Learn more about B-P’s comprehensive plan
By Cedric Brown
As a high school senior, Noah Marek has some big decisions to make in the next few months. Among those decisions is which college or university to attend next fall. But then there’s an even bigger decision for him to make: What does he want to study?
When asked this question, Marek isn’t really sure of the answer. But he looks back on his time at Broadalbin-Perth High School and says, “I wish I would’ve used Naviance sooner.”
As part of its comprehensive plan for the future, Broadalbin-Perth Central School District is looking to use tools like Naviance to develop MAPs – or “My Academic Plan” – for all of its students, including those at the elementary level. First introduced at the high school for the 2012-13 school year, Naviance is an online system that allows students to explore careers and prepare to apply for colleges based on their individual interests.
According to school counselors Charla Simonson and Jennifer Zimmerman, Naviance helps students explore their interests and individual personalities to help them plan for their futures. The student portal features four tabs: Colleges, Careers, About Me and My Planner. Under the About Me section, students can take a variety of personal assessments, such as the Myers Briggs Type Indicator personality test. Based on these results, Naviance then suggests careers that the students should consider, as well as colleges and universities that offer programs that would lead to those careers. Students also can use Naviance to keep a history of their school activities, and when they’re ready to begin the college application process, they’ll be able to use it to create a resume of their accomplishments.
Simonson and Zimmerman start getting students acclimated to Naviance early in their high school careers and work with teachers to incorporate Naviance into the curriculum.
“We start by working with the ninth-grade teachers in creating Naviance-based assignments,” Zimmerman said. “At this level, we get the students to become aware of their learning styles and give teachers access to their students’ results. By 10th grade, students complete the ‘Do What You Are’ survey, then write a research paper based on one career they’ve chosen. Doing this helps to ensure that by 11th grade, students are well-equipped to develop their post-graduation plans and finalize their resumes for career success. That way, they can spend their entire 12th-grade year applying to colleges and universities, or preparing to enter trade schools or the military.”
Students who’ve taken advantage of Naviance are seeing the results of their efforts. One such student is senior Zoe Simonson, who is Charla’s daughter.
“I’ve gotten involved in a lot here,” Zoe said as she tried to recall and list all the activities she’s been part of at B-P. “So much that it’s hard for me to keep track of everything.”
During her four years at BPHS, Zoe has played on the volleyball and softball teams, in addition to leading Students Against Destructive Decisions (S.A.D.D.) Club. Thanks to Naviance, she’s been able to keep track of her school activities throughout her time at B-P and consider her personal interests before applying to schools like Northeastern University, Penn State University and the University at Buffalo, among others.
“The personality test I took on Naviance pretty much confirmed what I already knew I want to pursue, which is engineering,” Zoe said. She encourages younger students to use the tool as early as possible during their time in high school. “I think more students would be likely to use it if they knew how we’ll use it to apply for colleges.”
According to counselors Simonson and Zimmerman, tools like Naviance give students, teachers and counselors a more complete picture of the student – beyond grades and courses. In the coming years, the district plans to expand the use of Naviance to the middle school; Naviance has preteen-friendly videos and activities to engage students in finding careers they might want to learn more about.
As B-P moves toward developing a pre-K through grade 12 MAPs system for creating and updating individualized learning plans for each student, Naviance will likely be a key tool in that effort. For now, Naviance is available to help students like Marek make better-informed decisions about what they’ll do after high school graduation.
“I think I want to go into business and economics,” Marek said. Although he only recently started using Naviance, Marek knows he doesn’t want to go into engineering, which was one of the careers Naviance suggested to him based on the results of his personal assessment. Regardless, he still used the system to apply to such schools as Fordham University, the University of Vermont and Syracuse University.
While Marek is still trying to figure out where his path may lead, he, like Zoe, has some advice for future students.
“Don’t wait until senior year,” Marek said.
With MAPs coming to Broadalbin-Perth students at all grades in a few years, they won’t have to.
