Supporting Bastrop ISD Career and Technical Education Training Programs

CareerCraft, The Bastrop Chamber of Commerce, The Bastrop Economic Development Corporation, and Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area are teaming up to support Bastrop ISD Career and Technical Education programs.  Your help is needed to develop and implement two programs for the 2020-2021 academic year.  

Program #1: Mentorship Program - - Think back to your high school years.  Do you feel like you had access to relevant information about planning for college and your career?  Wouldn’t it have been nice to talk to a professional who could have given you unbiased advice?  Here is your chance to help a current high school student plan for his/her future.

CareerCraft has developed a 16-week guided mentorship program to help students chart a path forward after high school.  Identified students will be paired/matched with a qualified mentor from the community and mentors & mentees will meet virtually for approximately 45 minutes each week.  Mentors will be provided with a weekly guide to assist in facilitating conversations.  Each week focuses on a specific topic and includes a list of suggested activities and questions to guide the interaction.

Approximately 40 mentors are needed for this program.  Ideal mentors will have at least five years of professional experience, not have a criminal history, be willing to virtually meet with a student for 45 minutes a week over the span of 16 weeks, be willing to listen to the student’s aspirations, and help the student chart a path forward after high school.

Mentoring sessions may be hosted virtually to accommodate COVID-19 safety protocols and mentor schedules.

If you are interested in learning more about being a mentor, please fill out this interest form and CareerCraft will invite you to an upcoming information session.

Program #2: Authentic Project-Based Learning (Problems of Practice) Program - - Most school years, students enrolled in capstone Career and Technical Education courses have opportunities to leave the school building and work alongside industry professionals in the field.  These work-based learning experiences help students make informed decisions about their futures.  Since most traditional work-based learning experiences such as job shadowing, internships, part-time employment may be hard to come by this school year, CareerCraft seeks to collaborate with local and regional companies to develop school-based project-based learning opportunities for students to work on throughout the year.  Here is a sample as a reference.  

Bastrop ISD offers courses related to the following industries:

• Audio/Video Production
• Automotive Technology
• Business Management 
• Construction Technology
• Forensic Science
• Healthcare/Patient Care
• Hospitality Services
• Pathophysiology
• Pharmacology
• Veterinary Technology
• Welding

If you work in one of these industries, CareerCraft wants to collaborate with you to ask about current pain points and challenges. From there, CareerCraft will build realistic case studies/problems of practice that can be presented to students.  Students will be given a period of time to research the problems/challenges/issues and then develop potential solutions/strategies to solve the problems.  These activities will help students learn about real life business scenarios and may help your business receive fresh perspectives and ideas from students. If your business, large or small, would like to collaborate with CareerCraft to develop a case study/problem of practice, please fill out this interest form and CareerCraft will reach out to you to discuss next steps. CareerCraft estimates the time commitment to be approximately 45-60 minutes at the beginning of the process to learn about your business and approximately 60-90 minutes at the end of the process to listen to student presentations.  

Thank you for supporting the next generation of leaders and professionals in our community.  CareerCraft is a contracted service provider for Bastrop ISD. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Shane Thomas at shane@careercraft.com. 

Download the Mentorship Program Overview here.

Download the Authentic Project-Based Learning (Problems of Practice) Overview here.