Career Street's Evolution: Update from director, Jennifer Pontzer

As we all continue to navigate the pandemic, we thought now would be a good time to highlight how Erie Together’s Career Street program has evolved to meet community needs in the virtual realm.  

Connecting educators with employers to offer career exploration experiences for K-12 students is Career Street’s mission. With the pandemic putting limitations on in-person interaction, we’ve had to make adjustments, but we continue to create and deliver valuable resources to help kids prepare for the future. For example:

  • We’ve built out our YouTube channel, which now hosts 30 videos. Most are career interviews with local employers. Check them out here: CareerStreetErie - YouTube.

  • Each week we publish a new Career Street Career Interview (CSCI) and distribute it to local school districts for their students. These articles can be found on our website here. They’re pretty valuable for teachers and informative for students. In talking about these articles, one educator recently shared, “As soon as I see it come through my inbox I get so excited and begin reading it right away. I then push it out to my students.” One of her students shared similar sentiments, saying, “Thank you for producing these articles for us, as students we need to see how much is out there for us beyond high school.”

    We have lots of opportunities for interviews. If you would like to be interviewed, or offer one of your employees to be interviewed, please contact me at jpontzer@careerstreeterie.org.

  •  We recently orchestrated a virtual experience focused on Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) careers for the entire fifth grade class at Union City Area School District. They watched a career video produced by a local EMT from EmergyCare, then did a live chat with her via Zoom. The students came prepared with great questions and the session was a win for all.

  • We’ve also helped coordinate “Career Pathways Information Sessions for Students and Families” developed through the Erie County Career Pathways Alliance. The first session, focused on Engineering & Industrial Technology careers, was EXCELLENT. Special thanks to Bill Petit (Urban Engineers), Julie Slomski (Logistics Plus), TJ Sandell (Great Lakes Building & Construction Trades Council), Lori Dever (Industrial Sales & Manufacturing), and Janet Anderson (NWPA Job Connect) for sharing their insights and expertise. The video of the hour-long virtual event can be found here. Our next session is on Science & Health careers on December 15, with another great panel lined up!

Career exploration experiences may look different this year, but the need is still there and we’re working hard to meet it. If you want to be part of our work, please let me know. In the meantime, on behalf of all of us at Erie Together, please have a safe and happy holiday season!

Mary Bula