Braddock pilot sends middle-schoolers on coordinated career field trips; staff seek to expand model

Braddock Middle School staff told the Allegany County Board of Education on Dec. 10 about a blueprint pilot that sent middle-school students on career-focused field trips designed to give hands-on exposure to local industries and college options.

Dr. Stewart said the pilot expanded the role of the school’s career coach and required intensive logistical planning: "When you're planning field trips for 200 sixth graders, there's really nowhere in our community that can host them all in a day," she said, describing the approach of designing four simultaneous field-trip rotations so a quarter of students visited each site on the same day.

Staff described visits to local partners including Allegheny College of Maryland, Western Maryland Works, Garrett College and the Greater Cumberland Regional Airport. Teachers said activities ranged from lab demonstrations and cosmetology exercises to 3D printing and agricultural skills—examples they said helped students grasp what career paths look like.

Students who appeared in a short video told the board they left the trips with new interests; seventh-grader Anna Hampton said her favorite part of the Garrett College trip was walking around campus and imagining a future performance in the college performing arts center.

Braddock staff and district leaders said the pilot produced benefits beyond student interest: it exposed teachers to local career resources, improved staff conversations about pathways and created plans to scale similar models to other middle schools, including an ag exploration fair and targeted college exploration for ninth graders.

No formal board action was requested; presenters asked for continued support to expand the pilot to additional schools.