Union 8th Graders Get a Hands-On Head Start in College & Career Readiness

The Union 8th Grade Center has two College & Career Ready Labs, each with 12 modules. One classroom is dedicated to medical careers while the other explores a variety of other careers.

In the Health Science Careers Lab, students can learn more about nursing, dental, mental health, veterinary, and emergency medical technicians, while the other classroom offers an assortment of other careers such as engineering, construction, hospitality, cosmetology and criminology.

"While there is a hands-on component to each lab, students are required to do reading and learning."

Janet Teel

Medical Career Labs Teacher

Meg Counterman

General Career Labs Teacher

In the classes, students receive a lot of instruction on how the program works, how to upload documents and the logistics of the labs. There are 12 teams of students working on a different module at any one time, which requires teachers to plan for management of time, such as changes to the calendar, and other logistics.

"The nature of the labs means students will do a lot of self-teaching...a skill set which becomes more important in later grades and especially college."

Janet Teel

Medical Career Labs Teacher

Meg Counterman

General Career Labs Teacher

Dr. Kenneth Moore, Executive Director of Union Secondary Education, allows the eighth graders an opportunity to explore their options before they enroll in later classes, and just as important, to determine if they do not like doing something.