MANSFIELD, Ohio — Madison Local Schools has a history of helping students identify and foster career interests.
And recently, the school district has been able to expand on those efforts thanks to legislation that was approved in June.
“As a result of that legislation, Madison, along with Pioneer [Career and Technology Center], received monies to hire career coaches,” State Rep. Mark Romanchuk said.
Romanchuk was in town Thursday to hear from administrators and teachers about how the district has fared since the legislation passed.
“It’s one thing to pass legislation in Columbus and it’s another to go out see the actual implementation,” he said.
Jonathan Muro, seventh and eighth grade principal, said the district has hired three career coaches — a district coordinator coach, a coach for 6th to 8th graders and a coach for 9th to 12th graders.
The coaches work with students to explore career options. They’re also encouraged to look at different opportunities they could take advantage of at school to gain critical education and training geared toward a potential career.
Madison offers a variety of courses beyond the standard subjects. Career-Technical Education Director Jim Riggle listed a few at the high school, including construction technologies, manufacturing technologies, business and web design programming.
There’s also a college and career readiness course offered to sophomores.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) teacher Heidi Ankrum and Transitions and Careers teacher Loretta Shaffner discussed some of the classes open to students in the middle school.
In Shaffner’s class, she stresses “career ladders,” and the idea of working one’s way up in a job through education and additional training.
Ankrum’s class introduces students to various subjects, including coding, “which is one of the biggest growing careers right now in the economy,” Muro noted.
The hands-on lessons allow students to apply the concepts they’ve learned. Ankrum said she follows up with the students to help them identify their interests and see what they’re excited about in terms of a future career.
Bob Zettler, workforce development consultant for Richland County and Job and Family Services, praised Madison Schools.
“They’ve done a nice job of taking students at a young age and giving them opportunities to identify where their career pathways might best be.”
