Menu
Life after graduation for MPS students
McCOOK, Neb. — Being able to dream, and dream big, is the goal for the youngest students at McCook Public Schools.
“I’m a big believer in being able to dream at this age,” said McCook Elementary principal, Greg Borland, of his kindergarten students. He and other school principals at MPS gave presentations Monday night on what they are doing, grade by grade, in getting students ready for life after graduation.
Career and college preparedness is one of the areas assessed by AQuESTT, a Nebraska Department of Education classification system for all public schools. Mandated by the Nebraska Legislature in 2014 as an accountability system for public schools, Accountability for a Quality Education System Today and Tomorrow, or AQuESTT, annually measures student success and classifies schools into four categories: Excellent, Great, Good, or Needs Improvement.
In kindergarten, this means letting kids’ imaginations run wild for what they want to be when they grow up. They may say they want to be a professional football player and that’s okay, said Borland.
Activities in kindergarten include field trips to the fire station and local farms and structured play when students explore different careers by pretend play.
For first graders, there are more field trips and visits from community members, Borland said and in second grade, students write about future plans and visit a science trailer that has 15 different stations, where students can learn about jobs in science and technology. In third grade, as in other grades, members of the community and high school students visit classrooms with hands-on activities to get students’ curiosity soaring.
Other principals who gave presentations Monday night were:
-- Joel Bednar, Central Elementary, 4th-5th grades: Students learn social skills, such as how to make good decisions, work within a team and form healthy habits that can affect their future; basic coding experience and coding “auto bots,” when students use computer programming to make tiny robots move; and “Careers on Wheels,” when local farmers bring in their combines and balers for students to climb up inside. Many students have never seen a combine before and are fascinated with the equipment, Bednar said. Other demonstrations from the community include those on financial literacy, different careers in STEM when students splice fiber optics and firefighters sharing what they learned in school that helps them in their job today.
-- Chad Lyons, McCook Junior High principal, 6th-8th grades: students take business vocational tours of local businesses and of the college. Ag tours, affectionately known as “Manure Tours,” include visits to the sale barn, area farms and ethanol plants. Information is presented about college savings plans and students complete a learning plan that monitors and manages their learning.
Lyons shared a “fun fact” with the board: while on a tour last year at Walmart, he learned that the number one item purchased every year is bananas, with billions sold. Only one item tops that for one week in the year, he said, and that’s sweet corn, sold during the Fourth of July holiday.
-- Jake Curl, McCook High School assistant principal, 9th-12th grades: Things get more serious in high school, with a career unit in ninth grade that includes an interest inventory, job shadowing, guest speakers and a research paper, plus completing a three-year academic planner; field trips and guest speakers in individual classes from 10th-12th grades, along with college campus visits and meeting with school counselors on what classes they need to take for college; college classes for dual credit at McCook Community College in 11th and 12th grade, such as certification classes for CNAs and EMTs; college representatives and military recruiters on campus; career classes in business, construction and education; and the McCook Industrial Tour, when students learn about careers available in the manufacturing field, such as at Valmont and Parker. Mini-courses at MCC include those in business/computer/technology, welding and plumbing. These classes will be offered to high school students if enough students sign up and instead of being a semester-long, last only a few weeks, so logistics are still being worked out, said Superintendent Grant Norgaard.
-- John Hanson, Special Education director: Hanson was not at Monday’s board meeting but submitted a written report. Students go out on job sites for school credit to local businesses, such as Gary’s Superfoods, Samway’s, McCook Christian Church, McCorkle Motors, Subway Hillcrest Nursing Home, and Southwest Area Training Services. Hanson meets with every junior and senior who has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and together, they complete an interest inventory and talk about what the student wants to do after graduation, whether to go to college or get a job. Senior class schedules are then tailored to the student’s interests to help prepare them for life after graduation. The Rotary Club typically provides up to six, $500 scholarships each year to seniors.