As part of its commitment to ensure students have a well-rounded educational experience that makes them more college, career, and life ready, the Oxford School District continues to look for innovative ways to expose students to the myriad career paths after high school and align career development conversations across the district.
Dr. Duncan Gray, the OSD Director of Community and Workforce Development, said the district has established itself as a leader in the state when it comes to career preparedness. Its robust Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, enhanced work-based learning and career internships, collection of data on students’ postgraduation plans, and coordinated career development efforts across multiple schools have all contributed to a strong system of support.
“I tell people all the time that the growth in the OSD career development space has been remarkable. Looking back to 2020, we had just begun to develop our own CTE center, and we had 5-6 programs. Fast forward to this year, and we have 15 programs at OHS, 5 at OMS, a thriving senior internship program, a nursing partnership with Baptist Hospital, a weekly career development speaker, and plans to continue expanding opportunities for students across the district.”
Gray said that at the beginning of this school year, 53% of all 7-12 grade students had requested to take a CTE course at some point during the school year. He said it’s a testament to the relevance of the CTE classes in today’s world and the quality of the CTE teachers.
One of the new programs for the 25-26 school year is the Unmanned Aerial Systems (drone) class. Jivaro Jones, OSD’s Information Technology teacher, is the course instructor for the class and has been very pleased with everything during the first year of the course.
“It’s been a great opportunity to show how this technology is going to be used across a variety of career sectors. We already have Engineering, Law and Public Safety, Video Productions, and Horticulture CTE programs, so it’s easy for students to see how this technology intersects with the other programs. I think we’re going to begin to see students finish their 2-year programs and then take the UAS class.”
Another area of emphasis over the last couple of years was to have rising seniors indicate early on what their intended next steps were after school. This feedback from the students allowed staff to have more targeted conversations and create a stronger bridge for students as they graduated.
“The data from the beginning of the year surveys is extremely powerful. We see what seniors are thinking after graduation, what sort of education they may want to pursue, what sort of conversations they’ve had with their families leading into their senior year, and where they may need support. It really creates for more meaningful conversations about next steps after high school,” Gray said.
For those who are interested in learning more about the OSD career development efforts, please reach out to Gray (dmgray@oxfordsd.org). To learn more about the Oxford School District, visit oxfordsd.org or call (662) 234-3541.
