THS has recently added a new Exploring Careers course called Keystone. Keystone is a class to help 9th-grade students better prepare for their future after high school.

The goal is to let the students learn a little about every pathway after high school that is available. Students learn about a variety of careers, specifically how the career is beneficial to them and why they might want to continue to learn about said career, hoping to identify future opportunities and understand the significance of each.

Students in Exploring Careers research 16 career paths,  jobs that fall within those career paths, colleges they could attend, and how to write their resumes. The Freshman Academy program helps students find a possible career and assigns students courses in their 10th-grade year that lead them to their chosen career, slowly planning out their future starting in 9th grade.

“It gives our students knowledge and information on what is out there for their future. Of course, there are many different things they could do after high school so it hopefully opens some doors for them and gives them resources that they didn’t have before.” Keystone teacher Joseph Koon said.

The College and Career Readiness class helps students focus on their future junior or senior year of high school. Adding Keystone gives freshmen insight into what they might want to do sooner, better preparing them earlier in high school so they can take courses that match with future goals.

“Keystone has helped me learn about what I want to do in my future. Like what I might want to do as my job for my future. I’m getting to explore many careers I’ve never heard of before and because of that, I get to learn about things I didn’t know I might have wanted to do.” Freshman Elijah Bradley said.