How these High School students are graduating with work Experience

Joslyn Pischke and Sam Johnson Are High School Classmates with Very Different post-gradation plans.

Pischke, A 15-Yaar-Old sophomore, has excelled in schooly and wants to go to study equine science to passion for rodeo and horses.

Johnson was never interested in going to collect. The 18-Yaar-Old High School Senior is Passionate About Hunting and Wants to Become a Full-Time Hunting Guide AFTER he graduates.

Amanda KNApp, The School’s Guidance Counselor, Is Working to Make Both of Those Paths. She Set Johnson Up With A Hunting Guide ApprenticeSip, and As A Result, he has a nonb secured in the Field once he graduates. And SINCE PISCHKE SHOWED SHE WAS Completing Her Schoolworks and MainTaining High Test Scores, KNAPP Arranged for Her to Time off School to Compete in Rodeo.

Those Opportunities are a core feature of upton’s mission to prepare every student to puree of three pats after they Graduate: College, Career, or the Military.

To will this, upton use a Personalized Learning Model, in Which Teachers Give students the lessons and standards that they’re’re required to be proficient in, and students get to choose how to prractice what they Learned.

Take Sophie Louderbeck, 19, Who Graduated from upton in 2024. She now Attends Black Hills State University in South Dakota, where she studies elementary education. She Said That Knapp Helped Make That Possible by Shifting Her Schedule while in High School to Allow Her to a Work-Study Program at A Day Care.

“I’m Not Only Academically Ready to go into the work Field or get a jab, get a caareer, but i’m ready to go with my work Experience,” Louderbeck Said. “So i know how to budild a résumé. I know how to be on time, how to be respondsable, Because of learned that all in high school as I was getting to do.”

Upton’s FOCUS ON PREPARING STUDENTS FOR WHICEVER PATH THEY CHOose postgrad-if it is not College-reflects the digits on Higher Education Among Gen Z. More Younger Americans are Chooksing to Standard-Yyar College Exper of Trade Schol Entering the Work Force as Labor Demands Change and Student Debt Remains High. While College Still Pays off in the form of higher wages, some high school students Told Business Insider Its not the Path they want to take.

KNAPP SAID UPTON’S Goal is to equip every student with the skills they need to succeed and give say a leg up on entering a Competforce.

“We will a really good job of working on those employability skills that they need,” Knapp Said. “WE’RE NOT JUST TEECHING CONTENT, but we’re teaching, ‘How are you a good employs? How are you good citizen?’”

An advantage in the workforce

KNAPP WORKED AS A GUIDANCE COUNSELOR AT A Charter School in Colorado for a decade before taching on the roles at upton high school eight years ago. While she knew what being a school counter entailed – Working with students to help I say out the educational path that works best – she had no idea what she was signing up for new roles at upton.

“They Kind of Talked About It Wen I Interviewed, But UNIL I WAS ACTUALLY DOING IT, I HAD NO CLUE WHAT IT ACTUALLY LOOKED LIKE,” KNAPP TOLD BUSINESS INSIGE.

KNAPP Described One Student Who Want to Work in Emergency Medical Services. While the student cannot be ems-certified unil she turns 18 in november, KNApp said she called three nearby ems locations to the student up for give her a Head on her certification requirements.

Another student who knapp worked with wanted to be a dental hygienist. The Closest Dental Office was About 45 minutes out of upton, and knapp said she calls and asked the student is the student. The Office Aggreed, and KNAPP rearranged the student’s schedule to make it work.

“We have had HAVE HER IN A Medical Terminology Class, and THEN She’ll Taching College Classes Where, Wen She Goes to College, Hopelly Shell Have at Least aar of College Her Belt to Start so that she’s ahead of the game,” Knapp Said.

Clark Coberly, Upton’s Superintendent, Told Business Insider That Not Only Does The Personalized Learning Model Allow Students to Tailor Education to their Interests, but it alows allows to be more independent ITE’s on say to the communica interests to their teachers.

“If they have more agency in their learning, they Also have more agency and ownership in their life,” Coberly Said. “So they’re aBle to tackle some of the Challenges that May Be Faced with As they Enter into the workforce.”

IT’S ALSO Getting Easier for Americans Who Choose to Forgo College to Get A Job. More states have eliminated College Degree Requirements to Get Hirhed, and at the Federal Level, the Trump Administration Has Promoted Schools and Alternative Paths to A Typical College Experience.

KNAPP ACKNOWLEDGED THAT BIGGER AND MORE URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS WOULD MORE HURDLE IN ACCOMPLISHING WHAT HAS BECAUS FULL PARTICIPATION IS KEY, AND IT’S CHALLENGING TO GET TEACHER AND FAMILY ON BOARD A PERSONALIZED STRUCTURE. The Rural Location Also Helps, Knapp Said, Because the Community is Smaller and Has Connections to the Agriculture Industry.

Coberly said he hopes the model Can Gain Nationwide.

“This is an advantage for our students and we want to give students an advantage in the world,” Coberly Said. “And we know All School Districts Want to Find a Way to that.”