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| How MCIS Works For Us |
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Dear MCRN,
This year begins my twentieth year as a K-12 school counselor. During that time, Montana Career Information System has been an invaluable tool. It is my first “go to” source when a student asks for information about a career or school.
Although I had used MCIS primarily with junior high and high school students for years for career exploration, I now also utilize it for fifth and sixth graders after completing the “Jacob and Emily” career program. They absolutely love taking the inventory geared for middle schoolers to see what careers end up on their list. The user-friendly format makes it easy for them to research those careers that show up. Of course, the first thing they look at is the salary/wage section! It is so rewarding to see them get excited about what their future possibilities could be.
I simply cannot give enough kudos to the folks who have worked to develop and improve this program over the years. They are constantly making changes to keep the site interesting and up to date for students, parents and teachers. Keep up the good work, and many thanks!
Sincerely,
Linda Konesky
Centerville School
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The Montana Career Information System has been an invaluable tool for my high school students. I have used it to get students thinking about careers in general, but in rural Northeastern Montana, it has proven a powerful tool to introduce students to the huge variety of career opportunities. Our students often think of farming, small business ownership banking, medical, service careers, and education as the only career possibilities because those are the predominant careers that are available in this area.
MCIS is especially useful after students take the ASVAB test as well because students then link their career interests and skills to actual jobs, career outlooks and educational requirements. This, in turn, helps students determine wheather or not they want to pursue a particular pathway.
The ability for students to open up MCIS at home and share the website with parents is a major step toward getting parents involved in the post secondary process as well. Once this dialogue is opened, parents often are willing to talk to the school counselor about the next steps the student must take to achieve his/her goals.
Principal Kathleen Waller Medicine Lake School
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Montana Career Resource Network has proven to be an excellent resource for Montana youth! As an elementary school counselor, I utilized materials through MCRN for my Kindergartners through 8th graders. With Career Development being an important component of my guidance curriculum, the materials and publications that MCRN provided were fantastic- and highly beneficial to my students. Each publication was developmentally relevant to the age group it was designed to be used with, and students really enjoyed the materials and activities. Students would begin in Kindergarten-2nd grade with “Career Peeks”, in 3rd-4th grade they would get to explore occupational types with “Career Heroes”, in 5th- 6th grade they would read about career clusters in “Jacob and Emily Skip School”. Finally in middle school, we would get into MCIS. The younger elementary students would hear from the middle school students about the Montana Career Information System (MCIS). It was as if they had been waiting for their turn to finally explore the system! With identity becoming a central issue and focus for this age group, MCIS provides students with an excellent opportunity to explore and assess their interests, likes, abilities, skills, and preferred lifestyles. Students are then offered a range of careers that might fit their evolving traits. Students may set up a profile in which they could save and store assessment results to refer back to throughout their junior and high school experience. When used early on, such as in middle school, students will have an electronic record of their changing, developing selves! This can provide them with a fuller picture of themselves as they embark on the transition to higher education and the world of work. MCIS is an incredible educational and occupational information source. When students connect with their results and begin to look into the different occupations, they are provided with a great amount of information- from educational requirements, wages, and outlook, to the more specific aspects of the occupation in relation to being located in Southwest Montana! I would highly recommend looking into this system and incorporating it into students’ career development curriculum.
Holly W. Bolton, M.Ed., CFLE
MSU Department of Health and Human Development and Guidance Counselor & Adult Education Coordinator for Ophir School District
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