On the first day back from winter break, the counseling department will be holding an all-day event to help students of every grade level find classes at FHN to prepare them for both college and a career. Each hour of the day will feature a different presentation from different courses and individual sessions to help students pick the right classes.

“It’s important that adults and students talk about connecting present high school courses with what they want in the future,” counselor Lisa Woodrum said.

The presentations will involve a video highlighting the different courses within a subject and how they can build skills to help students in their career fields. This way students know exactly what classes are offered and which ones to take.

“I hope that students can see how many classes there are that they might not know about,” English teacher Jani Wilkens said. “There’s a lot of great courses classified under Communication Arts that students would be excited to hear about.”

Following the presentations, there will be one-on-one sessions with students to help find a plan for the future that best suits each individual.

“We hope these conversations all day will give everyone a chance to talk about their future,” Woodrum said. “Students might also learn about classes they’ve never taken and everything North has to offer.”

Students get a chance to work alone online using onetonline.org and mynextmove.org to find a more definite path. Questionnaires on these sites will match the interests of students with different careers to explore and full analyses of those jobs.

“Hopefully, career day will get students started on thinking ahead to find out where they want to be in 10 years,” junior Jose Alega said.

Alega, who is looking at colleges like Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Missouri University of Science and Technology, is hoping that the day will introduce him to courses that will help him get into the field of computer engineering or computer science. Although the college fair is more directed at students who are still confused about their future, it can still help students like Alega who already have a plan for where they want to go and what they want to do after high school.

“The goal is that all student learn about all courses that we’re offering for the 2016-2017 school year and how those courses relate to the career options there are after graduation,” Woodrum said.