My work at DVX is focused on supporting students through their academic and career goals. The student population that I work with needs support for their academic skills, and they need direction when it comes to exploring their career choices.
I developed the “Speaker Series” at DVX as a way to give students a realistic notion of the careers that exist and are available to them. Many people, students and professionals alike, have very little understanding of day-to-day tasks that a career requires. It is easy to get caught up in an idealistic dream of doing any career- a doctor saving lives or a fireman running into a burning building- as opposed to the less glamorous yet realistic aspects of those jobs, like the paperwork that needs to be filled out or the tests that need to be passed. The speaker series was created to circumvent these potential surprises for my students and to reveal the actual qualifications, skills, and expectations of interesting and accessible careers.
Many schools, including my own, have programs available to career professionals to involve themselves in the academic space as tutors, teachers, speakers, and more. This accessibility is something that is, unfortunately, not often taken advantage of, which leaves teachers to answer industry-profession questions in a reductionistic style. Students crave to hear industry-specific knowledge, and, reflexively, the professionals gain some pleasure answering curious questions and providing students with a sense of direction that they would not otherwise get.
Jared Nicol Bio:
Jared Nicol is the writing teacher and an academic coach for the Da Vinci Extension (DVX) program. He has taught in a variety of programs before arriving at DVX. He has developed project-based learning curriculum, and he is familiar with the populations and structure of both rigorous Blue Ribbon school programs and high-growth Title I charter schools. Additionally, he has worked to involve himself as a coach and as a club sponsor in his time as an educator. In his free time, Jared reads, writes and spends as much of his time as possible with his friends and family along the coast of California. Jared earned his B.A. in English Literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his English Single-Subject teaching credential from San Diego State University.