Career and Flight Pathways

The Winger Flight Paths in Red Wing Public Schools version of Career Awareness and Exploration.  It's core beliefs and Philosophies are embedded from Early Childhood through 12th grade with the ultimate goal of all students making a more informed choice for their plans for after graduation.

Core Beliefs:

The Winger Flight Paths has a firm foundation with a lens of equality on career fields.  Our school district recognizes the value that each career field brings to a diverse and thriving economy that allows for the interests of all of our students to be valued and honored.  

Additionally, Winger Flight Paths has a lens of equality on continuing levels of education.  Whether a student want to start their post high school experience going straight into the workforce, heading off to any level of continuing education, or into the military, we are equally excited for you!  Our focus is to help students understand what it is they are interested in doing to start their professional career, identify the level of education needed to pursue that positiong, and help them find the pathway to their goals.

Another tenant of the Winger Flight Paths philosophy is the need for representation in each career field and position.  Students need to be aware that no matter how they identify, whether by race, gender, or in other ways, there is someone like them in each career field and they can dream to be there too.  It is through the intentional equitable actions of our staff to ensure that all students believe any activity and any field know no boundaries or limitations.

K-6 Career Exploration with Literacy Alignment

In grades K-6, Red Wing classrooms use Wonders 2020 as the basis for their literacy curriculum.  Each week, an essential question is used as the basis for that week(s) activities. Winger Flight Paths at these grade levels takes that essential question and pairs it with an example of a career that would be engaged in that question.  The goal at this grade level isn't for students to lock in a career path, but rather further exploration of how the world works and vocabulary development.  Often students are interested in careers they know through what they are exposed to in the education setting, in their communities, and what their family members do.  The goal here is to add careers such as a wildlife biologist, phlebotomist, legislator, or glazier to the careers they know as well.

8th Grade Introduction to Flight Paths

In this required 8th grade course, students spend one quarter learning about all 16 different career fields.  Their time is spent examining differet careers at different levels of continuing education and to be reflective about those options.  The course also focuses on the basis for employment with skills such as resume development, applications, interviewing.  Students also learn about Child Labor Laws as they will soon be entering the workforce and should know their rights and how to reach out for help if they need to.  Students are also introduced to the Winger Flight Paths as they relate to Registration.

In grades 8-11, students are encouraged to use the Winger Flight Paths registration booklet.  This booklet outlines a recommendation of courses for students to register for as they become more serious about their futures.  As students begin to identify a potential career field, the Winger Flight Path booklet helps them to be more intentional about their course selection so they can further explore the base knowledge needed for their future careers and make sure they are setting up their four year plan to prepare them for their transition after graduation.  If in their pursuit of a Flight Path, a student decides they are no longer interested in that career field, they have the flexibility to change their direction and start to explore elsewhere.  That's a main goal of the Winger Flight Paths is to explore while in high school to better know interests and noninterests for after graduation.

11th Grade Flight Paths Capstone

In their junior year, students enroll in the required Flight Paths Capstone Course.  This one semester course begins with a deeper dive into a students' vocational interests.  Students analyze potential careers, the level of education required, where to receive that education (if needed), the demand and future outlook for those careers, and expected levels of income.  They again reflect on their course registration heading into their senior year where they have more space for elective classes to contine to be intentional in their educational planning.  Topics also include navigating college application, scholarships, the FASFA and more.  Students then shift into more planning for career acquisition skills with cover letters, applications, updating their resumes, mock interviews and OSHA.

The second half of the course then focuses on personal finance.  Using their chosen careers as the basis for their future budgets, students begin to consider future financial needs such as housing, transportation, and other needs.  Topics covered also include banking, investing, insurance, and retirement.

Senior Internships

The culminating opportunity for Red Wing students is a senior internship during the second semester of their senior year.  These opportunities are desiged to connect students with people in our community who are engaged in the careers the students are considering for after graduation.  These internships take place during the school day during their open elective hours where students will shadow in the inner workings of their planned occupation to help them make a more informed choice for after graduation.  Internships are generally not-paid as the goal is the learning experience.  Not all seniors will be able to have an internship due to business availability matching interest, need to coordinate schedules, and other factors.