For high school student Ashley Pandocchi, college might be the way to go, but she’s not sure. What Pandocchi, an eleventh-grader attending South Allegheny School District, knows is that she sees her life after high school becoming a bit clearer.  Her choice of post-secondary education is exactly that…her choice.

Finding what one wants to do with his or her professional life can be a daunting task. But for teenagers like Pandocchi sometimes overcoming that task can seem insurmountable. Parents will sometimes recommend their own profession or force-feed a four-year degree. Teachers and guidance counselors may be not be getting their message across clearly – after all, these teens listen to them for eight hours a day, five days a week. And, friends, well, they would support just about any career path not to hurt feelings.

So where does a teen go these days to make an educated, well-informed choice about a career path? For some students in the Monongahela River Valley the answer is Mon Valley Education Consortium’s The Future Is Mine initiative. Now in it’s full fourth year, TFIM has seen many young adults embrace career exploration with open arms instead of an apprehensive roll of the eyes. TFIM has been making great strides in helping young people, like Pandocchi, find the information they need to answer this question by encouraging youth to find their passion and pursue their dreams – but in an informed way.

“We have taken The Future Is Mine to the next level,” said Mon Valley Education TFIM Program Director Aimee LeFevers. “Students are taking ownership of this program. They have a say in what they do. How they do it. And, even when they do it. We help to create activities and opportunities that combine their dreams with real-life experiences that will empower them to make smart decisions concerning their future careers and success.”

Thus, the TFIM: Student Project was born - the brainchild of LeFevers and TFIM Assistant Gina Barrett.

The TFIM: Student Project is a year-long commitment with the intention of becoming an embedded piece of core work within participating school districts after two-years of existence. The four strands of work the students must accomplish within the school year all focus on career awareness/exploration.  The student work is defined as a peer-to-peer project within the high school; a peer-to-younger peer project within the district; an individual project and the planning of the annual TFIM Conference.

According to Associate Executive Director Stephen Seliy, the reasoning behind the student-driven, student-owned project is simple - the southwestern Pennsylvania region simply does not have the skilled labor force needed to fill current and future open positions… Never has the need for informed decisions on career paths and educational goals been as critical to the region as it is today. Our students – our future workers and leaders – need to know that opportunities are available in southwestern Pennsylvania and what they need to do to take advantage of those opportunities.

Making an informed choice about heading into the workforce after high school or continuing education, be it through apprentice programs, trade schools, community colleges or traditional four-year degree programs is as important as ever.

Prospects are increasingly dim for people who choose work right out of high school with no additional training. From 1979 to 2003, inflation-adjusted hourly wages earned by recent high school graduates – those one to five years out of school – have fallen by 17.4 percent among men and 4.9 percent among women, based on a review by the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute.

And for student’s like Pandocchi and her 15 other TFIM: Student Project teammates, the importance of research and understanding couldn’t hold more weight.

“I thought I knew what I wanted to do after I finish school,” said South Allegheny ninth-grader Kayla Wooster. “I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. But after being involved in this (TFIM) I don’t think I want to do that.”

Wooster explained she came to that decision after thoroughly researching and investigating that career path with what she called the “smart tools” of the TFIM initiative.

“By being here, it helped me look at this from a different perspective,” Wooster said. “Even though I have a lot of time being in ninth grade, I’m not being pushed or pressured to make a choice. I can look at things and speak MY mind.”

That single voice is what South Allegheny TFIM: Student Project Advisors Heather Riley and John McCay have been most impressed with.

According to McCay, the students he and Riley “coach” through the four strands of work are not the cream of the crop nor are they society-labeled “at-risk” students. The South Allegheny TFIM: Student Project team is the middle-of-road students who have the ability to make those informed choices, but need to realize that they can make those choices for themselves with thoughtful, research-based facts.

The all-day training for TFIM advisors took place at the Tiger Inn at McKeesport High School on 8/22/05.

“We started about eight weeks ago,” Riley said of her TFIM: Student Project participants. “Their enthusiasm is infectious.  They have taken to this without hesitation. As a matter of fact, one of their first group decisions was to tackle the peer-to-younger peer project.”

McCay agreed. “After that first meeting” he said, “they (the students) got right to it. It has taken their self-esteem and elevated it. They really are looking forward to this.”

As their work progresses toward the completion of delivering a skit entitled JOBS based off the Village People’s hit song YMCA to district sixth graders, both McCay and Riley agree that they have seen an “awakening” of sorts in these students. Both advisors said they see their students’ self-esteem heightening and becoming stronger.

“This common experience has impacted them,” McCay said. “They are learning, teaching others and becoming stronger, more-informed young adults.”

This sort of hands-on methodology is what LeFevers said she had hoped for.

“I love to see the students’ reaction when, after doing their research, an adult, a true professional, takes the time to speak with them, not down to them,” LeFevers said. “They light up. They get this “Hey! They listened to me.” look on their faces. It truly is amazing.”

That infectious behavior isn’t just at home with South Allegheny students.  Eleven other Mon Valley school districts and five career and technology centers/area vocational technical schools have adopted the TFIM: Student Project work. Those districts are Bentworth, Bethlehem-Center, Brownsville Area, California Area, Charleroi Area, Duquesne City, East Allegheny, McKeesport Area, Monessen City, Steel Valley and West Jefferson Hills. The Career and Technology Centers and Area Vocational Technical Schools include Central Westmoreland CTC, Forbes Road CTC, Mon Valley CTC, Steel Center AVTS and Fayette County AVTS.

Over at McKeesport Area, TFIM: Student Project participants are pulling together their peer-to-peer project by recreating something they experienced from the 2004 TFIM Student Leadership project.

“We are doing a mini-RoadTrip Nation,” explains Laura Bowser, McKeesport TFIM: Student Project Advisor.

RoadTrip Nation is a group of college graduates who travel the nation “cold calling” the famous and not-so-famous requesting interviews on how they got to be where they are today. Students who participate in the TFIM: Student Project have RoadTrip Nation’s DVD interviews as a resource tool.

With 10 active team members, McKeesport’s TFIM: Student Project team is looking to mimic those interviews with regional figures as their subjects then sharing their findings with their classmates and parents during parent/teacher night.

According to Bowser, her team too has gained more self-esteem, more respect for others and more respect for themselves.

“The teamwork aspect of this has been most surprising,” Bowser reflected. “They’ve developed more self-control and that has been transferred into the group process. They are stepping up to do more as individuals for the better of the team.”

For Brittany Oliver, a tenth grade cheerleader at McKeesport and TFIM: Student Project participant, self-esteem wasn’t an issue nor was being part of a team. The hard part was tying in a skill that was not athletically based.

“I had to write the letter of inquiry, you know, asking the people on our list, if they could be interviewed for this project. I didn’t think I was a good writer, I mean I’m no professional, but I said OK, I’ll do it,” Oliver explained.

And she did a pretty good job. Bowser said all the people on the team’s list agreed to the interview. As for Oliver, she said she’s not ready to begin a career as a writer anytime soon, but that great American novel always is out there ready to be written and, “this just gives me that…that… I can’t find the word… well, you know…”

For students like Oliver, who may become a self-made novelist, or for South Allegheny’s Wooster, who takes stock in methodically based research for making an informed career decision, one thing is for sure, TFIM: Student Project participants, will have the experience and necessary tools to enter the workforce ready and informed to be productive members of society. And when asked what they want to be when they grow up, like Pandocchi, they can reply, “I’m not quite sure at this moment in time. When I’m ready, I can do it on my own, after all it's my future we are talking about here.”

Click here for a complete listing of TFIM: Student Project districts and advisors.

Click here for answers to some frequently asked questions.