LearnmoreMN Blog

Helpful colleagues leave me amazed

By Tracy Zanitsch, December guest blogger

Talking about what I have learned about creating a college and career readiness program while still in the midst of listening, re-tooling and re-grouping has ended up to be a bit more of a challenge than I expected. But as educators…I mean actors say, “the show must go on.”

Developing relationships, both personal and work related, with team members in other offices is becoming a key part of my work. Nothing that is worth doing can really be accomplished by just me. But what I can accomplish with someone else or a lot of someone elses is amazing! Help and the sharing of knowledge continue to come from the most unexpected places and people.

Example 1:

Last night I sent out a request to all the folks who office here at the Plato Blvd. building, asking if anyone had a copy of the game of LIFE I could borrow. I also included a brief explanation of why I needed it.

• Five different people offered to loan me the game, and I only knew one of them.
• As if that wasn’t enough to make me smile…an offer of assistance with the project was also sent. This individual is not only an expert in the field, but also has personal relationships with outside organizations that they are willing to use to assist in the development of the project.

Example 2:

A project currently being worked on is “The Journey to College and Career Readiness Begins in Elementary School” (affectionately known as “the coloring book”). This document is a prime example of how developing relationships can increase the value of a project.

None of us dreamed that finding a few pictures (suitable for coloring) of people in different occupations, genders and ethnic backgrounds would be a tough task. We could not have been more wrong. After much Internet surfing and hours of calling co-workers, a coloring book figure was found that had a young lady in a hijab painting a picture. The drawing was copyrighted by Amir Al-Zubi. It was not exactly what we wanted, but rather the best we could find.

Amir Al-Zubi was contacted for permission to use the drawing and we explained how and why we wanted to use it. As email requests like this had been sent out before, expectations were not high. We were contacted within 24 hours and exchanged several emails to clarify exactly why we wanted to use this drawing, and how important it was to the success of the project. In the end we were offered the use of the original drawing, as well as one that was much more appropriate for our use.

So I leave you with this…

Tell people about your work. Ask for assistance. You’d be surprised how many people want this effort to succeed. And try not to be as amazed as I am about just how generous people can be.

If your organization has a college and career readiness program, please post a comment. I’d love to hear about your experience.

Dream your way to college and career readiness

By Tracy Zanitsch, December guest blogger

What would you do if someone said, “Create a way for all of our students to be college and career ready; and develop ways to engage our families and the community in this process”? That is sorta the situation I stepped into when joining the Saint Paul School District’s Office of College and Career Readiness in 2012. With a background in postsecondary education, corporate project management and strategic meeting management — of course I started with a list! It was not until much later that I learned I should have started with a DREAM.

The research on other programs was done. College Connector Training was completed. Feedback from staff collected. Shoot, I had even helped coordinate a way for our office to collect feedback from over 1,000 families and students face-to-face. I was ready.

So I started to write, even wore some grooves into my keyboard as I wrote and re-wrote what my plan would be. The goal was to deliver a simple and well-structured plan of action to my co-workers, when they arrived in August.

Silly me.

The plan was too complicated.

The plan relied on too many entities cooperating with each other.

The plan had no dedicated funding.

The plan was simply a dream. A silly, silly dream.

Or was it?

With the assistance and hard work of many wonderful colleagues, it became clear that the plan might be off track, but the Dream of having our students’ college and career ready upon graduation was very much alive. Here’s how I know:

• Our families and staff are opening up conversations with their elementary students about what they like to do and exploring different careers. 
• Our staff is collaborating with other offices to create and publish what has become affectingly known as the “coloring book.” This is a publication that blends activities and information for our elementary families to use with their children to support college and career exploration.
• More than 5,300 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students can be seen out and about in the community wearing shirts that have their future graduation date on it. (Yes, it’s those little green and yellow t-shirts with either 2026 or 2027 as a graduation date on them.)
• Two-person teams from the Office of College and Career Readiness have or are in the process of “adopting” all of the district-wide parent groups.They are starting and nurturing new relationships with our families and their communities, to insure that we learn what is needed and the best ways to deliver information and services.
• The Postsecondary Ambassador Program was developed through the support of the Saint Paul City’s Mayor’s Office. It is made up of local college students who are trained and then strategically placed within our schools and rec centers, to allow our families and students to see, interact and learn from someone like themselves.
• “It’s Never Too Late to Graduate” campaign has been created and provides support services to students who did not receive their high school diploma.
• The Career and Technical Education Program can jump start a student’s career by preparing them for postsecondary education and training for high-skill, high-wage and high-demand occupations, while they are still in high school.
• The opportunity to earn college credits while in high school, via the College in the Schools classes and the Postsecondary Education Option, is alive and well.

But as you know, there is much more work to be done. Even though my plan initially went off track, with the assistance, support and laughter of colleagues from across the district...the Dream is alive and moving forward.

My next post will share some of the things I learned and how the program plans to move forward. If your organization has a college and career readiness program, please post a comment to share your experiences.