Instructify

Whenever you think about possible futures for kids, what do you think about? If you immediately think about animal-themed flu epidemics, food riots and melted polar ice caps, well then you, sir or madam, are an alarmist. What are your social interactions like?

For a more positive and proactive take on things, head on over to Futures for Kids. F4K, as I like to call it, is a nonprofit that helps students explore careers that incorporate their interests and skill set, then hooks them up with a pre-screened career coach for mentoring and advice. The success of the F4K program hinges on students being able to connect to real people and companies. The best part is that thanks to the sponsorship of their business partners, F4K can provide these tools to students at no charge.

As an educator, you can use Futures for Kids to look at your students’ interests and track their progress through education plans — you know, all that fun teacher stuff.  But let’s say that a student out there wants to become a teacher one day. It just so happens that you also know a thing or two about being a teacher, so you can also sign up as a career coach.

Know a local business that’s looking for well-trained employees? They can sign up as partners in the program, create their own page on the F4K website and highlight careers that students might be interested in. It not only helps a company gain a nice level of exposure in the community by supporting youth development (positive PR, anyone?) but the company also helps itself by developing its own future workforce. -NICK YINGLING

Futures for Kids

Related stuff:

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? Find out at Kids Work!