This is the second year that resources were offered. Last year, it was limited to kindergarten, second grade and fourth grade.
Curriculum specialist Brett Doudican said the governor’s Career Connections Initiative grant, which the career center used to pay for these services, doubled from last year to this year, from $2.50 per student in the county, or about $50,000 in total, to about $5 per student, or about $100,000.
Doudican said the idea is to get students interested in the kinds of things they could do in specific careers.
“We’re going to tell them, hey, if you think that how things are made is really cool, there’s a job for that,” he said.
He said the grant will also be used to put on a STEM camp for incoming middle school students this summer. The camp is June 10 through 13 and registration is $50.
GCCC board president Adam Remaly said giving these resources to younger students sets them up for success.
“I’m excited to see these resources ignite a passion for learning and exploration in our students, setting them on a path to success in their future careers,” Remaly said.
The materials will be distributed as follows:
- Each kindergarten student in Greene County will receive a copy of “There’s a Hat for That!” by Kevin Fleming, about monkeys on a journey exploring different careers.
- First-grade classrooms will get a Bee-Bot, a tool for teaching coding, sequencing, problem-solving, and more. Accompanying the Bee-Bot is a pocketed mat for learning activities.
- Second graders will get an activity book created by students in GCCC’s Digital Design and Development program. These activities can be done independently or as a class.
- Third-grade classrooms will get “The Big Book of Jobs,” an illustrated career guide, for the classroom library.
- Fourth-grade students will read “The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs” and build structures to test them against weather elements.
- Each fifth-grade student will receive “100 Things to Be When You Grow Up,” a book outlining careers based on hobbies and interests.
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