Career Pathways Newsletter

A moment to reflect, mourn, and act.

So far, it’s been a tough year for all with distance learning, the Covid-19 Pandemic, record rates of unemployment, and most recently the horrific murder of George Floyd. Together, we mourn.

As an educator, it is my responsibility to speak for my students and remain honest about the facts. Today as an adult, we must model and support our students. It’s time for us to address the real issues we are facing in our community and nation as a whole. Make no mistake, we have many students of color who have experienced similar traumatic events already as a teenager. And we have students who have never had a conversation about what race means in our nation today. The fact of the matter is, our students are watching and listening. They are watching and listening to the news, to their families, to their peers. They are watching how local employers respond to the nationwide crisis and the opportunity to do something that will make a positive impact. Experiences such as systematic racism, concern for property over human life, and a deep history of police brutality has led to protest and outrage in our city. We as educators seek to understand.

Today, my challenge for you as a valued participant of WBL Career Pathways is to think about how your organization or employer can work to improve. How can you use your voice to heal? To listen? To potentially change your hiring process? To honor that a diverse workforce leads to diverse ideas and diverse solutions? We all have the ability to learn and reflect on how individually, collectively, and systematically we can do better. It’s difficult to have a conversation about social justice already. It’s even more difficult to NOT have a conversation. Our students need us as a community to stand behind them and say we are here for ALL of you, whether it’s speaking the truth all the way to helping a student understand his/her privilege. It’s all relevant.

Lastly, it is easy to critique and pass judgment but I encourage you, especially in this professional and educational setting that people like myself “have not lived on the foot of oppression on a daily basis." It’s now more important than ever for us to think about what we can do positively to stop the pervasive inequities impacting people, in particular, black students and students of color. And amongst all of this, a lot of local employers are struggling with furloughs, lay-offs, and the devastating effects of being closed for 2 months. We are also here to support you. We must unite and support one another. Our students and the next generation are watching us. To better days and until we can see each other again. Respectfully, Jenny Moore.

Thank you to:

• the following local industry partners who donated to the Class of 2020’s care packages:
  • ACR Homes
  • BSN Sports
  • Firefly Computers
  • Grandma's Bakery
  • Kowalski's Markets
  • Manley Gardening
  • Press Publications
  • The Salon Professional Academy
  • White Bear Lake Historical Society
  • White Bear Lake Area Schools
• White Bear Makerspace. As of June 1, they have distributed over 1,200 face mask hooks to FL, IA, and WA. Thank you for supporting our frontline workers locally and nationwide! White Bear Makerspace is open again and is hosting classes with 8 or less people. For more information, click HERE.

Congratulations to:

• our newest Genesys Works Interns who were officially hired for the 2020-2021 school year. Avril Xiong, Gretel Tassah, Ly Fastener, and Sophia Krocak were officially accepted last week. They will begin the intense summer training on employability skills and will gear up for a 20 hour a week internship for their entire senior year. Congrats for all your hard work!
• our WBLAHS Seniors who received over $100,000 in local scholarships. Thank you to the families, employers, and post-secondary organizations who continue to support our students and their post-secondary pursuits. To make it even better, a lot of our donors even increased the dollar amount because of these challenging times. THANK YOU!!!!!!
• our WBLAHS students who completed over 1,000 AP Exams online for the first time ever. Your perseverance, willingness to try, and not to give up is why we are so proud of you!

Are you Bilingual or Multilingual?

Minnesota offers the opportunity for students to earn Bilingual or Multilingual Seals for students who demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English. The Bilingual Seal also carries college credit to schools in the MNSCU system and recognition on your transcript. Click HERE to learn more about the Bilingual Seals program. This year we have the opportunity for students to take the test from home in the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Thai. If you have any questions or are interested in taking a test to earn a Bilingual Seal, please email robert.anderson@isd624.org with the language you would like to test in.

Helpful Links

• Construction Careers Foundation made the news and it’s worth checking out the work they are doing, as well as, their new Construction Career App to attract future skilled trades workers. Check out the great article HERE.
• The Finishing Trades Institute of Upper Midwest (FTIUM) is accepting applications for their PSEO program next year. To learn more, click HERE.
• Check out the Trades Hub! Their Career Portal is going live soon! Check it out!
• Information about WBLAHS Graduation can be found HERE.
• Don't Say Nothing: Silence Speaks Volumes, Our Students Are Listening by Teaching Tolerance.
• Are you still hiring? Send jennifer.moore@isd624.org your job description today!