Getting Started with the Middle School Bridge Curriculum, Building a Bridge to Your Future

Strategies for Implementing a Unique Course to Prepare Students for High School Success



Presented as part of the 2024 Two-Day Get Focused Stay Focused Spring Conference
April 29-30, 2024
UCSB University Center, Santa Barbara, CA




Extend the reach of your district’s Get Focused…Stay Focused!® program by implementing Building a Bridge to Your Future, a unique middle school bridge curriculum co-authored by Mindy Bingham, creator of the award-winning Career Choices series, and Dr. Karen Miles, Executive Director of Get Focused…Stay Focused!®

Building a Bridge to Your Future bridges the transition to high school so students enter with the skills, attitudes, and emotional resiliency that will propel them to graduate, matriculate to post-secondary education or training, and then successfully enter the workforce. This institute will provide critical foundational information about a course that does three important things to prepare your students for high school with the skills and mindset to succeed:
  • Prepare students to engage in a rigorous career exploration, decision-making, and planning process in high school.
  • Raise the self-efficacy of students so they believe they can be successful in high school and beyond.
  • Introduce students to the 10-year Plan process and get them enthused about becoming long-range planners as they enter high school.


At the conclusion of this Institute, participants will be prepared to help students:
  1. Develop the skills of a self-directed learner
  2. Understand the traits and skills of a resilient personality
  3. Practice strategies for creating a growth mindset
  4. Discover what motivates them so they stay focused on their education over the long term
  5. Master online tools so they can take advantage of new ways of mastering topics of their choosing
  6. Practice online research using free, open-source U.S. Department of Labor websites so help is always readily available—no matter where they are on their career trajectory
  7. Understand employability skills and traits so once they get a job, they keep it; these skills are applicable not only to success in the workforce but also throughout their educational journey


  • Instructors implementing the Building a Bridge to Your Future curriculum in their middle schools
  • Middle school administrators
  • A High school administrators introducing the Get Focused…Stay Focused!® program to their middle school partners
  • District personnel responsible for the Get Focused…Stay Focused!® program


With your registration, you’ll receive curriculum materials valued at $104.80!

Texts and Materials:
  • Instructor's Guide for the Middle School Course Building a Bridge to Your Future
  • Building a Bridge to Your Future Workbook
  • Career Choices (softcover text)
  • Lifestyle Math—Your Financial Planning Portfolio
Online Course Materials and Platforms:
  • Online access to The Teachers’ Lounge, which includes the Quick Start Study Guide for Middle Schools Using Building a Bridge to Your Future