What if we stopped asking young people, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” What if we asked instead: “What are you curious about? What are you good at? What problems do you want to solve? What could your future look like if you had the opportunity to find out?” Those are questions worth asking as a new school year begins at Great Plains Technology Center. The beginning of a school year is exciting. Hallways are busy again. Classrooms and labs come to life. Students begin learning new skills and, for many, taking another step toward a future they can see more clearly. That is what makes CareerTech so exciting. We do not expect a 16-year-old to have every detail of a future mapped out. We give students opportunities to explore, experience, and discover what they are capable of. A pathway is rarely a straight line. It may lead from CareerTech to college, an apprenticeship, the military, directly into the workforce, or eventually to entrepreneurship.
Students may change direction along the way—and that is OK. Sometimes discovering what you do not want to do is just as valuable as discovering what you do want to do. The point is not that every student follows the same path, and every student deserves a path. Sometimes, that path is strengthened by a connection. Consider GPTC student Kanon Kelly. Kannon is a second-year CareerTech student pursuing his future in medicine through our biomedical science and medicine program. Recently, he was featured in a statewide Oklahoma CareerTech marketing video sharing his journey. As part of that journey, Kannon visited with a professor at Cameron University. That conversation helped him see how the skills and experiences he is gaining at GPTC connect to where he wants to go. CareerTech is not separate from his plans. It is part of the pathway helping him get there. One conversation. One connection. One person helping a student see how the pieces fit together. That is the power of a pathway. A great instructor can change the trajectory of a student’s life. An employer can open a door. A college professor can help a student see the next step. A community partner can provide an experience a student never knew was possible. Education should not exist in separate boxes. The skills students develop at a technology center can become the foundation for college, a career, or additional training. Stronger connections between CareerTech and higher education help students see more clearly the connections to where they want to go. But the pathway is about more than credits or credentials. It is about possibility. A student cannot choose a pathway they have never seen. Perhaps, then, the question isn’t whether today’s students know exactly what they want to do. The question is whether we have done enough to help them discover what is possible.
Have we exposed them to enough careers? Have we introduced them to enough people? Have we allowed them to experience enough things, or shown them what is possible right here in their own community? Those questions matter because opportunity is powerful—but students have to be able to see it. Southwest Oklahoma needs those students. Who will care for us when we are sick? Who will build the homes our children raise their families in? Who will keep our electrical systems running and our businesses secure? Who will repair the vehicles we depend on? Who will manufacture the products we use every day? Who will create the next business that employs 10 people— or 1,000? Who will solve the problems we haven’t even encountered yet? Look around. The people who will do those things are already here. They are our students. Our students are preparing for the future. They are part of our community right now. Their talents matter now. Their ideas matter now. Their potential matters now. That is why what happens inside our classrooms and labs matters. At Great Plains Technology Center, we want students to see themselves as nurses, welders, electricians, automotive technicians, cybersecurity specialists, educators, engineers and countless other professionals.
But more importantly, we want them to see themselves as problem-solvers, leaders, innovators and people who can make a difference. We often talk about preparing students for the future as though that future is somewhere far away. It isn’t. The future is being shaped right now—in our classrooms, in our labs, in conversations with instructors, through experiences with employers and in the moments when a student realizes, perhaps for the first time, “I can do this.” Sometimes, all a student needs is someone willing to help them take that first step—to provide an opportunity, offer encouragement, and help them see possibilities they may not have imagined for themselves. At Great Plains Technology Center, we are excited to welcome our students back and, even more, to see where their pathways take them. Because the future isn’t somewhere far away, it is being built today by the choices, skills, experiences, and confidence our students develop right here at home. What if that pathway starts here? ___ Joelle Jolly is superintendent of Great Plains Technology Center.