Centralia High School counselor Lisa Wilson and Centralia Middle School counselor Amy Hendrickson discuss their plans for career success on Wednesday afternoon in Centralia.
The Centralia School District’s two new college and career counselors are just wrapping up their first semester as the district’s inaugural counselors focused exclusively on post-secondary plans.
“For the counselors here, it’s like all of these things that I’m doing are just things they have always wanted to do, but never had the time to do,” said Lisa Wilson, Centralia High School career and college counselor. “But they’re just thrilled to be able to see the things happen and pitch in.”
Centralia Community Foundation received a three-year, $2 million grant for education from TransAlta Centralia Coal Transition Grants Economic and Community Development Board in 2017. CCF will use the money to support programs in the Centralia School District, including these two new counselor positions.
Wilson is a full-time career and college counselor, and joined four other counselors at the high school. She is the first one, however, dedicated specifically to career and college. Additionally, Amy Hendrickson is a part-time career and college counselor at Centralia Middle School. She joined one full-time counselor and one part-time counselor.
“It’s a brand-new program for the middle school, thanks to the Foundation,” Hendrickson said. “I feel really passionate about it, because staff are already incorporating career college into their academics and special events, but we actually get to do more hands-on (activities) with this grant — bring in guest speakers, have career events, really get the kids excited about their future and what could be possible for them and their parents. (In) some families, kids have a lot of support with parents, but there are a lot of families that either don’t have the support, or parents need the resource and help as well.”
CCF partnered with the Centralia School District and the BERC Group, an education consulting firm, to build a three-year plan to improve Centralia’s schools. One of the CCF’s first moves was to hire the two new college and career counselors.
Wilson noted that students will need increasing support moving forward, and that both of the career and college counselors will be able to take a more comprehensive look at career readiness for the district’s students.
“Data says that in the next few years at least 70 percent of all jobs are going to require some sort of post-secondary education or certificate,” Wilson said. “So it’s going to be extremely tough for them to get a job. … I try and emphasize you are probably going to have to do something to get a good job. It’s going to be very competitive out there and you’re probably going to have a hard time getting a job without some sort of education, or training, or military, or something.”
Wilson noted that students’ post-high school plans don’t necessarily include college.
“The trades are having a really hard time finding employees,” Wilson said. “So we’re really trying to get them aware of apprenticeship programs, and what they can do for them, and the kind of jobs they can get right out of high school learning a trade and earning a high wage while they’re learning.”
BERC researches held focus groups in June of this year and collected information that will inform a comprehensive plan for the district.
“Findings from the needs assessment determined that school district leaders and staff need to work collaboratively to identify common goals, build capacity to sustain current initiatives, align instructional practices with brain research, and strengthen community bonds to support their work,” said Duane Baker, founder and president of the BERC Group in a press release from CCF.
The BERC Group will work with the Centralia School District, the Centralia School Board and CCF to develop a “shared vision for moving forward” by the end of this year, as well as a three-year plan on how to accomplish that vision.
