focused Friday was “…the Department of Public Works for the town of Goffstown. Adam, the man in charge, told our students about summer opportunities for work, and he told them about how working in the summer can lead to long-term, full-time employment in the town.  He also talked about a program that if you get hired for your town, they’ll put you through a training program to get your C.D.L. licenses in order to use heavy machinery. The program is typically expensive but doing it this way is free.”

However, Future Focused Fridays was replaced with Career Visits. Mr. McDermott describes Career Visits as a new way for students to find out more about careers they may like to do or may not know about, and they’re not regularly scheduled things. Here’s how they work: First, teachers tell Mr. McDermott that they want a person or company to visit their classes. Then, he’ll do the work of scheduling these people, ask for volunteers, and work out times that work for teachers and the speaker to come and visit their class. Guidance counselors and the companies who are interested in students are also involved in making these Career Visits. Every type of career professionals imaginable is allowed to visit GHS, as Mr. McDermott wants the students to know more about the career options available to them.

Finally, the professionals come to talk to the class. According to Mr. McDermott the professionals, “talk about what a typical day might look like for them. They talk about the skills involved in the job that they do. They talk about salaries, the possibility of getting a job in that field, and how likely the market is to expand or contract around that field.” Ms. Beauchemin also observed that what’s changed about Career Visits is that they’re now in individual classes, and the person or company that visits is going to have some kind of relation, “curriculum-wise”, to the class. So, with this model, “all kids in one class will be able to participate and it will relate to their learning in class.”