The Brown and White

November 22, 2019

by Lexi Rushatz  

Activities Editor

On the heels of a new statemandated College and Career measures implementation, Catasauqua High School looked to roll out a new program within its curriculum to give students a stronger background in career readiness and how to be successful. This new focus has encouraged teachers to correlate their particular subjects with various careers that are available to students in the future. Some teachers have incorporated guest speakers in their curriculum. Spanish and TV production teacher Leslie Estrada welcomed Mike Celona, a former student of Catasauqua High School. Celona covered a variety of topics, including skills to make themselves more marketable, and shared stories about his career. He is an editor, producer, and comedian who works with A&E, MTV, ABC and Disney. In addition to welcoming guest speakers, co-advisors Jon Kiefer and Ashley Schmidt, have recently reestablished the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA). This club was designed to prepare students for real-world business. On November 2, members had the opportunity to travel to Kalahari Resort to sit in on workshop sessions including leadership, communication, dressing for success, interviewing, etc. In addition to the creation of the FBLA club, Schmidt has become the new Career Facilitator

at Catasauqua. This new position requires her to support K-12 career initiatives. One of her responsibilities includes planning advisory periods to meet new graduation requirements that align with the College and Career measures using Smart Futures. The state has decided to include College and Career measures as part of the school evaluation in addition to the Keystone exams. Schmidt is currently working to improve career readiness in various ways. She is revamping the teacher assistant program to qualify as a work-based learning activity and communicating with job shadow mentors to obtain clearances. In addition to this, she is collaborating with B. Braun Germany and a German school to develop an exchange program to increase global awareness, which is one of the employability skills CHS students are learning. Schmidt is also participating in the Competitive Integrated Employment Work-Based Learning grant team and is credited for hosting mock interviews for Career Skills students and provides guest speakers for that class. “I am so excited about my new position,” said Schmidt. “Many of the projects I am working on now are in their infancy as it takes time to develop new programs.” Schmidt is planning a Career Expo event for this spring and also attends local chamber events to network with local businesses and develop community support for the employability skills initiative. With the switch to block scheduling this school year, Schmidt is also a co-teacher of Business of Art with Barbara Resto. Resto describes Business of Art as being a class where “artistic innovation meets insanity.”