Announcer (00:01):
Highlighting the amazing stories from inside the North Clackamas School District. This is the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, hosted by longtime principal and current community relations director, Curtis Long.

Movie Clip (00:14):
In 1930, the Republican controlled House of Representatives in an effort to alleviate the effects of the anyone. Anyone, the Great Depression past the anyone. Anyone.

Curtis Long (00:28):
Oh, pass the alarm clock and wake up for this very special edition of the Proud To Be NCSD podcast. And today's episode is geared toward anyone, oh, sorry, anyone.

Movie Clip (00:40):
Anyone

Curtis Long (00:41):
Who has sat in a classroom lecture like the one depicted in the 1986 classic movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Movie Clip (00:47):
How could I possibly be expected to handle school in a day like this?

Curtis Long (00:50):
Well, it is a very special day on the podcast because we're taking today's show on the road and we've hopped on a bus along with about 1400 North Clackamas high school juniors from Milwaukee, Rex Putnam Clackamas, and Adrienne C. Nelson High Schools, along with NCSD students from the Clackamas Web Academy, Clackamas Middle College, and our virtual online program, our destination, we're at the Oregon Convention Center in downtown Portland, home of the one day annual Northwest Youth Careers Expo sponsored by the Portland Workforce Alliance. Today's field trip for all of our district's, high school juniors, along with many other surrounding school districts, is to show students the amazing diversity of career opportunities in our region and offers information about the skills and education needed for those jobs. So what will our 1400 North Clackamas students be doing here today?

Movie Clip (01:39):
The question isn't, what are we going to do? The question is, what aren't we going to do?

Curtis Long (01:43):
As you'll hear throughout today's unique podcast, we'll follow kids around as they visit more than 200 booths organized by job categories like arts and communication, technology, engineering, healthcare construction and design, manufacturing and much more. We'll also listen in on mock interviews taking place in a separate wing where kids can practice how to make themselves stand out to employers.

Interviewer (02:04):
If you were to think about your career in 20 years, what are you doing?

Student Attendee (02:08):
Maybe working in like a startup business or maybe being an architect. 'cause that was another one of the kind of careers I was interested in. Like last year I did an architectural class for my school, so

Interviewer (02:21):
Well, if you would have any interest, we would love to host you for a tour around our office. 'cause I work in architecture and kind of show you what we do

Curtis Long (02:28):
At each booth on the main floor, students can talk directly with professionals from different companies and colleges about career training options.

Booth Representative (02:36):
If my trade's not for you, check out any of these union trades down here, man. So you guys want to try out the virtual machines at all? No. Yeah, jump in there.

Curtis Long (02:47):
Okay. Before we cruise around the convention center floor to hear the inside perspectives of North Clackamas students, you may be wondering how did these NCSD students prepare for today's expo? How are some of them here with print ready professional resumes and many have lists of questions already prepared to ask college representatives or potential employers. For those answers and more, let's turn to Kim Amador and Brittanie Strutz, two teachers on special assignment coordinating the district's high school students success and college and career program. How excited are you about having this many North Clackamas students here in the convention center participating in the Youth Careers expo?

Kim Amador (03:21):
Oh my gosh, it's so exciting to have over 1500 North Clackamas 11th graders here to talk with different potential career exhibitors and trades and to experience hands-on activities. It's very exciting.

Curtis Long (03:37):
Brittanie, how about for you?

Brittanie Strutz (03:38):
So excited. It's fun to recognize kids from some of the other events we've done and get to see them talking to adults and other students and looking at colleges and different career options and it's super fun.

Curtis Long (03:50):
Now how difficult was this? You said 1500 kids from our school district, they're all coming to one place. I know they're kind of on a staggered schedule right now. How difficult of an endeavor was this to organize all of this?

Kim Amador (04:01):
Well it's definitely a logistical puzzle. Yeah. And we've worked with a lot of different people, administrators and teachers from all of the different high schools across the district. Transportation has been extraordinarily supportive. Terry Davidson is just, yeah, she's just been wonderful helping to coordinate all the bus drivers and the buses and work with the scheduling. So it's been, you know, a logistical undertaking. But everybody, it's a team effort and we've all been working really well together.

Curtis Long (04:33):
So this is something that is not new for our kids. They, they know college and career, they actually have it twice now. You were saying in high school, freshman year and junior year, I see a lot of our kids coming prepared. They've got notes to take, they're looking for certain booths. What can you say about the college and career program that we have developed in North Clackamas that gets kids prepared for a day like today?

Kim Amador (04:53):
Yeah, so we have the, like you mentioned, the college and career readiness class at ninth grade and 11th grade. And this is where they get to explore different career pathways that align with their, their skills, their interests, their curiosities, really trying to like help them identify and do some self-discovery for who they are and so that they can find pathways that are gonna be like light them up and help them to live the life that they wanna live and and pursue those dreams. So they do a lot of career and college exploration, which includes different pathways in the trades and different industries. And they also do some mock job interviews with Portland Workforce Alliance. So that really helps them to prepare for future job interviews as well as college and university, um, admissions interviews, scholarship interviews. And there's also different career days that students get to experience through Portland Workforce Alliance. So with Nike, Oregon Humane Society, Wyden and Kennedy, you name it, there's so many different opportunities that help prepare students for this event.

Curtis Long (06:00):
So it sounds like the goal is for our kids in North Clackamas is to really have a pretty good idea of what's available to them, whether it's college or a trade or anything after graduation.

Kim Amador (06:10):
Yes, absolutely. There's so many different pathways and we're just really trying to, you know, help connect them with what their curiosity and interest and passion is and provide different doors of opportunity and um, connect them so they can network and just find out even more about what's available than just the traditional pathways.

Curtis Long (06:31):
Alright, Brittanie, we're hearing a bunch of kids coming down the stairs. More kids are coming in. Give us a rundown of what our North Clackamas kids are doing once they get here.

Brittanie Strutz (06:38):
Well, once they get here we have a lot of volunteers from North Clackamas wearing t-shirts so they can recognize us, which is very helpful. That's new this year. The t on it's new on, yeah. Yeah, you'll have to look for a picture, but once they get here, they get a little guide of all the different exhibits on different options. They get to walk around and it's kind of organized by industries and trades and colleges and I mean, we have a firetruck in there. There's lots of stuff for them to, to do hands-on if they wanna like experience stuff, which is cool.

Curtis Long (07:04):
What have you seen as the biggest rewards of providing students with college and career classes?

Kim Amador (07:08):
Oh gosh. I think it's just helping connect the dots. It's like what Andrew Cola said today. He said, building tomorrow today. So it's really about planting seeds of curiosity, interest and helping kids to get that spark. Thinking about my future actually is available to me and everything that I do to is going to prepare me for that future. And there's so many possibilities, so much support from teachers, from district, from the admin and everybody to help try and cave that way. So I think just helping, seeing that those connections is one of the most rewarding.

Curtis Long (07:46):
And for both of you, what do you think it means for our district and by our district that it's a lot of it has dropped on the two of you to pay such close attention and to put such an emphasis on career readiness for our students. I mean, these kids are juniors, they still have another year of high school, but we're really starting to put that in their minds now on with days like today.

Kim Amador (08:04):
I think it's about, you know, maybe the future seems very far away, but it's always upon us. And so just really like tapping into what is it that I want my life to look like in the next few years? You know, how do I envision myself? It's just really helping students no matter what their background is, whatever their circumstance is to help remove any of those barriers, really to provide opportunities that allow them to achieve their dreams and, and move towards that.

Curtis Long (08:37):
Did either of you have something like this or do you wish you had something like this when you were in, in high school?

Brittanie Strutz (08:42):
I did not. And I wish, especially some of those practical skills, like the mock job interviews, the resume building, I wish I would've had that because I was the kid who would be mortified to have an interview or talk to, to somebody in a, a situation like that. So kids ask us the greatest questions when we're interviewing them and they wanna know, okay, when I apply for this job, what should I say? And I just, I love like the practical real life applications that kids really get into and

Curtis Long (09:08):
We will hear one of those mock interviews a little bit later on in the podcast. It's pretty fun to listen in on those. The kids do pretty good job of uh, handling themselves and they get that kind of training in their college and career readiness courses, right?

Kim Amador (09:20):
Yes. So the mock job interviews are hands down one of the most important experiences for students. They come out of them just feeling more confident. There's caring adults that are helping to like guide them through those questions to help them kind of ground into their life experience and be able to talk about that and how that's going to translate into future interviews. It's really a rewarding experience, not just for the students but also for the adults that get to talk with students and hear what their perspective is and what's going on in their lives. It's very inspiring.

Brittanie Strutz (09:55):
I do also wanna give a shout out to our awesome college and career teachers too. And they like do a lot to prepare students and our coordinators at all the schools. And we have a really good team that we get to work with. So we're lucky.

Curtis Long (10:05):
And that's at every high school, no matter which high school you go to, you get college and career readiness in ninth and 11th grade. Absolutely. That's pretty amazing. It such an amazing day today with all these kids coming in and out. I gotta imagine for you it was a lot of planning that went into it. Is there a sigh of relief when the day comes to an end today?

Kim Amador (10:22):
Yes. I think I'm gonna sleep for about 12 hours tonight. .

Brittanie Strutz (10:25):
We just wanna make sure everybody gets home safely. Yeah. And then we can like breathe a sigh of relief. So . Yes. Yes.

Curtis Long (10:31):
And we're grateful you've decided to hop on the bus and come along on our first ever Proud To Be NCSD podcast field trip here at the Portland Workforce Alliance's Northwest Youth Careers Expo. You've already heard why NCSD high school juniors are excited to be taking role at the Oregon Convention Center instead of back in class. Bueller. Bueller. But this isn't a day off Bueller still ahead. We'll listen in on students' mock job interviews. How well can they sell themselves? And did one NCSD student really land a part-time job right on the spot?

Curtis Long (11:04):
So you got a job for like immediately or this summer or when I got a

Student (11:08):
Job for like now I think they're gonna email me and I'm gonna shadow someone for a little bit.

Curtis Long (11:12):
No need to apply for the second half of this. Proud To Be NCSD podcast. It's up next right after this.

Commercial Announcer (11:18):
Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? The North Clackamas School district is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or substitute teacher. Apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire before and after school caretakers, custodians, and bus drivers in North Clackamas. We promise it won't take you long to learn why our employees say they're proud to be in NCSD. Apply today on the North Clackamas School district website or call 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000. That's 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000.

Curtis Long (12:13):
Now as we mentioned earlier, students attending today's expo have the opportunity to participate in mock job interviews and this NCSD student was courageous enough to let us listen in on his.

Interviewer (12:23):
So tell me about a big challenge you face and then how did you overcome that?

Student (12:27):
Uh, I'm gonna say like one of the biggest challenges I've had growing up is probably having like a DHD mm-Hmm . And it's pretty hard in elementary school and middle school trying to like focus in classes without like, without being like mature about it. So trying to like talk to people, be able to stay on task, be able to get my work done. That was pretty and to solve that I kind of like talked to people about it. Like my teacher, she had a HD so she kind of helped me and like talk to me like things I could do to get over that and like work around it.

Curtis Long (12:54):
So what'd you think of it?

Student (12:55):
Uh, a little nervous, but it's pretty fun. I mean trying to like practice, you know, learning about like what I might have to like talk about in this summer to find a job.

Curtis Long (13:04):
So you feel more confident now that you've gone through this

Student (13:07):
A little bit.

Curtis Long (13:08):
Throughout today's Northwest Career Expo students could also attend short career talks such as this one called How to Ace Your Job Interview,

Career Talk Speaker (13:15):
Make sure that you're yourself when you go into the interview because you don't want to interview one way and then show up for work and you're a totally different person that they don't know. Like, wait, this is this the person we hired? You wanna make sure that if you are happy and outgoing and talkative that you demonstrate that in your interview so that they know when they hire you that you're gonna come in. Especially if it's a customer service job or something like that where you have to talk to people that you're gonna transfer that over. Where if you're really quiet in the interview and then you come in and you're talkative or you're not, then you come in quiet and they think you're gonna be quiet when you get there and then you're really talkative. They're like, wait, this isn't the person that we brought in. So I say it's always very important to be yourself.

Curtis Long (14:00):
That's where Vincent of Milwaukie Academy of the Arts spent some of his time today.

Vincent (MAA) (14:05):
I actually ended up landing a job at Trackers. So that's fun.

Curtis Long (14:09):
So you got a job for like immediately or this summer or ?

Vincent (MAA) (14:12):
I got a job for like now I think they're gonna email me and I'm gonna shadow someone for a little bit and get paid time.

Curtis Long (14:17):
Congratulations on that. Thank you. Great day for you. Mm-Hmm. Big congratulations to Vincent. As this special day starts to reach its final hour, we thought we better take advice from Ferris Bueller himself.

Movie Clip (14:27):
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.

Curtis Long (14:32):
So we don't miss anything. Let's shuffle around the convention center floor and get the thoughts of NCSD students from all different schools and programs in attendance.

Student 1 (14:40):
I thought this was really fun today and stuff. There were so many different careers and a lot of fun activity that I did not expect myself to be interested in.

Curtis Long (14:48):
What was the highlight of the day for you?

Student 1 (14:49):
It's really tough. There's so, so many good things about today. It's really hard to just pick one.

Student 2 (14:54):
It was a lot of fun. Um, I honestly wish we had more time because like there was just so much to do and I agree with that. Yeah, I, I just wish we had more time to do everything.

Curtis Long (15:06):
And what was the highlight of the day for you?

Student 2 (15:07):
Also really hard for me to answer that 'cause there was so much fun stuff. There was like a cement mixer truck though that you got to go into the front seat of and I was weirdly excited about that. I didn't expect myself to be so excited about that. You

Curtis Long (15:19):
Think maybe you have a career in the cement mixing field?

Student 2 (15:22):
Probably not. But it was fun.

Student 3 (15:24):
I had a lot of fun visiting everyone and I talked to a bunch of people and they all had a bunch of cool trinkets. I had so much fun just walking around and talking to people and seeing people I know, like talking about different things. It was super fun and I really enjoyed it.

Curtis Long (15:36):
What was the highlight of the day for you?

Student 3 (15:38):
Uh, I found, uh, a standup for an accounting firm and it accounting something I'm interested in so I was really happy to find something I was interested in. Oh,

Curtis Long (15:47):
That's awesome. So you have future in accounting for you maybe?

Speaker 15 (15:49):

Student 4 (15:49):
Yeah, I thought it was really interesting, really fun to look at all the careers and stuff that's in Oregon and just like ride in the area that I could do.

Curtis Long (15:55):
What was the highlight of the day for you?

Student 4 (15:57):
Probably holding a rocket launcher at the military section.

Curtis Long (15:59):
Oh, I saw some kids holding the rocket launcher. You got to hold the rocket launcher.

Student 4 (16:02):
Yeah, that was really fun.

Curtis Long (16:04):
They didn't let you launch anything, did they?

Student 4 (16:05):
No

Student 5 (16:06):
I thought it was really cool. I was really excited to see some new like healthcare related fields. I kind of already knew what I wanted to do, but it was really awesome seeing some more diverse careers that I could go into, like more paths.

Curtis Long (16:18):
And what, what was the highlight of the day for you?

Student 5 (16:20):
Um, I really liked hanging out with my friend Kylie and getting a little merch and little trinkets, you know, to walk around with.

Curtis Long (16:26):
What's the best merch that you got today?

Student 5 (16:28):
Um, there's a squishy ball and you can like pop the little bubbles in it. It's really fun. .

Curtis Long (16:33):
So you'll be doing that all the way back to school on the bus?

Student 5 (16:35):
Of course.

Student 6 (16:36):
I thought it was pretty fun. You know, it was really fun. There was a lot of activities for us to do. I won quite a few things and it was really enjoyable throughout. I was able to explore different careers that I was interested in.

Curtis Long (16:45):
What was the highlight of the day for you?

Student 6 (16:48):
Ooh, probably winning this hoodie right here. You know?

Curtis Long (16:50):
You want a hoodie? Yep. What's the hoodie for?

Student 6 (16:52):
Uh, fine. It's a like graphics design company.

Curtis Long (16:55):
Wow, that's cool. You gotta wear that tomorrow. Yeah, maybe later today, maybe.

Student 6 (16:59):
Who knows?

Student 7 (16:59):
I think, you know, it was a good experience, you know, for all schools coming today, so I enjoyed it, you know, got a lot of good things to give out and overall I think it was a pretty good day, you know, got to learn a bunch of new things from different, you know, colleges, you know, like apprenticeships and all that. So overall I liked it.

Curtis Long (17:15):
What was the highlight of the day for you?

Student 7 (17:17):
Maybe getting into the US military vehicle that was in all the way in the back. Uh, that and holding the, the dummy, uh, RPG.

Curtis Long (17:26):
Oh, I heard about that. So you had to hold the rocket launcher too? Yeah,

Student 7 (17:30):
I took a picture and everything, you know. Awesome. Gotta upload that to social media.

Student 8 (17:33):
I mean like I opens like new opportunities for me. Like I'm able to see like what path I want to take after graduating.

Curtis Long (17:39):
And did you learn anything new about what kind of path you might want to take?

Student 8 (17:42):
Maybe like in a technology department?

Curtis Long (17:45):
Was the highlight of the day for you?

Student 8 (17:46):
Basically learning more about some of the internships around here.

Curtis Long (17:51):
Do you think you might apply for an internship?

Student 8 (17:53):
Yeah, maybe.

Curtis Long (17:53):
Well that about wraps things up from the Northwest Youth Careers Expo at the Oregon Convention Center. And as you could hear from our NCSD students in attendance, some key words continue to pop up, opportunities, careers, and fun. And here's a fun fact for North Clackamas parents. Did you know that college and career readiness classes in our school district aren't limited to just high school students? In fact, there are similar grade level appropriate lessons taught in your students' middle and elementary schools. So the next time you ask your kids what they learned in school, don't be faked out...

Movie Clip (18:23):
The key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands. It's a good non-specific symptom. I'm a big believer in it. A lot of people will tell you that a good phony fever is a deadlock, but uh, you get a nervous mother, you could wind up in a doctor's office that's worse than school.

Curtis Long (18:38):
Thanks Ferris. And thanks to all of you for listening today to our first try at a podcast on the road as we board the bus once again and head back to school. Just wanna let all of you know how much we appreciate you for subscribing and tuning in every time we drop off a new episode. Look for another edition next week when we return to the studio.

Movie Clip (18:56):
You're still here. It's over. Go home.

Curtis Long (18:58):
We'll talk to you then. Thanks for listening to the Proud To Be NCSD podcast. In North Clackamas. We know that education is a community effort and we're so thankful that you and your family are a part of our community. Until next time, remember, there are always great things to see wherever you go in NCSD.

Speaker 4 (19:22):
Go.