2018 Marks 45 Years of Career Exploration at MMS
History of the Career Exploration Center
The "Career Workshop" program (also known as the "Singer Room") began in 1973 at the middle school level and was strongly supported by former principal, Mr. Leonard R. Ference. Mr. Ference had the vision to realize that not all students were college bound and that exposure to a variety of careers was essential in the success of all students. The "hands-on", tactile style learning environment of the Careers Workshop was primarily vocational in nature and workstations were added periodically throughout the next 32 years until the program was completely transformed in 2005. With a change in staff that year came a reevaluation of the workstation activities and how each one related to the need for employment in the economy, based on the PA Department of Labor and Industry statistics. Several workstations were outdated and therefore eliminated and new activities were added. With these changes came a new title to the program. In 2006, the Careers Workshop changed its name to "The Career Exploration Center", which portrays a more accurate picture of the program and gives it less of a "workshop" image. Each workstation now links to one or more of the 16 National Career Clusters as defined by the U.S. Department of Education. Several activities in the Career Exploration Center are linked to programs at the Cumberland-Area Vocational Technical School. Today, the Career Exploration Center continues to align with the ever changing technology and workforce. Workstations are updated and added to continue to represent the National Career Clusters all while keeping students interested. Several workstations are STEAM (Science, Technology, Education, Arts, Mathematics) career related as well.