Career Exploration

Eligible Grades: ALL

Career Exploration allows students to investigate a specific career, or a set of closely related careers. For example, a student has an interest in criminal justice after taking a Criminology course. This allows them to look into a specific career (lawyer) or into a cluster of related fields (Lawyer, police officer, parole officer). This ELO will require the involvement of a Community Mentor and is open to ALL grade levels. These are often completed within a traditional semester and are less intensive--and time-consuming--than an Internship.

Potential Example: If you are interested in a career in law, you might do an exploration in law enforcement, a laywer's office, or a courthouse.

To begin your ELO, you should:
1. Complete the ELO Request Form (You MUST be signed into your MHS Google Account to complete this form; sign into your Chrome browser using your MHS credentials, not your personal Gmail account)

2. If you haven't already, you will want to look into local businesses/programs that offer services/products in the area that interests you. Students completing either a Career Exploration or Internship must do so only at a site that is approved by the NH Dept. of Labor. If you have a business/location in mind, you should also complete the Community Mentor Form located at the bottom of the page. That can then be emailed to the Director of Graduation Pathways or brought to Room D124. This process can be very lengthy, depending on whether the business is in full compliance with Dept. of Labor requirements...so don't wait.

3. Arrange a meeting with the Director of Graduation Pathways. At this meeting, we will discuss the required elements of the ELO (Research, Reflection, Product, and Presentation) as well as specific learning competencies embedded within your desired ELO. We will also discuss the grading of your ELO. Your choices will be: 

• Pass/Fail (WILL NOT impact GPA)

• Traditional Grade (A, B, C, D, F) at the Comprehensive level (WILL impact GPA) 

• Important Note from the outset: Once a grading pathway above is chosen and approved, it CANNOT be changed.

4. Return the completed ELO Contract Form, ELO Agreement Form, and ELO Implementation Plan. All of these forms will be filled out and provided to a student at the meeting above. These forms will require a few signatures (student, parent, school counselor, etc) and must be returned to the Director before the ELO can begin. Once returned, students can begin their ELO.

5. Once the location is approved by the NH Dept. of Labor, you can begin your ELO.

How does Career Exploration fit into my School Day?

1. Career Exploration is not assigned to a specific class period and will not appear on your daily PowerSchool Schedule. Career Explorations require students to work on their explorations in various ways. This could include a  visit to a work site (or a few work sites in the case of an ELO focused on a career cluster) as well as independent research. 

2. Students involved in a Career Exploration will be evaluated on the Reflections they provide during the semester, the connection the Research and Product have with the competencies listed on the Implementation Form. All of these elements are graded on a rubric that is available on this website, as well as within the ELO Canvas page students will have access to once they begin their ELO.

3. Credit for the course will be based on the Reflections, as well as the connection of the student's Research and Product to the learning competencies laid out at the start of the ELO. Due to the inherent brief nature of this ELO, a Presentation is not required. 

4. Generally speaking, Career Exploration ELOs are not subject to schedule modifications such as Late Arrival or Early Release. Exceptions are subject to approval by the Director of Graduation Pathways and the Director of Guidance. 

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