So, are you prepared?
Gaining independence, moving on and finding a career – that’s what you can expect once you leave high school.
The trick is to jumpstart your future and plan for life after high school before graduation. But how can you do that? Well, you’ve taken the first step by visiting this website.
Welcome to Career Pathways.
A pathway is a method of searching for a career that fits your interests and lifestyle and
then allows you to build academic courses around it. The pathway recommends
individual high school courses – both academic and career-related – to concentrate
on which are specifically geared toward the career you’ve chosen. All of
this planning starts as early as high school and continues as you enroll in a college or
university and decide on degree programs and classes needed to help you prepare for your
career.
This website is a guide to assist students, parents, counselors, teachers, educators and others with resources around a particular career path. The pathways were designed by high school teachers and college professors whose expertise lies in that particular field. Each pathway is chock full of information to educate students about:
- Specific careers, including occupation descriptions, outlook and salaries
- Recommended high school courses
- Post-high school options such as certificate and degree programs at institutions throughout Oregon
- Dual credit opportunities of earning credit for high school and college-level courses at the same time
- Entrance requirements for local colleges
- Student organizations to join while still in high school
- Professional organizations to help in your research
- Suggestions of different learning experiences that give students opportunities to view a particular occupation beyond a textbook or classroom project (i.e. job shadowing and internships)
- Qualities desirable in future employees
Congratulations on taking the first step. Come on in. The world truly is yours. Now explore.
Choose your path from one of six focus areas:
Applied Arts and Communications Focus Area
Walk down this path if you love the arts -- whether it’s performing or visual and the venue is a stage or a museum. Also check out these pathways if you enjoy designing web sites or want to develop new computer games, if you want to write for a newspaper or magazine or if you hope to find work as a television broadcaster.
Business & Management Focus Area
Walk down this path if you are someone who likes to market new products, manage budgets and sell real estate. Would you like to own your own business someday? Or perhaps your ideal work conditions are toiling away under sunny skies near beautiful beaches. Check out careers as a chef, travel agent or convention planner working at exotic resorts.
Health Services Focus Area
Walk down this path if you want to save people’s lives. With an aging population, more people are living longer than decades ago but they also are fighting diseases and illnesses. Careers in these pathways deal with keeping people healthy and using technology to diagnose and treat health problems.
Human Services Focus Area
If you want to give back to your community walk down this path. The careers span the spectrum – from educating children to protecting neighborhoods to responding to accidents to serving the public as an elected official. The careers in these pathways are varied but are rooted in a general principle: to help others in need.
Industrial & Engineering Systems Focus Area
Walk down this career if you never stop wondering how things work. If you’re a detail-oriented person who loves to use technical and mechanical skills then consider these pathways. The careers range from a carpenter and electrical engineer to a machinist and automotive service technician.
Natural Resource Systems Focus Area
If you want to save the planet from global warming or toxic waste then walk down this path. If you would like to develop new food products and market them globally or are fascinated with animals and their well-being then this could be the pathway for you? If you want to safeguard the environment for generations to come then consider careers in farming, landscape technology, forest conservation, environmental science and zoology and wildlife. Check out the Agriculture & Environmental Services Pathway.
