Joliet Central offers a College and Career Center on the 2nd floor, which very few students know of. However, the college and career center, led by Ms. Martinez, was made so that students have the support and guidance to refine their post-secondary plans. The program is recommended to students that don’t know what they want to do after high school or don’t know how to start their college plans. Working in collaboration with school counselors, the specialists provide individualized and targeted assistance to create post-secondary plans. This was created based on the student’s needs and thoughts.
A college plan starts from the very beginning and is very complicated. Many students have to think about what language they speak, their culture, financial needs, etc. The college and career center offers many programs that will help students with their college plans like college visits, college tours, guest speakers, mini-events at colleges, and collaboration with other programs. The college and career program partners up with ISAC, and TRIO. In these programs, students will talk about goals based on their knowledge of colleges.
The college and career center helps students with the process of looking for scholarships. This program helps with career pathways, post-secondary options exploration (trades, military, college, or employment), College exploration and match, application development and submission, and financial and scholarship planning. Students should take advantage, and prepare for the future.