What Works Career Choices
Go with What Works: Career Choices & the 10-yearPlan
Benicia High School Medal Winners
Orland High School & River City High School Medal Winners
North Point Academy Medal Winners
Southern Trinity Medal Winners
Hoopeston High School



Recognizing Exemplary Educational Teams

Congratulations, Award-Winning Educators
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Gold Medal Schools  Silver Medal Schools  Bronze Medal Schools 

Gold Medal Schools

Gold Medal
AntiochAntioch High School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 5 Years
BeniciaBenicia High School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 3 Years
BeniciaBridgeton High School
New Jersey
Sustaining Medal Status for 6 Years
California CityCalifornia City High School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 6 Years
 
Diamond Technology InstituteDiamond Technology Institute
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 3 Years
florinFlorin High School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 2 Years
HamptonHampton High School
Virginia
Sustaining Medal Status for 4 Years
HoopestonHoopeston Area High School
Illinois
Sustaining Medal Status for 4 Years
 
LathropLathrop High School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 5 Years
LompocLompoc High School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 3 Years
OrlandOrland High School
California
NEW Gold Medal School
River CityRiver City High School
California
NEW Gold Medal School
 
River SpringsRiver Springs Charter School
California
NEW Gold Medal School
Southern TrinitySouthern Trinity High School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 3 Years
Summit CharterSummit Charter Collegiate Academy
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 8 Years
Wheatland UnionWheatland Union High School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 3 Years

Silver Medal Schools

Silver Medal
DelphosDelphos Jefferson High School
Ohio
NEW Silver Medal School
IndioIndio High School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 12 Years
North Point AcademyNorth Point Academy
California
NEW Silver Medal School
River Oaks AcademyRiver Oaks Academy Charter School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 3 Years

Bronze Medal Schools

Bronze Medal
AtascaderoAtascadero High School
California
NEW Bronze Medal School
CabrilloCabrillo High School
California
Sustaining Medal Status for 7 Years


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Medal School Spotlight

Students Build Foundation on Career Planning at Antioch High School

Students at Antioch High School (2022 Career Choices Medal winner) are prepared for the rest of their education goals when they learn about career planning, said teacher Nick Wisely.

“It builds a great foundation for kids,” Wisely said. “Especially at our school, a lot of kids are just happy to graduate, but talking about college, future, and careers—it’s just a great place to start.”

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Medal School Spotlight

Conversations Revolve Around Career Goals at Benicia High School

Students are able to thrive and stay focused when their 10-year plans are included in conversations, including in counseling and in discipline, said Brianna Kleinschmidt, Principal at Benicia High School, one of the 2022 Career Choices Gold Medal Schools.

“It’s just changed the conversations we’ve had around career exploration and career readiness,” Kleinschmidt said. “Our students are more prepared, they’re asking different questions, and they’re taking the opportunities that they have. They’re just a little more focused.”

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Medal School Spotlight

Online 10-Year Plans Guide Students to Success at Diamond Technology Institute

Online 10-year plans are used in many aspects of education for students at Diamond Technology Institute, including discipline and counseling, said teacher Roberto Zamora-Rocha. Diamond Technology Institute was awarded a Career Choices Medal for their role in helping inspire students with the Career Choices series curriculum.

“This program gives students options,” Zamora-Rocha said. “It gives them possibilities.”

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Medal School Spotlight

Students Shape Schedules Around 10-Year Plans at Hoopeston Area High School

Not only do students at Hoopeston Area High School enter their freshman year already having learned about the importance of planning for their future in middle school, they use their 10-year plans to shape their schedules for the rest of their high school careers.

“I see a lot more students looking toward their future,” said Suzanne Lambert, a teacher at Hoopeston. “We have the Building a Bridge curriculum in middle school, so they come up talking about it a little more. A lot of them are starting to have a plan now when it comes to scheduling their classes.”

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Medal School Spotlight

Career-Planning Program Helps Students at Lathrop High Take Education Seriously

Irene Munguia, a teacher at Lathrop High School (2022 Career Choices Medal Winner), said her students know how to take their education seriously because of what they learned in a Career Choices series course as a freshman.

“I had a student come by to have me sign her yearbook, and I knew her career options had changed, and she said ‘Why do you have us take this class as a freshman and not a senior?’” Munguia said. “And I said ‘I think you know how to take your future planning seriously because we did all this work early on with you.’”

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Medal School Spotlight

Career Planning Builds Teacher-Student Relationships at Orland High School

Since launching their own Career Choices series program, teachers at Orland High School are able to understand their students better because they know where they want to go in life, said Miranda Coughlin, an academic adviser at Orland High (2022 Career Choices Medal Winner).

“Where we’ve really seen it help is in the focus they’re going to take while they’re on our campus and then what their plan is after they graduate,” Coughlin said. “It’s just opened up a lot of conversations about what life after high school actually looks like.”

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Medal School Spotlight

Students Discover Value in Education at River City High School

River City High School was awarded a Career Choices Medal for the sixth year in a row in 2022 for their outstanding life- and career-planning program.

“Instead of hearing this question all the time: ‘Why do I have to take math? I hate math, or I hate English, or whatever,’” said Marlaina Schroeder Spivey, a teacher at River City High School. “Instead of that, students are walking into the counseling office and advocating for themselves. That was the biggest change.”

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Medal School Spotlight

How Career Choices Series Program Helps Charter School Support Pathways

Eight years after initially launching a Career Choices series program at their school, River Springs Charter School (2022 Career Choices Medal Winner) continues to see positive results that impact all of their students, said teacher Matthew Ramey.

“It’s a culture-changing program,” Ramey said. “It just really helps support the other classes and the vision that we have with internships, CTE, and the pathways that are declared through CTE.”

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Medal School Spotlight

Career Exploration Thrives at Southern Trinity

Although it may be a small school, Southern Trinity High School in Mad River, California, helps students realize how important it is to embark on a journey of exploration toward their life and career goals with the Career Choices series curriculum.

“It’s getting them to realize there’s life beyond this mountain,” said Cindy Dixon, a teacher and counselor at Southern Trinity. “It gives them an idea of what to look at. They don’t have to make a decision; they’re just looking and exploring.”

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Medal School Spotlight

Self-Advocacy Grows With Career Choices Program at Wheatland Union High School

Carol Keiser, a teacher and CTE director at Wheatland Union High School, said that with her school’s Career Choices series program, students are learning more about how to start taking steps in high school that will help them achieve their goals later. Around 20 percent of students at Wheatland are now enrolled in both high school and college at the same time, she said.

“It’s definitely creating a new culture of hope for our students,” Keiser said. “It’s really helped our students become stronger as a self-advocate in telling us what they want and what they need and coming in to ask us ‘How am I going to get it?’... It allows me to customize my teaching to their goals, and it builds relevance within the classroom.”

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Medal School Spotlight

Students at Indio High School Realize New Career Possibilities

Career exploration with the Career Choices series curriculum goes beyond just preparing students for college, said James Adkins, a teacher at Indio High School (2022 Career Choices Medal winner).

“Not every kid is going to college, and to be quite honest, I don’t think it’s designed for every kid to go to college,” Adkins said. “What I like about this program is that it allows a kid to research how to be a plumber or a craftsman. They get to realize that in their ninth-grade year instead of realizing it at the end of their twelfth grade.”

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Medal School Spotlight

North Point Academy Inspires Students With Independent Study

North Point Academy in Grass Valley, California, holds all of their classes via online independent study, but that hasn’t stopped students from learning about the importance of planning for their futures with the Career Choices series program.

"It’s really an essential program to show students what that all looks like—how to plan for college and that they can even go to college,” said Janet Mason, a teacher at North Point Academy (2022 Career Choices Silver Medal Winner)."

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Medal School Spotlight

Career Planning Prepares Students for Life at Atascadero High School

Students at Atascadero High School (2022 Career Choices Medal Winner) are prepared for more than just their future careers with the Career Choices series program, said Assistant Principal Christine Williams.

“Especially for high school freshmen, I think they’re really having a hard time thinking about the next five minutes, let alone what their life is going to look like after high school,” Williams said. “A class like this and anything that forces them to look at these things—whether it’s the cost of living or how much a car or an apartment really costs—is important.”

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Medal School Spotlight

Career & Education Plans Give Students “Drive” at Cabrillo High School

Students at Cabrillo High School who take the 10-year planning process seriously have more confidence and take more initiative in their education, said David Riley, a teacher at Cabrillo High School (2022 Career Choices Medal Winner).

“The kids who have the buy-in—you can see that they go ‘Ok, I have an internship this summer’ or ‘I have a job,’” Riley said. “They’re coming back and asking questions because I can see that they want to do better with their life. They have a drive, and you can see that drive.”

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