Making Career Connections

By Borton Gusky

For years I shouted out, “Make the Learning Real!” What I didn’t understand is how to make the learning real for students by connecting to careers. In this article I’ll highlight four organizations that I’ve had some connection to in the past three years –  Connect the Work by Educators Cooperative, the Consortium for Public Education, the Neighborhood Learning Alliance, and the Pittsburgh Technology Council. While each project is different, they all have had success making career connections for young people in K-12. 

Connecting the Learning: Connect the Work Model 

Three years ago I visited the Cajon Union Valley School District near San Diego, CA. I traveled with a team of educators from the River Valley and Elizabeth Forward School Districts located outside of Pittsburgh, PA to a World of Work Conference in San Diego. I had a chance to experience the “World of Work” program that the Cajon Valley School District had developed under the leadership of Superintendent David Mayashiro and Ed Hidalgo, who had formerly worked in human resources at Qualcomm. 

I continued to work with River Valley for another year and had a chance to learn how Ed Hidalgo had restructured his ideas as he joined Dr. Steve Regur at Connect the Work and began to impact schools not just in the US, but around the world. He moved away from a career curriculum to a dialogic process with a Common Language using the RIASEC model developed by John Holland  that helped K-12 students identify their strengths, interests and values as they began to make Career Connections. The River Valley model was honored by the White House in 2023 as a showcase for rural districts making Career Connections. 

The key is getting educators to realize that everyone is part of the process – the classroom teacher, the guidance counselor, the principal, the district leadership team, the parents, and the community. Integrating career conversations into K–12 education does not require adding new tasks to a teacher’s workload; instead, it focuses on embedding career-connected questions into existing classroom lessons. Featured initiatives across districts—such as MoCoCAP, Central Montcalm, River Valley, and Vista Unified—demonstrate how using Holland’s RIASEC framework provides a shared language for students and teachers. By applying dialogic methods, educators coach students to connect academic subjects, such as 5th-grade persuasive writing or primary read-alouds, directly to real-world roles and personal interests.

Practical classroom resources and research insights highlight how these methods function across different grade levels. For younger learners, Kirk Melkonian’s guide, Career Conversations in Primary Classrooms, outlines 12 strategies for incorporating RIASEC terminology into daily routines like morning meetings and job charts. In older grades, educators utilize tools such as middle school slide decks and persuasive writing frameworks to make career paths concrete. 

Personalized self-assessments and real-time reflection allow students to see themselves in future roles while involving their broader support systems. Ed Hidalgo’s account of a guided self-assessment with 4th graders at Breeze Hill Elementary illustrates how students quickly begin testing this language against their own lives—leading one student to remark that he wished the activity could be done at home so his parents could see. Through educator certification programs and ongoing impact research serving over 90,000 students, the Connect the Learning model continues to frame everyday classroom moments as opportunities for long-term career curiosity.

Additionally, research at the Quakertown School District led by Dr. Cristina Santos emphasizes addressing “assumed knowledge”—the unstated practical steps or “inchstones” students need to understand to navigate future opportunities confidently. I was quite fortunate to work with Ed Hidalgo in the initial training for the leadership team at Quakertown School District near Philadelphia. I saw the power of the RIASEC as a Common Language that not only had meaning for educational leaders, but for students and teachers. Over a three year period I kept in touch with Ed to discover how the program progressed. The research by Dr. Santos validates the work that Ed and Steve Regur did with school districts like Quakertown.

Connecting the Learning: Consortium for Public Education Model 

For the past three years I’ve been part of the Sustainability Design Challenge coordinated by the Consortium for Public Education. The Design Challenge has grown each year with over 200 students from over 30 school districts and career centers around the Western Pennsylvania region participating in 2025-2026. Each team examines problems in their communities and educational environments that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The students then develop proposed solutions. Along the way students interact with professionals who share their career paths related to Sustainable Living. The professionals meet with the students at the beginning of the process and many help along the way with research, ideas, resources, and evaluation of proposed solutions. 

The Consortium began building partnerships between K-12 districts and workforce partners from the beginning of the organization. According to Jackie Foor, the Executive Director of tCfPE:

Since our early years, our programming has included building partnerships between K12 education and the workforce. This work can be traced back to PA’s earliest Teacher in the Workforce programs, that we were tapped to help lead locally. We also facilitated college fairs for Mon Valley schools, putting post-sec admissions staff on buses and travelling from school-to-school so high school students could learn how to continue their learning after graduation.

The Consortium for Public Education today offers career connections and readiness initiatives designed to equip high school students with the skills, insights, and real-world exposure needed for postsecondary success. Central to these efforts is the Career Journeys video platform, which connects students with industry professionals across 16 major sectors—such as healthcare, digital technology, construction, and entrepreneurship—to give them direct, authentic perspectives on skills, advice, and daily job responsibilities. 

Complementing these digital resources are experiential learning and leadership opportunities, including the Future Ready Leaders program and community-focused project challenges that bridge classroom concepts with real-world workforce needs. By partnering with local business leaders and educators, the Consortium ensures high school students actively explore career pathways, develop essential life skills, and build confidence as they transition into college, trade programs, or the workforce. Recently the Future Ready Leaders program was honored by Remake Learning as one of the 57 programs that have made a difference in the learning ecosystem of Pittsburgh.

Connecting the Learning: Neighborhood Learning Alliance Model

For over twenty-five years I’ve served on the Board of the Neighborhood Learning Alliance (NLA). I’ve seen the organization more from a technology based group linking community organizations faith-based organizations with WiFi to an educational out-of-school provider with a focus on career connections. About eight years ago I worked with the original Executive Director, Stephan MacIsaac, to forge a new program with Carlow University around a Health Career Cluster. In the last four years Kashif Henderson has taken over the reins and created a more curriculum based program with four career clusters – Healthcare (with West Penn Hospital and Allegheny Health Network), Business/Entrepreneurship, Technology (with the University of Pittsburgh), and Trades/Robotics. High School students take college level courses at Carlow and the Community College of Allegheny County during the school year on Saturdays and during the summer. To prepare students for the career focus Kashif has created a program tapping into a variety of community resources that provides introductory career experiences for elementary students. 

The program has several other key components that distinguish it from traditional career-based programs: 

• Paid Work Experience: High school interns receive paid work opportunities, averaging over 80 summer hours or hourly pay. 
• Academic Support: Includes mandatory tutoring, SAT prep, and mentorship even beyond the high school years for students in the program. At the college level students are paired with former NLA students to help with the transition to post-secondary education. 
• Social Supports – NLA now has an alumni network that brings former students back to share their experiences to help guide the refinement of the program. In addition, NLA provides support to address social and emotional issues that students experience in the post-secondary experiences.

Connecting the Learning: Pittsburgh Technology Council

The Pittsburgh Technology Council offers a suite of youth and educational programs designed to bridge classroom learning with real-world tech careers across Southwestern Pennsylvania. Marie Pelloni, the Senior Director, Talent and Workforce Development Initiatives for the Pittsburgh Technology Council, explained how the Tech Council differs from its counterparts:

“The programs are driven by our members. I call our member companies the golden thread that weaves through the work.  Students are matched with member companies that are actively looking for emerging talent-and they get to be exposed to real insight through industry panels, visits, and mentorship-in a program that is led by an educator with passion for constructivist teaching pedagogy. It’s an incredibly powerful combination. In the end, the economy of our tech sector wins.”

In addition, the Tech Council programs cover the  whole pipeline from K to gray, GED to PhD. Its talent offerings range from K-12 STEM programs to executive recruitment. They include:

• STEM Summit: a one-day spring event showcasing STEM careers in southwestern Pennsylvania for students, educators, administrators, and parents.
• HireUP: a job fair that brings together students from Pittsburgh-area colleges and universities to experienced level tech talent to explore.
• L.A.U.N.C.H.-a leadership in STEM program for high school students to learn, aspire, understand, navigate, connect and highlight careers across the stem sector. 
• Career Connector: a free resume database and job board for employers.
• Apprenti PGH: a tech apprenticeship which covers all costs for participants and matches them with an employer partner from the outset, so they earn while they learn.
• The Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference (TRETC): a one-day winter event bringing together K-12 education, Higher Education, and out-of-school providers for students, educators, and educational leaders.

The STEM Summit is an annual event that connects 8th–12th grade students and educators directly with regional innovation leaders through keynote presentations, hands-on activities, and industry tours. Last year I joined a team of high school students that toured the Community College of Allegheny Country. The tour group had an opportunity to explore tech opportunities as well as culinary programs. We then went to Industrial Scientific where students had hands-on experiences including time to take apart gas sensors to understand some of the key job opportunities at Industrial Scientific. 

To support the educators driving this pipeline, the Three Rivers Educational Technology Conference (TRETC) brings together K–20 teachers, high school students, administrators, and industry experts for professional development, workshops, and networking focused on integrating emerging technologies into modern learning environments. Last year the Tech Council created a conference within a conference for high school students to explore educational technology careers and opportunities. This year the conference will build on its previous success. 

In Conclusion

The key to success in each of the programs is giving students the opportunities from the earliest age possible to have a meaningful relationship with adults, especially people working in a variety of careers. Students need a variety of experiences and a common language  to uncover their strengths, interests and values. By following a path of who they are, their “essential self,” they will unlock career choices that provide experiences that give them a foundation for future success. It’s not finding the future job, but the future pathway that may lead to multiple jobs over a lifetime, with each one tapping into those key elements discovered as a young learner. 

For over forty years Norton Gusky has focused on empowering kids, educators, and communities. Norton worked as a classroom teacher then a technology coordinator. For over fifteen years Norton has been an educational technology broker. He works on a variety of educational projects with schools, non-profits, and small businesses.

 Norton served as the national co-chair for the Emerging Technologies committee for the Consortium of Schools Networked (CoSN) and a member of the global advisory committee for the Driving K-12 Innovation project. In addition, Norton taught graduate level courses at West Virginia University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University. Norton has served as a study leader for Osher classes at both Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh.

During Covid Norton returned to his love for photography and film. His work can be seen online at his website