Career exploration for every student, at every age

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In the Boulder Valley School District, preparing students for the future means more than college and career preparedness at the end of high school—it means starting career exploration early, building curiosity, and connecting classroom learning to the world that awaits our students.

Last year, BVSD piloted ‘Dare to Dream’ career weeks at two elementary schools—connecting students with varying professionals from across the community.

“You have to start career exploration at a young age, because that’s when kids’ brains are like sponges—they soak everything up,” explained Jody Bennett, BVSD’s Work Based Learning Coordinator. “It’s the perfect time to help them start thinking about how their strengths and interests connect to what’s possible for their future.”

This year, the Dare to Dream Career Week expanded to 11 elementary schools and Discover Your Dream Career Day was hosted at multiple middle schools, offering students inspiring, hands-on experiences with real-world careers. In addition to these, many other schools across the district are organizing their own career-focused events—such as guest speaker visits and career exploration days—reflecting a growing commitment to helping students envision their futures.

Throughout the Dare to Dream and Discover Your Dream Career Events, students in all grades participate in career-connected learning activities that include some aspect of interaction with career speakers. Parents and local community members volunteer their time to talk to students about their careers and their journey to getting there. This year students heard from over 200 guest speakers throughout the district including careers such as: aerospace engineer, video game developer, journalists, executives, janitors, construction teams, and even our own BVSD superintendent—sparking curiosity and exposing them to a world of possibilities.

Students at Flatirons Elementary had the unique opportunity to hear from Chief Meteorologist Dave Aguilera from CBS Colorado. He shared his journey in weather forecasting, answered questions, and provided the students with a hands-on weather lesson.

During the ‘Dare to Dream’ career weeks students are often encouraged to "Dress for their Dream" of their dream career, another way to visualize real-world futures for themselves.

“Dare to Dream is our elementary-level work-based learning curriculum aligned with the BVSD GRAD+ framework,” said Bennett. “Discover Your Dream continues that journey in middle school.”

Through guest speaker sessions, interactive presentations, and classroom discussions, students begin making meaningful connections between what they’re learning and the world beyond school walls.

“Career exploration is about helping students understand themselves and the endless possibilities ahead,” said Bennett.

This spring, 5th grade students from Flatiron's Elementary and Louisville Elementary also had the opportunity to visit Boulder TEC, where they got hands-on experiences in the different Career and Technical Education (CTE) Programs available such as automotive service repair, biomedical science, culinary arts, construction technology and hairstyling.

Pathfinder at BVSD

To deepen and personalize this exploration, BVSD is also integrating Pathfinder, a K–12 career exploration and work-based learning management tool.

Pathfinder is designed to support students at every stage of their educational journey. It’s split into two age-appropriate experiences:

• Galaxy for PreK–5th grade introduces young students to career awareness in a fun, accessible way.
   
• Pathfinder (6th–12th grade) builds on that foundation with personalized assessments and tools to help students explore careers, set goals, and plan their academic paths.

Here’s how each version works:
“Pathfinder Galaxy is designed for PreK through 5th grade and gives students a fun, gamified way to explore careers,” explained Bennett. “Through space-themed games and videos based on the RIASEC (Holland Code) career interest model, students begin to understand how their interests and strengths can align with different types of careers.”

“Starting in sixth grade, students access Pathfinder to begin exploring careers through personalized assessments,” continued Bennett. “Their results connect them to career clusters, job options, and related programs offered at BVSD as well as post-secondary paths. From there, they can watch videos, explore salaries and education requirements, and more. It’s a powerful digital portfolio that grows with them and helps guide their academic and career planning over time.”

An exciting feature of Pathfinder is Connect2Business, a platform where local businesses can create profiles and offer work-based learning opportunities that students can explore based on their personal assessment results.

“As student awareness of the platform grows, these connections will provide even more relevant and personalized opportunities for our high schoolers,” said Bennett.

Parent and community participation

To successfully connect students to real-world, work-based learning opportunities, community involvement is essential.

Parent and community professionals, along with local organizations are needed to provide and collaborate on career-connected learning opportunities for students. If you have a business or trade to showcase or are willing to participate in our work-based learning vision, visit our BVSD work-based learning site to learn more about how to get involved.

With programs like Dare to Dream and Discover Your Dream expanding each year, and with tools like Pathfinder, BVSD is working to redefine what it means to be future-ready. Learn more about how BVSD is preparing students for their futures on the BVSD Grad Plus webpage.