With the new school year going on, there were many changes to the schedule at Kirn Middle School. One of them was a new class. College and Career Exploratory Lab is a class at Kirn where you get to learn about cooking, welding, sports medicine, and so much more.
Teachers Mrs. Carrie Pope, Mr. Mat Daniels, and Mrs. Sarah Steinmetz, who are all now teaching this subject, shared their views of this new class.
“There are a wide range of subjects and all of the modules are relevant to our lives.” Said 6th-grade College and career teacher Mrs.Pope. “I think that every student that I have had has found at least one module that they enjoyed. Many of the modules are new experiences for students, and that is really exciting. Challenging oneself to try new things is a great way to grow.”
“Some modules focus on areas like fingerprinting or how to run a 911 office. They are more specific tasks, but if a student connects to that skill set, there are some great careers they could pursue.” Mrs. Pope also said, “Students are learning about themselves. Things they like and maybe more importantly, what they don’t like.”
“I like the things they are learning. It is a snippet of multiple jobs and career paths.” 7th grade College and Career teacher Mr. Daniels remarked. “There are some parts of this that they can use. It is more for the opportunity to explore something they are interested in that may lead to something they can do for the rest of their lives. They are learning how to work together, how to follow detailed plans, and about independence and social skills.”
“My thoughts about the College and Career Exploratory class is: wow, what a great thing for kids.” Said 8th grade college and career Mrs. Steinmetz. “This class lets students explore careers that maybe they hadn’t thought about. It is a great jump start of looking at different paths before getting to high school. This allows students to achieve more before high school. I am thankful the Council Bluffs Schools has allowed us to put funding into a program like this.”
“Students are learning skills that they can use for the rest of their lives. Two important skills are integrity- doing the right thing when no one is watching and also learning that it is ok to keep going when failure happens.” Mrs. Steinmetz said, “Kids experience different career paths but they are learning on their own with guidance from the teacher. Sometimes the process doesn’t always go as planned, but we learn from that and grow. Things they are learning are things like plumbing, electrical, medical terms, personal finance, wood-working, welding, and so much more.“
Students Hunter Collins, Isaac Cook, and Lupita Gruber also voiced their opinions on the new class.
“I find barely anything enjoyable.” says 6th grader Hunter Collins “One benefit of this class is that I now know how to write papers better.”
“My favorite part about college and career is that we can explore what our future careers could be.“ Said 7th grader Isaac Cook, “I was going to use the experience that I got in the computer module to my advantage because when I want to maybe be a coder. At the beginning of the year, I thought it wouldn’t be a fun elective, but it ended up being an elective I enjoyed.“
“The class was very enjoyable and helpful for future career thoughts and figuring out what I enjoy. I enjoyed materials processing and design. It had the most projects that I found interesting, and welding was also enjoyable.” Said 8th grader Lupita Gruber, “The class is beneficial because it can help you figure out what you want to do in the future and it gives you numerous options for what you could try. The only downside I thought there was, was that you only get to do four rotations in one semester, but that was just because there were so many interesting things that you could try.”
While there are mixed feelings about the class, most people, teachers, and students alike feel like it is a class where you can learn new things that are different from our regular classes.
