I concluded the 6 episode release by speaking with Dr. Mike McDonald, superintendent of my high school alma mater, Walton Central School! Mike began as the superintendent of WCS in the summer of 2020. Now, I don’t want to give anything away. But you’ll hear at the top of the interview how I met Mike, and I know you’ll see why I asked him to be a guest on the show. I’m so happy that he’s taking care of my alma matter. During the episode, you will hear Mike talk about different ways we can encourage career exploration right from a young age, how to connect the student career pathways with what is going on in classrooms, and how we can work with our students to enhance their preparation for college.

Episode Timeline:

[01:06] Introducing Mike
[02:24] Going back to the fall of 1994
[05:36] Mike’s role in helping parents and students in getting college and career ready.
[07:15] Career exploration and traditional college preparation process.
[09:42] Best practice to move the career exploration at age-appropriate levels down through the elementary schools.
[12:53] Why students’ college and career preparations should start at an early age.
[16:36] Getting the kids connected to career pathways.
[19:50] Tools to connect students with resources outside their region.
[21:30] Advice to students who have not found their interests yet.
[24:21] Differences between being career-ready and being college-ready.
[27:31] Mike’s advice for the higher education system
[33:44] Justin’s 5 takeaways from the episode

Five things I learned from my talk with Mike!

1. Encourage career exploration early on by connecting what your student is already doing in the classroom with related careers. Example: if your student is responsible for gathering/delivering mail for the classroom, start to show them different career options that are similar by identifying people that are in these roles currently like a manager or postal worker. You can also encourage shadowing, tours, internships, even using surveys and online programs like Career Zone. The goal is to help your student identify pathways that align with their interests. Note, I am not affiliated, nor do I endorse Career Zone and only mention it by name as Mike mentioned using it at his school.
2. Work with your student to enhance their preparation for college throughout their educational journey. As they get closer to applying for education after high school, I encourage you and your student to attend College Career Nights, College Financial Planning/Aid Nights, and any and all programs your school provides.
3. There’s always a way and always a pathway for your student to achieve career goals.
4. Being college ready is being career ready. College or education after high school isn’t a culmination of what is learned during high school. It is part of the student’s career trajectory and pathway.
5. Ask questions while exploring colleges with career goals in mind, do not make assumptions. Does the program align with the recognized professional associations in the student’s goal field? Will the program get your student to their career goal after successful completion, or will there be additional steps they need to take after completing the program?

Resources:

Future College Parent Podcast website: https://www.futurecollegeparent.com/

Future College Parent Network: The Future College Parent Network is here for you to post what you learned by listening to this episode and engage with other listeners so we can learn together! Please join at: www.facebook.com/groups/futurecollegeparentnetwork/

Listen to episodes on https://www.futurecollegeparent.com/: Please share the podcast widely with other parents, leaders of activities your student is involved in, and your school administrators so they can share with your school district. You can also let parents know the show is streaming directly from the website and there is no need to download anything! The show is also on your favorite podcast platforms as well.

Parent Action Plan!: Parents can download the action plan document to actively engage with their student, secondary, and post-secondary professionals to help their student prepare, chose and finance college.

Lesson Plan & Worksheet: Leaders of activities your student is involved in, and your school administrators can download the Lesson Plan and Worksheet for this episode to help teach all Future College Parents the content of this podcast episode.

Transcription:

Justin Alger 00:00
My name is Dr. Justin Alger, and this is the first six-episode premiere of the future college parent podcast.

Mike MacDonald 00:11
There’s always a way there’s always a pathway if you truly want to go and you truly have that passion for that career, whether it takes eight years…

Justin Alger 00:25
Hey, Mike, welcome to the future college pair podcast. And thank you for being here and helping future college parents. And thank you for being one of our first six guests. You are guest number six, the finale for the for the premier of the future college parent podcast. Welcome to the show, Mike.

Mike MacDonald 01:57
Thank you, Justin. It’s a pleasure to be here and a pleasure to reconnect with you.

Justin Alger 02:02
I’m so happy that you’re here as well. And as we’ve talked, this episode is very special to me, because Walton is my alma mater. And before we begin, I just wanted to take a moment to talk about a memory that’s been very impactful in my life. And I’ve shared the story with my wife many, many times, and anyone that will listen, really so if we can go back to the fall of 1994. Can you do you remember what you were doing in the fall of 1994?

Mike MacDonald 02:29
Yes, my very first year, coaching Walton football. And we, I was blessed to, to join at the right time as we made our run for the state championship.

Justin Alger 02:41
This is this is very true. I mean, and I most remember you for from the football team. And you had helped us coaching special teams, right. And of course, as we talked in the pre-show here, I was the star kicker for the team.

Mike MacDonald 02:57
Yes, you were.

Justin Alger 02:58
And towards the end of the season, we are playing Windsor, a wonderful school east of Binghamton, New York. And Windsor, of course had this kickoff return play, where if you kick the ball high and far, they’d all run back to the ball form a huddle, where they would be pretending to hand the ball back and forth to each other, while one of the fast guys gets the ball runs up the sideline for a touchdown. While everyone was utterly confused, and watching the huddle, right. And so as deter said huddle, my job was to kick the ball high and short, but to the sidelines. And this way, our fast guys are super-fast and tough players were able to run under it, and hopefully get the ball. And so, it seemed like I remember the whole week, the whole week of practice. All we did was practice this kick. You know, and I just remember the care and concern that you had, for me as a scared teenager who grew up watching classic Walton Windsor football games. And winning this game meant earning a spot as you said in the New York State playoffs, where this is the first year that Walton would enter the playoffs and so that Saturday came and I knew that if I screwed this kick up, I was going to get flattened on the field. I remember I set the ball up, the whistle blew, and I kicked just as planned and our super-fast and tough guys got under the ball and we got the ball, went down and scored a touchdown on the opening drive and eventually won the game and the state title that year the first year that you were that you’re a part of the team which is amazing, and the point that I wanted to make is that if you are providing the care and concern for my alma mater, as you did for me when you first started I think the school district is in the best of hands and I’m so appreciative of you taking care of my alma mater I mean so much to me so thank you so much for doing that.

Mike MacDonald 04:52
That’s exactly why I came back here was the was the sustain and put back in place. I shouldn’t say put back I can place because the teachers and the staff here at Walton have never ever wavered on the importance of positive relationships with kids. And that’s one of the reasons that drew me back to Walter.

Justin Alger 05:10
He just means so much to me. And I know it means so much to the community. And I know that you’re probably not the guy that gets the thank you every single day. But please, no. And I’m confident that the folks in the district appreciate the work that you’re doing to keep their children safe and secure, and able to foster academic and personal success in that safe and secure environment. Anyway, let’s get let’s get on with the show. So, if you could, can you start by sharing your role and describe what capacity you support parents and students in getting college and career r...