What’s your ‘E’? How schools help students discover career options

MANSFIELD — Mark Morich stood at the edge of the classroom and watched his students prepare to go live with the day’s Tyger News broadcast.

One boy sat in a corner of the room, dwarfed by computer screens cued up with the broadcast logo. A girl sat next to him, stationed in front of a soundboard.

Student news anchors stepped onto a short wooden platform and took a seat at a skinny gray computer table. A homemade green screen that Morich built stretched across the back wall, hiding the traditional whiteboard.

At this point, there wasn’t much Morich needed to do. His students were ready. The countdown clock hit zero.

Senior Christian Yeager and junior Sydney Rizzo popped up on television screens across Mansfield Senior High School, seated at a tall, curved desk emblazoned with the Tyger News logo. Behind them, lights shone from make-believe skyscrapers in a virtual cityscape. 

Yeager and Rizzo took turns cycling through the day’s announcements — a promo for summer jobs from a local staffing agency, the boy’s soccer team fundraiser, upcoming auditions for the school choir, a free ACT prep class.

As always, they ended the broadcast with a rundown of the day’s cafeteria menu. 

Morich recently wrapped up his 19th year teaching Mansfield Senior High School’s interactive media career tech program. His students run the live broadcast. They stream special segments on mental health, high school sports and college and career readiness.

They also learn other skills, from basic graphic design to photo and video editing, animation and 3D modeling. 

“It’s surprising how many students that have come back to me several years later and say, ‘I use this all the time now,'” Morich said.

For Yeager, the program was a doorway to a future career. He signed up for an Introduction to Photoshop class as an underclassman. He enjoyed it so much, he kept taking interactive media courses. 

Yeager said he plans to enlist in the military and pursue a career in the public affairs division. But he’s already making money taking graphic design commissions on the side, using the skills he learned in Morich’s class.

“I already have those certifications, so that’ll kind of put me ahead when I’m in the service, too,” Yeager said.

“By the time I get out, I’ll be super ready for a civilian job and something in this field, and I won’t have any debt, because I’ll have my college paid for.”

‘We want students to explore’

Just a few weeks before graduation, Yeager was able to clearly articulate his plans for the future. But many students struggle to find their path. 

In a recent survey of Richland and Ashland County high school students, just 63 percent of seniors said they know what they want to do after high school. 

Out of 1,140 total high school students, just 35 percent expressed certainty in a future career path. More than half said they had some idea about a career path, but were still narrowing it down. 

Nevertheless, teachers like Morich are working to expose their students to opportunities and boost career awareness.

Nikia Fletcher, director of college and career readiness for Mansfield City Schools, said it’s become an important part of K-12 education.

“Most kids associate career with what mom’s doing, what dad’s doing, what my favorite uncle is doing,” she said. “You kind of end up with this really tight circle of all the options that you have.”

High school principals and guidance counselors often ask students to think about their ‘E.’

What is their goal after high school graduation — enrollment, employment, enlistment or entrepreneurship?

For Fletcher, offering career tech education courses is one of many strategies for expanding student awareness. Career tech courses have traditionally been limited to high school.

Next school year, Mansfield Middle School will offer a handful of options — including haircutting and manufacturing.

“One of the things that we’re trying to do is move backwards into our middle school and do more exploratory classes,” she said.

Fletcher said she hopes exposing students to more options will inspire them to keep researching career paths on their own.

“We want them to be able to discover and increase this awareness bubble,” she said. “If we can get that awareness bubble pushed out some, they’ll explore on their own. We can train them to explore.”

How are teens learning about careers?

Data from a Source Media Properties survey suggested local teens may already grasp the value of doing their own career research.

When asked what factors most influenced their career aspirations, three in four students said their own research was “very or extremely influential.“

About a quarter of students reported traditional career awareness methods like quizzes, job fairs and classroom assignments were highly impactful.

Factors involving relationships with adults and real-world experiences were even more influential.

Just over half of students said their family had a large influence on their career path. More than a third of teens cited another adult like a teacher, mentor or coach.

Olyvia Marshall, a 2024 graduate of Mansfield Senior, plans to study mechanical engineering at Ohio State. But said she’s “on the fence” about switching to education.

She’s also considered teaching math, thanks in part to her job as a summer camp counselor.

“I feel like math is a subject that a lot of people struggle with,” she said. “I love teaching kids. I love helping kids when maybe they just aren’t up to what other people are expecting them to be and just supporting them.”

Marshall said her high school math teacher, Amanda Clawson, has also influenced her thoughts on teaching. 

“She’s just always been a really good support system, even when you’re not really doing the best or when you’re tired,” she said. 

She also pointed to Terry Conard, director of the Friendly House in Mansfield, as an inspiring figure. 

“He geared me towards (teaching) too, just because of his great passion for kids and their development in life,” she said.

“Either way, whether I end up as a teacher or an engineer, I think it’d be OK for me.”

Meanwhile, four in 10 teens said social media has played a significant role in influencing their career path. But that doesn’t mean four in 10 teens want to be influencers.

After graduating from Mansfield Christian School, Bryce Courser studied welding at the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center. Then he went back to Miller Fabrication & Welding, a business he’d toured as a high school junior, to ask for a job.

But that tour wasn’t actually Courser’s first exposure to the trade. It was seeing videos of welders on TikTok that first sparked his interest.

Career coaches and quizzes

Across north central Ohio, students also take career aptitude quizzes and complete classroom assignments focused on career exploration.

They visit local businesses and attend career fairs. Many high school students tour a local career technical education center during their freshman or sophomore year.

Pioneer Career and Technology Center partners with schools across Richland and Crawford counties to offer programming at its Shelby-based campus and inside partner high schools.

Since 2015, Pioneer has used some state funding to employ part-time career coaches at each of its 14 partner high schools.

These coaches work alongside high school guidance counselors, serving as a point of contact between schools, local workforce development organizations and businesses.

As a career coach at Ontario High School, Bethany Rachel helps students find opportunities to job shadow or intern with local businesses.

“We’re always looking to partner with companies and get our students out in the field so that they can try things out before they’re investing time into college or a trade school,” said Rachel, who also works as a program manager for Junior Achievement USA.

In her mind, allowing students to tour places of employment can be just as important as going on college visits.

“That’s my biggest rule of thumb. You can visit all the college campuses and I want you to do that, I’ll help you that set that up. But I also want you to visit all the jobs,” she said.

“I want you to walk into manufacturing plants. I want you to walk into a health care system. I want you to know that there’s amazing businesses in our backyard that are fueling and feeding our economy,” Rachel said.

Pioneer and the Crawford Partnership for Education & Economic Development also plan to implement a YouScience at districts across the region this fall.

According to its website, YouScience assessments test various student aptitudes like numerical reasoning, spatial visualization, sequential and inductive reasoning, work approach and hand-eye coordination.

Its AI-powered software then tells students which careers match their talents.

Pioneer Supt. Greg Nickoli said the program differs from traditional career assessments, which are typically based on students’ interests rather than their strengths.

The program also provides students information about their projected earnings, required education and nearby employers associated with those career paths.

“It’s a really powerful tool,” Nickoli said.

Experience a powerful tool for job exploration

For years, Allie Wentworth resisted the idea of becoming a teacher.

Her mom was a teacher and she wanted to do something different. But she’s always enjoyed working with kids, whether it’s through the mentorship program at her school or helping teach dance classes. 

During her senior year at Ashland High School, she gave teaching a chance. Wentworth spent half of each day shadowing a teacher at Reagan Elementary as part of Ashland’s Learning Through Internships program.

That experience confirmed to Wentworth teaching is the path for her.

“It’s been one of the best things ever to be able to be in a classroom every single day,” she said. “I’m so attached to the kids there. I feel like this is my calling.”

Wentworth plans to attend The Ohio State University’s Mansfield campus this fall, where she’ll study education.

She already has Pinterest boards dedicated to how she’ll decorate her future classroom. 

Nearly 40 percent of students surveyed by Source Media Properties identified job shadowing, a part-time job or an internship as “very or extremely influential” in their career goals.

More than one-third of students said the same about career technical education courses.

Under Ohio law, schools districts are required to provide high school students the chance to take career technical education courses.

Both Mansfield Senior High School and Madison Comprehensive High School have in-house programs.

While some smaller school districts have begun adding career technical courses on campus, traditional high schools also partner with career centers like Pioneer to offer students a variety of hands-on learning opportunities.

Common career tech programs span industries like healthcare, hospitality, early childhood education, cosmetology, public safety, media communications, cybersecurity, business, entrepreneurship, auto maintenance and construction.

Even though career tech is focused on hands-on learning, Nickoli said talking about the career options within an industry is crucial.

“How can you aspire to be something if you don’t know it exists?” he said.

Healthcare has always been on Barbara Kent’s radar, since her mother worked as a medical researcher.

But the recent Pioneer graduate said she didn’t truly understand the options until she entered the medical technologies program.

“I had no idea that STNAs existed until I got to this class,” Kent said. 

After passing her State-Tested Nurse Aid (STNA) exam at 17, Kent got a summer job as an STNA. She plans to go college and pursue a career as a medical laboratory technician. 

“When I worked as an STNA, it wasn’t the money that was the payoff, it was seeing the residents smile,” she said.

“Every day you go in and you have the chance to change somebody’s entire day. You are the voice for them and you get to take care of them. It’s really gratifying.”