Dream Connectors 2.0 – Greer Middle School

Dream Connectors 2.0 – Greer Middle School Hero Image

Team members: Adam Artigliere, Jeff Brown, Karras Cohen, Kelly Fields, Shontavia Johnson, Mark Johnston, Buket Oztas, Fernanda Sieverling

DREAM CONNECTORS 2.0

Dream Connectors 2.0 builds on the success of the inaugural Dream Connectors program founded by members of the Upstate Furman Diversity Leaders Initiative Class XIII from Spring 2012. The program provides an opportunity for seventh grade students from all backgrounds, and especially those with financial, social and other disadvantages, to connect with professionals and companies through a day-long workshop. The program promotes education, leadership and career exposure.

Project Description

According to the University of Virginia Center to Promote Effective Youth Development, the early teen years are “a huge time for identity development,” and also “a stage when students are especially vulnerable to . . .  the walling off of certain” careers as not for them without appropriate knowledge regarding those careers. As such, it is desirable to expose students to a myriad of career options as early as possible.

In 2024, American Student Assistance (“ASA”), a national nonprofit focused on education and career readiness, published a series of research reports supporting this conclusion. ASA’s research notes that more than 65 percent of high school graduates say they would have benefited from more career exposure in middle or high school. In addition, 80 percent of guidance counselors noted that students are overwhelmed by decisions about careers and higher education by the end of their high school years.

Given these realities, there is a growing national trend for public school districts to devote resources to career readiness across elementary, middle and high schools. This has certainly been the case in South Carolina and in Greenville County’s public school system. While this is a positive trend, gaps unfortunately remain.

For example, the South Carolina Department of Education has made career readiness a priority for high school students with the mandatory South Carolina Career Ready Test administered to all eleventh graders. The Greenville County public school system also recently opened a multi-million dollar CTE Innovation Center, where high school students can attend specialized career education courses and earn industry certifications.

However, while the Greenville County public school system has been especially proactive in providing early career exposure to students. there is no equivalent testing, center, or formalized career exposure program for middle school students.

In addition, while South Carolina public schools with the greatest need may take advantage of the federal Title I program to receive additional resources for students around topics including career exploration, schools who fall just below Title I cutoffs are often just as needy but remain ineligible for additional assistance. Unfortunately, many middle schools in Greenville County fall into this category, including Greer Middle School.

Dream Connectors 2.0 aims to bridge some of the existing gaps that currently exist in Greenville County with respect to career exposure to middle school students. In May 2024, seventh grade students at Greer Middle School, a non-Title I but still under-resourced school, were exposed to career paths at companies including: BMW; Michelin; Greenville Drive; Community Journals; Furman University; Burr and Forman, LLP; Savannah River National Laboratory; and European American Chamber of Commerce – Carolinas.

The program encompasses a multi-tiered approach: (1) classroom exposure to a diverse set of career opportunities; and (2) an open communication channel with guidance counselors for future shadowing, internship, or other opportunities within the representative companies.

Project Mission: Provide exposure for seventh grade students, primarily those with disadvantaged backgrounds, to career paths available to them in Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

Project Objectives:

  • Expose seventh grade students to career paths.
  • Provide students with opportunities to engage with working professionals.
  • Increase awareness of employment opportunities in the Upstate, nationally and globally.
  • Provide students with career alternative pathways with which they may not have already been aware.
  • Enrich the community at Greer Middle School.

Additional Benefits:

  • Students learn about a diverse array of topics related to life, education, careers and leadership.
  • Provides a deeper sense of direction in determining career paths.
  • Promotes both traditional and nontraditional career trajectories.
  • Offers opportunities for career exploration beyond traditional guidance counselor interactions.