Why not rev up your students career awareness by taking a close look at the Daytona 500?

I have to admit, I’m not an involved fan of car racing of any sort. But even I am taken with the number of people who are.  After hearing friends and relatives talk about the fun of attending NASCAR races, I decided to look into one of the biggest from a career perspective.

The Daytona 500 is going on this week. It’s a huge event and all the professionals/careers involved in putting it together got my heart racing!

From the official site:
“The Great American Race,” which traditionally hosts a sellout crowd, has the biggest total payout in prize money for any motorsports event in the United States, surpassing the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. The 2007 Daytona 500 posted awards exceed more than $18 million with race winner Kevin Harvick pocketing more than $1.5 million.

“It’s the ultimate race,” said three-time Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon following his 2005 Daytona 500 victory. “There’s just no better place to win at than Daytona. You know the sport’s getting more competitive. It’s getting bigger and it’s just one of those races if you pick one, this is the one you want to win.”

Traditionally, following a victory in the Daytona 500, the winner goes on a whirlwind media tour that includes visits to New York City and Los Angeles with appearances on such a high-profile shows like “Late Show with David Letterman” and “Live with Regis and Kelly.”

In addition, the Daytona 500 winning car rests inside Daytona 500 Experience, “The Official Attraction of NASCAR,” for a year for race fans to view and the winning driver has his hand prints, right foot and autograph immortalized in cement at the Daytona 500 Champion’s Walk of Fame.

 Wouldn’t it be fun to think about all the professionals involved in putting on a massively popular event like this? Students can then research the ones they find interesting to discover what education and expertise is required.

I’ll get you started: (For fun, you could make creating the list of jobs a timed, competitive event!)

• Automobile Designers
• Race Car Track Designers
• Event Promoters
• Sponsorship Coordinators
• Talent Agents
• Business Managers
• Marketing & Advertising Professionals
• Food Concessionaires

 CareerWise Grow Up. Get a Job. Career Exploration Workbook is filled with creative and fun ways to open kids’ eyes to the many exciting jobs there are in the world so they are motivated to stay in school to develop marketable skills. It supports many National Standards and can be easily tailored to varied grade, age and skill levels.

Every year, Kohl’s recognizes and rewards amazing young volunteers (ages 6-18) across the country for contributions to their communities. They pick students who go above and beyond to make a difference in other peoples’ lives.

(These are the wonderful kids we don’t hear enough about as far as I’m concerned. I think they make up a big portion of this demographic, but since the media prefers scandals and scoundrels, we don’t hear enough about these wonderful kids. But I digress.)

This year, Kohl’s will award more than 2,200 amazing students with over $440,000 in scholarships and prizes.

To be eligible, a student must meet specific criteria as of March 15, 2012. Kohl’s stores and site will have more information, but this should motivate kids to investigate:

• Store Winners will receive a $50 Kohl’s Gift Card.
• Regional Winners will each be awarded a $1,000 scholarship for post-secondary education.
• National Winners will each be awarded a total of $10,000 in scholarships for post-secondary education and Kohl’s will donate $1,000 to a non-profit organization on each winner’s behalf.

CareerWise applauds Kohl’s for this scholarship program and for its focus on the importance of kids’ volunteering. Valuable life and career skills are learned early on by kids who get out there and help others in whatever ways they can.

We also send a shout out to past, present and future student volunteers – whether you win a Kohl’s prize or not – you are already winners in our book!

 CareerWise products help build kids’ confidence about joining the work-a-day world and make it easy  for adults to engage in career awareness activities.

What can students learn from having a pet in the classroom? For starters, how about:

• Responsibility
• Commitment
• Compassion
• Loyalty
• Timeliness
• Collaboration
• Sharing
• Basic healthcare, nutrition and grooming

This is how the Pet Care Trust, a non-profit, charitable, public foundation, puts it:

“Even kids with no exposure to animals or nature in their home environment can see, feel, touch and make connections to the wide world of animals.

 Observing and caring for an animal instills a sense of responsibility and respect for life.

 A pet brings increased sensitivity and awareness of the feelings and needs of others—both animals and humans.

 Kids learn that all living things need more than just food and water for survival.

 Students will see directly how their behavior and actions affect others.

 Studies show that the presence of animals tends to lessen tension in the classroom.”

The Pet Care Trust also says school subjects can be incorporated during pet care:

  Math (“how much does a hamster weigh?”) 

 Science, (“what does a snake eat?”)

 Geography (“what part of the world do ferrets come from?”) 

 Grammar (“what words would we use to describe a goldfish?”)

 Students can also create special presentations about the animals for classroom visitors.

 The Pet Care Trust sponsors the Pet in the Classroom Grant for grades K-8.  Grants of $50, $100 and $150 are awarded for buying pets, pet environments or pet food and supplies for existing classroom pets. There is no deadline and teachers may re-apply every year.

 What a wonderful way for adults to teach kids life skills and about careers in the animal world.

 Everyone in favor, raise your paw!

CareerWise is all about making career exploration fun, creative and relevant. Our award winning workbook supports National Standards and is a resource kids can keep for years to come!

“Together we can – and we will – prepare children and youth for college, work and life.”   – General Colin Powell

CareerWise is proud to be a member of America’s Promise Alliance and to have resources which enable every adult to support the mission of Grad Nation, a campaign to reverse the dropout crisis and enable our children to be prepared for success in college, work and life.

Under the leadership of Founding Chairman General Colin Powell and current Chair Alma Powell, the America’s Promise Alliance has become the nation’s largest partnership dedicated to improving the lives of young people.

From the America’s Promise site:

Building a Grad Nation Summit

March 18-21, 2012 at the Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, DC

About the Conference

The Building a Grad Nation Summit is the premier event of Grad Nation, our 10-year campaign to end the high school dropout crisis and prepare young people for college and the 21st century workforce.

The Grad Nation campaign has two specific goals:

• To increase the national graduation rate to 90 percent by 2020 with no school graduating less than 80 percent
• To regain America’s standing as first in the world in college completion

Addressing these critical issues requires all sectors of our communities working together in new, more coordinated ways. And that’s exactly what this annual gathering helps bring about. The summit brings together community organizations, educators, local and state leaders, national nonprofit organizations, businesses, youth and others to not only share progress but also catalyze additional action.

Building on the success of the first summit in 2011, the 2012 summit will bring together hundreds of participants on March 18-21 in Washington, D.C. to focus on progress being made against the Grad Nation goals in communities and states across the nation. Additionally, millions of others will be engaged through online outreach and media coverage.

The central theme of the 2012 summit will be the strong connection between quality education and thriving, economically sound communities.

The summit provides an important national platform to:

• Continue to build awareness about high school graduation and post-secondary success issues
• Help participants create valuable connections across networks
• Inspire and motivate by highlighting local, state and national successes
• Educate and engage participants through collaborative discussions
• Provide participants with the tools and knowledge they need to turn awareness into action, and to potentially replicate successes seen elsewhere
• Report on our nation’s progress on key indicators relevant to the Grad Nation goals

Conveners

America’s Promise Alliance is pleased to host the Building a Grad Nation Summit in partnership with the Alliance for Excellent Education, Civic Enterprises, and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University.

Sponsors

Premier Sponsors for the 2012 summit are Grad Nation Presenting Sponsor State Farm, AT&T, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Target. Signature Sponsors are Casey Family Programs, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ford Foundation, Ford Motor Company, Lumina Foundation and Pearson Foundation.

Why does this seem like a great quote for a Monday?

Especially after a weekend filled with Super hoopla and festivities?

Because we all get back to work on Monday-whether it be to the office, in school, at home or outdoors. And things don’t always go smoothly, no matter what day of the week it is!

One of the greatest career and life skills an adult can teach a child is how to face life’s adversities with courage and grace. Because they’re going to come along.

Whether it’s struggling through a difficult assignment, dealing with a cranky pants friend or family member or striving to achieve long-term goals, turbulence is a fact of life.

So help kids sharpen tools that will help them soar over challenges.  For me, they range from humor, patience and a long chat with a good friend to great music, playing with my dog and physical exercise.

 (For high winds, I turn to French Vanilla ice cream.)

It’s Monday. You might feel a slight breeze in the air. Use it to soar!

 CareerWise helps adults open kids’ eyes to the wonderful world of work – its opportunities, rewards and options for a safe, productive and meaningful future. We make teaching kids about the employment world fun, creative and easy. Kids hone important skills along the way. Our workbook supports National Standards in Career Curriculum. Volume discounts provided.