On Thursday, March 20. 2019, hundreds of MPS students from 16 schools stepped off yellow school buses and took note of the flags of 20 countries from around the world as they crossed the plaza to ManpowerGroup World Headquarters for MPS Dream Big Career Day. School counselors organized the event to inspire students to explore careers and visualize themselves in the careers of their dreams.
Early planning is essential to successful career planning. In MPS, career exploration begins in middle school and often as early as first grade. Exploration at a young age helps students focus on appealing careers and visualize pathways to education or training needed for their career choice.
Prior to the Dream Big Career Fair, students completed surveys and identified three career fields that most interested them. At the fair, they had time to investigate their choices along with other attractive career clusters. Business and community partners described job roles, answered questions about education and training, and gave insight into preparation needed prior to high school graduation.
Students departed the fair with new insights into job categories, a better understanding of their career pathway options, and assistance with goal setting to stay on track toward their dreams.
MPS is grateful to Manpower Group, Junior Achievement, Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC), and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee for supporting our students.