Objectives
1. Provide weekly professional development
Building futures with rural students through
professional networks
Project Background
Rural areas are facing poverty, job and market
loss, lower educational attainment, and
population decrease. This affects schools,
workforce development, and student futures.
The founder of Meet My Future, who is from a
rural area, watched her rural community, that
was once a top school system, struggle to find
markets, funding for schools, and slowly die from
outgoing populations. Growing up her peers did
not enter some careers because they did not
know it existed or they did not understand what
it took to accomplish that goal. Meet My Future
is designed to help students envision multiple
futures and fill the gap of missing knowledge
that is preventing them from reaching a new
future.
Mission
Meet My Future is a grassroots community
organization dedicated to improving educational
attainment, workforce development, and
opportunities for youth, adults, and families in
rural areas across North Carolina.
Overall Goals
1. Provide educational, professional, and
mentoring opportunities to youth and adults.
2. Create a network for rural communities to
collaborate on issues and to collaborate with
professionals in and out of their
communities.
3. Empower students and adults to solve the
problems in their communities through
professional and personal development.
activities to youth in participating in rural NC.
2. Increase rural student enrollment in
postsecondary education and training
programs.
3. Increase rural student understanding of
diverse careers and how to attain those
careers.
4. Provide mentorship, internship, and job
shadowing opportunities for rural students.
5. Provide an online space for rural
communities to collaborate and share
documents and materials for student
success.
6. Provide examples, documents, and materials
for students to aid students when completing
professional development activities.
7. Aid in the creation of a statewide
professional network so rural students have
easier access to diverse professionals.
School Engagement Program
All activities are based on the Framework for 21st
Century Learning which includes learning and
innovation skills such as critical thinking,
communication, collaboration, creativity; life and
career skills; use of key subjects and global skills;
and learning information, media, and technology
skills.
Hope for My Future (4th-5th grade students)
Weekly Professional visits (or video conferences)
Professionals discuss their careers, what a
typical day looks like, why they chose that
career, and any other information they
would like to share about careers.
Student Journals
Students will complete one journal for each
professional. They will give a brief summary
of the profession, what they like and dislike
about the career, and if they could see
themselves doing that career.
Field Trips
Students will visit companies and job sites
when possible.
Evaluation
Student journals will be evaluated for career
knowledge and understanding.
Teacher, parent, student, and professional
surveys will be collected to evaluate student
and program progress.
Building My Future (6th-8th grade students)
Professional visits
Professionals will visit to discuss their career
path and what they did to ensure they met
their career goals to tach about career
planning.
High School Club Visits
Clubs will visit to describe what the club
does, how it can benefit students, and which
career types may be a good fit.
Counselor visits
Counselors will visit to describe classes
offered at the high school and why students
would choose to take particular classes.
Community Organization Visits
Community organizations will come in to
speak about service, job, and internship
opportunities that students may participate
in.
Future Plan
Students must complete a plan for what
classes they want to take, what clubs they
want to join, what sports they want to
participate in, and what other activities they
would like to do in high school.
Students will send these to a professional to
review and provide feedback.
Evaluation
Future plans will be evaluated by
professionals and the teacher.
Teacher, parent, student, and professional
surveys will be collected to evaluate student
and program progress.
Exploring My Future (9th-12th grade students)
Afterschool Program
Students can use the time after school to get
help applying to postsecondary institutions,
jobs, or the military. They can also get help in
applying for scholarships.
Financial Literacy Informational Sessions on
how to apply for a loan how much
community college, vocational schools,
universities, etc. cost; how to complete
FAFSA, and any other crucial information
such as projected beginning salary.
Visits to job sites, military locations, and
postsecondary institutions will occur when
possible.
Mentor Program
Students will receive a mentor, if they would
like one, that is related to a field they are
interested in pursuing. They will meet one to
two times a week depending on need.
Internship & Job Program
Companies can offer limited internships and
jobs to students during the summer and
school year. During the school year, they
cannot require more than two days worth of
work for students so that school is still the
primary focus.
Career Plan
Students will complete a career plan which
explains what they think they want to do
after high school; any postsecondary
education required; the cost of
postsecondary education; suggestions for
how they will fund postsecondary education;
internships, jobs, or other activities they
should participate in; and what type of
mentor they may need to find.
Students will send these to their mentor or a
professional to review and provide feedback.
Evaluation
Career plans will be evaluated by
professionals and the teacher.
Teacher, parent, student, and professional
surveys will be collected to evaluate student
and program progress.
Online Community
Encourages collaboration and community
through discussion boards, professional video
archives, space to upload documents and ideas,
and secure access for students, teachers, and
professionals.
High Level Implementation Plan
Year 1 1 elementary school
Year 2 2 elementary, 1 middle schools
Year 3 3 elementary, 2 middle, 1 high schools
Year 4 4 elementary, 3 middle, 2 high schools
We will work in one rural area in the first few
years and add districts as they want to join. We
will create steering committees at each school,
district committees, and for board statewide
decisions as needed. This is a grassroots effort,
but will extend across the state creating a rural
collaboration across NC.
Building futures with rural students through
professional networks
Community Benefits
Better trained workforce from rural areas
Long-term solution for the skills gap
Improved access for professional connection to
rural areas
Workforce pipeline development in rural
communities
Increase in the number of businesses in rural
areas due to a well-developed workforce
Youth will have greater choice and autonomy to
develop their futures
INTERESTED IN JOINING MEET
MY FUTURE?
Contact
Founder: Ashley Lawson
Website: meetmyfuture.com
Email: meetmyfutureed@gmail.com
Phone: (336) 816-3947