Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn High School students explore various stands across the gym floor showing different career paths within the community during the 2024 College and Career Day event.
HARTLEY—When a school district can’t take every student out to see the work of the community, it brings the community in.
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn High School in Hartley will host its second annual College and Career Day, this time with even greater interest than last year.
“It’s just a great day for real life stuff to come in and talk to our kids and just give them the what for, why not and how come,” said school counselor Kim Spier.
Representatives from 18 businesses along with 16 graduates attended last year’s inaugural College and Career Day. Spier said she had three businesses address her immediately after the event to ask to take part in the future.
From businesses, to farmers, to police officers, to military recruiters, community members filled the high school gym on the first day back to school after Christmas break last year. The projected date for this year’s College and Career Day will be Thursday, Jan. 2.
Alumni from Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn also returned last year. They ranged from students entering college to students entering the work force straight out of high school or after completing college.
Principal Blake Wendt said high school students’ feedback was “overwhelmingly positive.” In completing a Google Form reflecting on the experience. three-fourths of the students “said they found the activity to be worth their time,” according to Wendt, and 85 percent of students recommended the event should be held the following year.
“That was neat to see, because sometimes you come up with an idea, and you think it’s going to be great, and then it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, that bombed.’ But this one it seems like they really, really liked it,” Wendt said.
When asked to explain the best part of the College and Career Day, students submitted written responses such as “Socializing, getting to talk to new people about what they did to help them be successful,” and “Talking to the students that went to school and getting to hear their perspective on college.”
Career-specific feedback particularly pertained to how “easy to talk to” visitors were.
“They got to share about their experiences and share good insight,” one student wrote.
Another wrote, “The advice that was given and the realness and bluntness that was shown. They didn’t sugarcoat anything.”
Spier said being able to bring in people familiar to Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn also had a large impact.
“They know the people in the community, and they know the businesses, so it made it more like real life,” she said.
One addition to this year’s College and Career Day will include a special focus on Free Application for Federal Student Aid, better known as FAFSA.
“It opens up Dec. 1. So, we’re actually going to hopefully work with NCC and get some people over to have a booth or a table at least for kids to talk about FAFSA and how to do it,” Spier said. “We’ll have a question-and-answer for FAFSA this year, I think that that is a huge thing.”
The College and Career Day lasts several hours in the morning, including a small breakfast for students to snack on during their first day back.
Wendt said Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn teachers are continuing to find exciting ways to engage students and bring the real world in.
“That’s one thing that we’re doing really well at H-M-S with; our teachers do a really good job of thinking forward and how do we make sure that we’re educating kids not for what they needed to learn 20 years ago, but for what they need to know to be successful today?” he said. “That’s something that really sets H-M-S apart at all three levels. We’re not just content to rest on our laurels and say, ‘Yes, we do a really good job, and we educate students well based on what they needed in 2004,’ but really, we’re looking at what are they going to need to be successful in 2040. That’s our main goal.”