Spring Lake Park highlights career-and-college pathways as students describe hands-on learning

Spring Lake Park Public Schools on May 13 showcased its career-and-college pathways and AVID program, with students and staff describing hands-on classroom work, concurrent-enrollment opportunities and community partnerships that provide workplace experience.

The district said the pathways — Technology, Engineering and Design (TED); Business and Entrepreneurship; and Health and Human Services — now include dozens of courses with college credit options. Melissa Olsen, director of learning design and student engagement, told the board the high school currently offers about 50 courses that may include college credit and that in the most recent graduating class 74 percent of students earned at least one college credit.

That context matters because district leaders said the pathways aim to help students explore career options while earning credits that reduce future college cost and time. "We were thinking about how are we embedding that college credit so that students don't have to make a choice between college credit and also exploring career options and going deeply with that," Olsen said.

Students and instructors gave concrete examples. Amaya Archer, a junior at Spring Lake Park High School who spoke about AVID, described regular tutorials, group problem solving and organizational supports that helped her improve in chemistry and pursue career exploration: "This has set me up for amazing success in the future," she said, noting college visits and mentoring as part of the program.

Teacher-education students Madeline Smith and Amelia Smoim, both seniors, described student teaching at elementary sites and said the course includes more than 60 hours of site work, classroom collaboration and flexible scheduling to accommodate extracurricular commitments. "This class offers a really unique opportunity," Smith said.

Scott Wickland, instructor for the construction trades portion of the TED pathway, described almost 40 structures students have built or contributed to this year, including a house moved to a foundation for a family in partnership with a nonprofit, and a shed built for Westwood Middle School. He also described industry partnerships: "They taught our kids how to prime and how to spray, spray a house down and get it ready for paint," Wickland said, describing a professional painter who volunteered to train students.

Student speakers from the construction trades described how the class introduced them to multiple trades and led to job hours with local professionals. Senior Caden Soukup said the program changed his postgraduation plans by exposing him to trades opportunities he had not seen at his prior school. Senior April Larson, a Centennial High School student who took the class at Spring Lake Park, said the course taught practical framing, drywall and electrical skills she expects to use in real estate and house-flipping work.

District staff said pathways work is supported by more than 200 community partners and that the district will perform a program review next year to identify enhancements and potential expansion of college-credit options. "Our goal is to remain relevant," Olsen said. The district also reported pathway participation rates: roughly 92 percent of the most recent graduating class took at least one pathway course and 81 percent took more than one.

Board members and administrators praised student speakers. Board member Marilyn (last name not specified in transcript) called the presentation the district's "vision come to life," noting the programs help students "discover who they are as a learner." The presentation ran through student testimonials, instructor examples and district statistics and closed with the district saying more detail will come during next year's planning cycle.

District staff opened the floor for questions after the presentations and encouraged board members and the public to review a feature story on alumni from the business pathway that follows graduates' postsecondary outcomes.

The board heard this item under the discussion/reports portion of the meeting; no formal board action was taken on the presentation itself.