Career & Post Secondary Planning

SD Educational Opportunities

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Fall (September - November)

• Get Involved! One of the best ways to make the most of your high school experience is to get involved. It's an opportunity for personal development, making an impact, building your skills, experiencing new things, and strengthening relationships! Check out the club list on the home page or create a club. ​

Club Application

• Testing Option for sophomores: PSAT (October). The PSAT is the practice test for the SAT. It is also the qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship for Junior students. Highly motivated Sophomores may also choose to test for practice but do not qualify for the scholarship competition. 

• Career Day Activities - Post Secondary planning/college visit

• Explore your career options in more detail - Counselors visit English II classrooms for career development. Students will assess their interests, skills, learning style, and personality style. Students will view careers matching their assessment results. 

10th Career Development Lesson

Career Cluster Interest Inventory

10th Grade Pretest

10th Grade Posttest

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Winter (December - February)

• Stay involved in extracurricular activities and work on developing leadership roles

• Career Experiences ​​
  • Career Camps: sdmylife.com/career-exploration/career-camps​
  • CTE Coursework: https://sites.google.com/k12.sd.us/hs-courseguide/hs-courses/cte​
  • Department of Labor & Regulation Career Launch SD program
    • The Career Launch program no longer offers job shadow experiences. Instead they are focusing on Apprenticeship. If you are interested in an Apprenticeship, check out their program: https://careerlaunchsd.com/career-exploration-tools/registered-apprenticeships/ 
  • Hospital Programs - Job Shadow & Career Development Experiences
    • Sanford Health - https://www.sanfordhealth.org/about/academic-affairs/career-exploration
    • Avera - https://www.avera.org/careers/job-shadow-program/
  • Job shadow - Students can set up their own job shadow experience.  

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Spring (March- May)

• Study hard and keep your grades up

• Review the following sites for information on planning for post-secondary education:
  • ​Mapping your Future: helping students and families learn to plan, pay, and succeed in college. https://southdakota.mappingyourfuture.org/
  • Dakota Dreams: provide prospective students and parents with information that can be used to make informed decisions about post-secondary options. https://ourdakotadreams.com/​

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Summer

• Spend time preparing for the ACT - utilize the SDmyLife.com Method Test Prep program (check out the testing page for more information)

• Students interested in playing sports in college:
  • NCAA Eligibility Center http://eligibilitycenter.org
  • NAIA www.playnaia.org 
  • Utilize the college academic eligibility tool to track coursework at www.corecourseGPA.com