Cherryvale Middle High School, located in Cherryvale, Kansas, has adopted the T.E.A.M. approach to delivering the Career Choices curriculum to its nearly 500 students. And everyone on Cherryvale’s team is a winner, according to Principal Scott Lambdin.
Beginning in the 9th grade, students at Cherryvale can receive ¼ credit for each Success 101 module they complete. That continues every year through their senior year. In that first year, the mentors meet with their students on a weekly basis (sometimes daily), call them at home, make sure they were getting up in the morning, get them supplies, if needed, and in this way preempt all excuses for not being successful.
Teaching Success 101 for the Cherryvale Chargers is Lead Teacher Marla Sterling, assisted by Kim Martin. Both teachers have reported seeing their students grow and succeed beyond their expectations.
“The key to having students succeed is to have enthusiastic and dedicated teachers presenting the Career Choices curriculum, and Cherryvale has two of the best in Ms. Sterling and Ms. Martin,” said a supportive Principal Lambdin. “The follow-up modules most definitely have an impact.” When he hears students talk about setting their sights on something different than their early childhood aspirations, he knows that change is spurred by the research they have done into possible professions and careers.
The search for a better method of teaching career exploration all started when Principal Lambdin read about the Freshman Transition Initiative at George Washington University, and then attended the Focus on Freshmen Conference held each summer. After that introduction to what might be possible, he began to fully explore the curriculum and returned to the conference the very next year.
With the full backing of his school board, Principal Lambdin put his plans for the program into action. Teachers Sterling and Martin attended various trainings conducted by Academic Innovations and were well on their way to implementing the curriculum based on what they had learned. The first full class (51 students) to successfully complete the four-year programgraduated with their 10-year Plans in hand in 2015.
With campus-wide faculty “buy-in,” Cherryvale Middle High School continues as a Gold Medal school. The Cherryvale team understands the real magic of the process. “The curriculum doesn’t make students choose a career, but rather it is one where you go through a process and learn how to make that decision,” concluded Principal Lambdin.