Exemplar #3

Young Person of Color Paper

Standards Met: Standard 19 and Standard 20
Introduction
In the course, CSP 769: The Achievement Gap-Leadership, Advocacy and Systemic Change, we
were given an assignment to interview a first generation student of a different race or ethnicity
than our own and discuss college and career readiness. We were then to follow up with the
student to complete an activity that was geared toward college or career preparation. I chose to
work with David, a self-identified Mexican youth, who was academically successful and had
high hopes for postsecondary options. David took his school work seriously and was highly
motivated by the encouragement of his parents and his own desire to make them proud. He will
be the first in his family to attend college, which is not only important to him, but extremely
important to his parents.
Standards Addressed
Standard 19: Academic Development
The first standard that was addressed while working with David was Standard 19: Academic
Development. David had very clear goals regarding college but seemed to not know how to
prepare for getting to college, something many students struggle with. During my initial meeting
with David, he talked about being intimidated about the college going process and about
speaking to counselors about college. He also felt overwhelmed about the scholarship process. I
asked David about the schools he would possibly like to attend and we discussed what majors
interested him. Based on the majors he shared, I asked David what classes, if any, he had taken
or planned to take that helped him determine his possible majors. I was also able to talk to David
about the pros and cons of attending college in or out of state. Since Davids school had a
College Access Counselor whose main role is to assist students with college applications, I
encouraged David to make an appointment with her. He was able to meet with the College
Access Counselor and felt much less overwhelmed regarding the next steps in preparing for
college. Additionally, I was able to provide David with scholarship resources, including
scholarships that were specifically for Hispanic students. By helping David to evaluate his
college options and majors, encouraging him to meet with the College Access Counselor and
providing him with scholarships, I was able to help him start to understand his full range of
options regarding postsecondary education after high school.

Standard 20: Career Development

The second standard that was addressed in the development of this curriculum was Standard 20:
Career Development. Not all of the students we work with know what career they are interested
in or even what career pathways there are to choose from, as was the case with David. David
seemed to be torn between multiple career options from engineering to the automotive field. He
had many interests but was not sure how they would translate into a career. Since choosing a
college major is often aligned with a career choice, I suggested it would be beneficial for David
to use a tool that would help him focus on his assets and interests. I encouraged David to
complete the Strengths Explorer on Naviance so that his strengths could be identified, which was
important since David was humble and probably would not openly admit all his strengths to me.
Based on Davids strengths the program would match him with potential career pathways
allowing him to further investigate specific careers. While I do not believe a computer program
can determine a students career, I believe that by having students complete questions about
themselves, they become invested in the outcome of the survey. Once students are invested, they
then are intrigued about potential careers that are specific matches to them and not vague or
common careers that are often provided such as doctors or teachers. Getting students to begin
thinking about careers is an important part of our role as a school counselor because it is part of
their future path. Furthermore, I think when working with youth, such as David, who want to
possibly become auto mechanics or jobs that society views as blue collar, that we do not
discourage them. What we want for students and what our view of a successful career may be
very different, personally and culturally.
Conclusion
This paper taught me a lot about academic and career development, but also about equity. Equity
among ethnicities and among students with varying levels of academic achievement. David,
while well prepared academically, did not necessarily have the social skills to ask for the
information he needed. On paper he looks like he is prepared for the challenge of any college,
but what if he never got to college because it was never discussed with him? Furthermore, this
paper taught me about the importance of knowing the various resources for particular ethnicities.
Prior to working with David I did not know about the Hispanic Scholarship Fund or that I could
provide students a list of colleges that were identified as Hispanic Serving Institutions. These
resources may or may not be important to students; however I think that having resources to
provide them with, such as scholarship possibilities or programs to complete on Naviance, I
allow students to make better choices for themselves, which is the end goal for any school
counselor.