Grand Forks school district expands career exploration opportunities for middle school students

Contributed / Grand Forks Public Schools By Pamela Knudson Today at 7:00 AM Listen Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? GRAND FORKS – The Grand Forks school district, partnering with the Grand Forks Public Safety Center and the Scouting America Exploring Program, recently held the first of four sessions to give middle school students an opportunity to learn about careers in public service. Through this program, seventh-graders can now receive hands-on experience and interact with professionals in the fire department, law enforcement, emergency medical services and the Public Safety Answering Point – Grand Forks' 911 dispatch center. ADVERTISEMENT “We’ve been trying to expand further and further into middle school” in career programming, said Megan Folkert, a middle school career advisor with Grand Forks Public Schools. Much of the focus has been “on eighth grade, because they’re about to transition to high school. “We’re working our way down through the grades and, this year, we decided that … seventh grade would be a good grade to target.” Because Grand Forks and the air base, together, have four middle schools, “one grade is definitely enough for an experience like this. We had a good-sized group of kids … so it was easy to split up into small-group activities.” Thirteen students from Schroeder, South and Valley middle schools participated in the Nov. 4 event at the Grand Forks Public Safety Center on the city’s west side. Firefighters shared their career paths and backgrounds, and led students through activities related to their occupation. “The middle school is where we really think we need to expand exposure and exploration opportunities,” Folkert said. “We always say, ‘You don’t know what you don’t know,’ so fun experiences like this can really peak someone’s interest; they might not have thought of public safety careers before. "So far, the feedback we’ve gotten from the students is that they’ve really enjoyed it, and we’re hoping to generate more interest.” Contributed / Grand Forks Public Schools The sessions are scheduled on “early release” Wednesdays. This extends the educational day to its regular length, which is helpful for parents who aren’t able to pick up their students until the regular time. ADVERTISEMENT During the last school year, the school district offered a Public Safety Day, in conjunction with the Grand Forks Public Safety Center, for high schoolers, Folkert said, who is in the second year of her new position as middle school career advisor. “They could sign up if they were interested and rotate through the different centers for one day ... We had a lot of success with that, so we did it again in the high schools.” Because of the emphasis on hands-on activities, “we thought this would be a perfect opportunity for our middle school students to interact with public safety careers,” she said. Extra benefits Students who participate in these sessions “are not only learning about public safety careers they might not have known about, but the activities they’re working on are with the group, so they’re working on those communication skills," she said. “They’re opening themselves up to new experiences, which is tough enough in itself, right? You’re interacting with students from different schools that you don’t know,” she said. “And I think all of that really helps them work on being brave, putting themselves out there, all while they’re learning about careers.” Read more Northern Valley Youth Orchestras fall concert set for Sunday 51m ago Pride of Dakota Holiday Showcase opens Friday at Alerus Center 15h ago Valley Middle School hosts Veterans Day celebration 17h ago Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? Tags Tags GRAND FORKS PUBLIC SCHOOLS GRAND FORKS By Pamela Knudson Pamela Knudson is a features and arts/entertainment writer for the Grand Forks Herald. She has worked for the Herald since 2011 and has covered a wide variety of topics, including the latest performances in the region and health topics. 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