Academic and Career Planning

Academic and Career Planning at the State Level

WI DPI - What is ACP?

An ongoing process to actively engage students to:

develop an understanding of his or her self
create a vision of his or her future
develop individual goals
prepare a personal plan for achieving the vision and goals

A product that documents and reflects students’:

coursework, learning and assessment results
post-secondary plans aligned to career goals & financial reality
record of college and career readiness skills.

WI DPI - Why ACP?

ACP is intended to equip students and their families with the tools necessary to make more informed choices about postsecondary education and training as it leads to careers.

It is part of DPI's overall vision for every student to graduate high school college and career ready. That means students must be competent both socially and emotionally. We want our students to be strong critical thinkers, collaborate and solve real-world problems, and persevere when things aren’t quite going their way. When put together, it’s about making them productive adults with satisfying careers.

To learn more about why ACP matters, watch this video.

Academic and Career Planning at Kiel Middle School

Special Events

Agriculture Career Awareness Day

Every other year, the 7th and 8th grade students at Kiel Middle School are invited to participate in Agriculture Career Awareness Day. This event is put on by agricultural businesses throughout the Kiel area. Students are able to take part in hands-on experiences and visit a number of local business to learn more about the careers that are available in the agriculture field.

Lakeshore Technical College Tour

This past year, eighth grade students were invited to tour different departments at Lakeshore Technical College. During this tour students played a game of Jeopardy focused on agricultural topics, learned how to make satay, tested out plasma cutting, and practiced fixing windmill parts. Students loved the hands-on experiences and many of them were visiting a college campus for the first time.

Kohler STEM Tour and Career Fair

Every year, the 8th grade students at Kiel Middle School are invited to participate in the Kohler STEM Tour and Career Fair. During this tour students explore the many career opportunities that Kohler offers, while learning about how Kohler uses science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to create top of the line products. (During the 2017-2018 school year, Kohler STEM Tours were not offered due to construction at the Kohler Company.

JA BizTown

Every spring, our fifth grade students have the opportunity to start exploring the career process. They create resumes, go through the interview process with a number of educators and community volunteers, learn about financial literacy, and prepare for career success. JA BizTown combines in-class learning with an interactive, simulated town experience where students are asked to perform their specific careers in order to keep their town running. For more information on JA BizTown check out their website.

Kiel Middle School Happenings

8th Grade Careers Class

The 8th Grade Careers class is instructed by Dave Teske, our Technology Education teacher. While in this class, students have the opportunity to research and explore a variety of careers. It is also the students first look into the high school portfolio, which is a required credit at the high school level. At the start of the 2016 school year, Kiel Middle School started using Career Crusing, which is self-exploration and planning program that assists in portfolio development. This class lays the foundation for future portfolio requirements. If you are interested in learning more about the high school portfolio click here.

High School Planning Meetings

Before High School Curriculum Night, all eighth grade students are required to attend a personal education planning meeting with the school counselor. In this meeting parents, the student, and the school counselor discuss high school scheduling options, future goals, strengths, areas of improvement, and other essential high school information. Students use their Career Cruising portfolio to guide the meeting, so the school counselor is able to provide students with information based on their future goals and interests. Below is a list of some of the resources provided during the meeting.

Helpful Resources

Kiel High School

KHS Course Offerings and Description Booklet

Military

Today's Military Website

Wisconsin Colleges

Careers and Apprenticeships

High School Curriculum Night

High School Curriculum Night takes place one night in January. During this event students are able to transition through the high school classrooms while learning about the different courses offered by each academic department. This is also the night where high school students receive information about scheduling classes.

March Madness

During the month of March, the school counseling department provides a variety of activities to help students explore their college and career options. Activities include:

Classroom lessons focused on ACP
Name that Grad (Photos of teacher's graduations are posted in the cafeteria and students have a chance to guess who each teacher is)
Guess Who? College and Career Edition (Trivia is posted throughout the school that relates to college and career planning)
- Example: "This actor who voiced Darth Vader in “Star Wars” and “Mufasa” in The Lion King graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Drama." Answer: James Earl Jones"

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