A desire to prepare students for careers and to show them what it takes to succeed has taken off at Burrell High School, where more than 100 students took advantage of the opportunity this school year to learn more beyond the classroom.

Burrell High School teachers Darcy Holtzman and Ronald Zanella created a real-world opportunity for students, offering juniors and seniors tours of work sites, work experience on projects for companies, and post-secondary education trips.

"Darcy and I just started this program this year," Zanella said. "We focus mainly on their future readiness and career exploration. We try to get the students out of the classroom to see how the real world works and what it takes to reach each student's goal in life."

The Independent Study & Career Readiness idea really took off, with more than 120 students participating and more companies expressing interest in working with the students. 

"This year has been a whirlwind," Zanella said. "The program became much larger, with both students and companies, than anticipated."

The concept started with STEM students working on projects for the district and participating in competitions. They visited and learned about different companies and then worked on projects for companies. The students participated in projects at Bayer and Metplas, took trips to Brayman Construction and a flight school in Butler, learned about technical writing from engineers, and visited the Idea Challenge at Penn State New Kensington and Duquesne University’s Palumbo-Donahue School of Business.

The career readiness program is student-focused, meaning Holtzman and Zanella let them decide what they want to explore. The experiences have spanned many careers, from trade fields to white-collar pursuits, including healthcare jobs and a heavy equipment operators union. 

The students tour job sites, discuss future education requirements, and hear about typical work experiences. The program focuses on engineering and construction, health science and medical services, manufacturing, business and finance, and public administration.

 "We started small, not knowing how it would take off," Zanella said. "But after this year, we have taken over 120 different students to have different experiences. And some of those students have done more than one trip."

The goal is to expose students to career opportunities and help them make connections for possible future internships or apprenticeships while also helping them pursue college credits and professional certificates.

Zanella said there's no telling how this program will evolve, but it will likely look different as new students with different interests get involved. "We strongly feel that this will grow bigger with more companies and students every year."