When looking into the lesser known area of our school, the College and Career Readiness department, there is a whole world of programs in the making to prepare students for their futures, according to Career and College Readiness coordinator Kara Muller.

Muller said the school’s advisory program and how they approach the planning at early stages of highschool. According to Muller, the four year program is designed to provoke thought within students at early stages and not force the future upon them.

“There is a law, in the state of Minnesota, that no later than ninth grade students have to have a personal learning plan, so our advisory work is intentional,” Muller said. “What is even more important is just letting (the students) figure it out. We just want time for you guys to do things that maybe won’t connect with you at that moment, but down the road something might click.”

Along with many other programs Muller said UCL’s training grant opportunity is partnering with the school to train students in creating a resume and preparing for internships with various business areas around the metro area.

“They will be taking our students that want to go to UCL’s training grant opportunity, work in those internships, go through training, build their resumes,” Muller said. “There are (information technology) companies, there’s manufacturing companies, there’s printing companies, there’s the city of St. Louis Park,” Muller said.

According to Muller, the department helps with the students’ future plans, it also changes lives. Muller said she enjoyed watching a student who began very shy class, but ended the year as a full-force confident leader.

“By the end of the semester she presented in front of our advisory board, and in front of our school board with a level of confidence and she was able to say, ‘I never thought I was a leader, I am a leader,’” Muller said.

Muller said the department’s and various programs end goal is to have every student leave high school with a plan. She said as there are many different students, there will be many different pathways towards the future.

“Our whole point here is that we want all students with a plan after high school, and not everybody does the same plan. Not everybody goes to a four year college, and gets that one degree and then are in a career. There are so many different pathways to successful careers so we want our students to know about those pathways,” Muller said.