Bobbi Jo Forsyth, the College and Career Center Adviser, recently hosted a workshop for students who don’t think they will attend college when they graduate. In a study done for the CHS Site Council by Rick Brown, around 60% of CHS seniors qualify to go directly to a four year university upon graduation. However, according to Forsyth, about 75% of CHS seniors don’t go straight to a 4 year college, around 35% go to a 2 year community college or into vocational training, 40% go directly into the work force. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor’s August 2007 study, Median weekly earnings rise with higher education. Earnings for workers 25 & older with some high school was $419/week, high school graduates earned $595/week, some college earned workers $674/week an associates degree earned $721/week, a bachelors degree earned $962/week, a master’s degree $1140/week, professional degrees earned $1474/week, and doctoral degrees earned $1441/week. With statistics like that, the workshop seems to be very relevant to CHS students. So why did only one out of about 950 students to attend the workshop? Forsyth said that she will be planning more workshops in the future; most likely held during lunch in the college and career center.

During the workshop, Forsyth discussed post-secondary schooling. Trade or vocational schools are focused on the development of certain skills. Community colleges offer two-year transfer programs, four-year degree program and can offer vocational or technical majors. A trade school can focus on automotive, computer tech or cosmetology for example. Trade schools do not require English, math or other “core” subjects when they are not practical to the desired major. Community colleges allow students to either transfer to a four-year university, or complete a four-year program, or a technical program. However, not all community colleges have vocational programs. One advantage to enrolling in tech programs in a community college is cost. Often times, community college is much less expensive than trade or vocational schools. CHS offers many scholarships for students planning to attend Sierra College that can be applied to the cost of books, lab fees, or living expenses.

Many careers do not require post-secondary education and instead have apprenticeships or internships. A good way to get involved in a career field with apprenticeships is through the CHS ROP programs, or job shadow days.

Forsyth says that she struggles to get information to non-college bound students because they are often less geared to academics and tend to avoid the college and career center due to its name. However the center is filled with books on State Colleges, Out of State Colleges, Community Colleges, ROP programs, Military options, ACT and SAT testing preparation, Course Preview Day, Career Fairs, and Job Shadow opportunities. If you are interested and want to learn more, keep watch in the bulletin for lunch time workshops, or simply stop by the College and Career Center in the office.