You Have a Sophomore: Thinking About the Road Ahead

So, you have a sophomore? In January (before you know it!), your sophomore will be scheduling classes for their junior year of high school. Your student is probably excited to have almost reached the top of the high school hill and are ready to slide down the other side.

Sophomore year is a time when they start thinking about the road ahead (and probably driving on it with their new driver’s licenses). Sophomores have the high school thing figured out. Parents encourage students to become more independent because that will help them in the years ahead.

Graduation, college and career are on the horizon. Thinking about this can cause some concern for families – usually because of a lack of information and insight. Now is a great time to consider Guided Self Assessment. This process can be so impactful…for all of your family. It can be a game changer!

Timing…

When a student completes the assessment in the second half of their sophomore year, there are several key benefits:

• The results can be used as the student schedules classes for junior year. Electives can be selected to support potential future careers. Interest in medicine? Be sure to take anatomy.
• The student can look for summer opportunities tied to their interests and aspirations. Amazing camps, workshops, etc. are available to support almost any interest…if you know to look for them.
• Your college search will begin in earnest next year. (Maybe visit a few this coming summer?) The information from Guided Self Assessment will help you narrow and evaluate schools based on the student’s input from the interviews.

What is Guided Self Assessment?

Your child will be paired with a skilled At The Core facilitator, who will lead five one-on-one interviews to discuss your student’s strongest personal traits, interests, preferences, values, etc. Students will complete minor homework between interviews. Our talks dig deep to get past the “surface” and provide clarity and confidence to help students define their path.

After the interviews are completed over a 2 to 3-week timeframe, we shift into analysis mode. Our facilitators collaborate to look for the “big ideas” the student shared, we deduce reasonable conclusions, we construct a set of next steps, and finally, we create a list of potential careers for the student to explore based on their input. We share all of this in a family meeting with the student and parents.

After the family meeting, the student and facilitator will have two additional sessions. The facilitator will provide instruction to the student about informational interviews. The student will conduct an informational interview with a family friend or neighbor. The facilitator and student will have a debrief afterwards to fine tune the process for the student and help them to understand how useful this skill is going forward as they dig into the list of possible careers developed during Guided Self Assessment.

We schedule students in advance for their interviews, and we do fill our schedules throughout the year. To learn more, take a moment to book your meeting with us…just 30-minutes, no-obligation, parents and student attend. Find a time that works for you by accessing our scheduling calendar here.

Our mission is to support families at this critical time in life! Guided Self Assessment will provide guidance and a base of support for your student who before you know it will be making lots of decisions.

 

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