In this episode of UEN Homeroom, Jami Gardner - UEN's Utah Futures guru, drops in to share her insights on the Utah Futures program, how Utah students can prepare for their careers, and what the job market in Utah will be for our students.
In this episode of UEN Homeroom, Jami Gardner - UEN's Utah Futures guru, drops in to share her insights on the Utah Futures program, how Utah students can prepare for their careers, and what the job market in Utah will be for our students.
Hi and welcome to the Homeroom. I'm Jared Covili.
And I'm Dani Sloan.
Dani, did you just hear the bell?
Are we running late?
Oh, my gosh. Let's get the Homeroom started.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So welcome to this week's episode. Today, we're going to be looking to the future with the Utah Futures. Dani, do you even know what Utah Futures is?
I do know what Utah Futures is, thank goodness. It is a tool for college and career readiness, which is super important because college isn't for every student, but we want our students to be prepared for what comes after high school.
So I notice a lot of kids don't quite know where they're going to go after high school. They kind of know that they want to graduate, but after that they're a little unsure of where they're going to head in the future. I think today's topic may help them, yes?
I sure hope so, and I hope it can help their parents as well because they better know that they want to graduate and they better have some sort of plan for what comes next.
One of my nephew's favorite lines is, that kid's going someplace-- not college, but some place. So we'll see if that plays out today as we talk about Utah Futures.
All right. Today, we have a wonderful guest. She is actually joining us from her office. Her name is Jami Gardner, and she is the Utah Futures trainer for UEN. She specializes in helping teachers and counselors effectively use Utah Futures.org for college and career planning. Prior to joining our team, the UENPD team, she was a business and financial literacy teacher. Jami is the number one fan to three little athletes and enjoys spending time in the outdoors. We'd like to welcome Jami.
Hello. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Jami, we want you to know you're the first pirate to ever be on our podcast.
Really? Oh, makes me even more special.
The first pirate?
It's a special thing. Jami is a Cypress High alum.
[GASP]
OK. I was like, this is part of your bio that I did not read or know.
I am a Cypress High alum, and I went back and taught at my own high school.
That is amazing. If that is not love, I don't know what is.
I feel like-- should we make her sing the school song?
I know it.
She's like, don't even test me.
Is this a put up or shut up moment?
[LAUGHTER]
How about--
Maybe that'll be in our post-podcast if you want to listen to it.
There you go. Maybe we just make her do the regular hazing, which is taking some questions from our studio audience of Utah students.
Are you ready?
I am ready.
These are actual questions from our actual audience.
I'm a little nervous.
OK. Here's the first one.
What's your all-time favorite movie?
Favorite movie? That's a tough one, but I did see a really great movie this weekend. I saw Small Foot with my children, and it was super cute. So if you like animation, you should go and see Small Foot. It was cute.
Will I like it? Will I appreciate it as much as my son?
I think you will. It's got some good adult humor in there.
OK, that's what I need keep me going.
It's darling. Very cute.
Thanks for the tip.
So you sound like you watch the same movies I do because I don't know that I've seen any movie nominated for Best Picture in the last decade, but I'm pretty sure I've seen every movie nominated for Best Animated Picture.
Yes, yes, we are in the same movie theater, for sure.
Some of you out there may recognize that demographic. Our next question--
What is your favorite sports team?
Well, I am a Utah Utes fan, so I'm going to go with Utah Gymnastics.
Oh.
She wants to be a Red Rock.
Very nice. Which rotation?
Which rotation?
Would be your number one--
We're going to go with floor exercise.
OK. All right.
Our third and final question--
What animal do you see first at the zoo?
Oh, this is a tough one. First, I would go to any exhibit with baby animals because they are, of course, the sweetest. So I'm going in with the baby orangutang-- orangutan? One of those. Or baby gorillas. They're just so cute.
They are pretty darling. I feel like the baby elephant at the Hogle Zoo has been a baby for a long time. Do they grow really slow, or am I not paying attention?
Do we need to google this?
You're asking me like I know the answer to this question.
Jared, tell me about baby elephants.
I'm going to take a lifeline on this one.
All right. We'll phone a friend and get back to you all. OK. Let's talk about why we're actually here.
Yeah. Jami, we know that you are an expert on the future, Utah Futures specifically. So Dani gave us a little bit of a background on the program, but can you tell us just a little bit about what Utah Future is? And maybe also, tell us how you got started with this.
Yeah, so Utah Futures is a college and career planning site that is free to every student and adult in Utah. It's funded by state legislative funding. And the usage of Utah Futures has grown drastically over just the last three years that I've been involved with the project. So tons of value in there for your students to help plan for their future, do research on careers, research on colleges and cost, financial aid information. If your student is looking more in maybe a CTE field and interested in going to one of the technical colleges, there's information on all of the technical colleges in Utah, career pathways, just tons of information for planning for your future.
I got started with Utah Futures when I was high school financial literacy teacher. Part of the financial literacy curriculum involves college and career planning. And what I noticed when I asked my students to research a few careers is that some of them knew exactly what they wanted to do and others had no idea, so they would end up just asking their neighbor, what are you interested in, and that's the career I'm going to look into as well.
We had a lot of forest rangers when I was in that class.
Oh, really?
Everyone wanted to be one with the trees.
That's really surprising.
Yeah, I don't know that I had a lot of forest rangers, but of course reality TV star came up quite often.
Oh, is that an option?
I don't know that it's an option. So what I did was I thought, there's not a lot of value in this assignment and them doing this research if they're not really looking at something that could potentially become their future. So I asked around and I landed on Utah Futures. And one of the places where your students can start if they're unsure of what they want to do in the future is to take a career assessment, and what it does is it asks you questions about what your interests are and then it will match your interests to a career.
So it's like a little interest inventory that helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses and kind of go from there, start your planning. And it might not be the end all be all for career planning, but it's a good jumping off point if your students are unsure.
Which I think a lot of juniors and seniors in high school probably are.
I would say the majority. A lot of our students tend to fall into a category of coming up with an answer because everyone asks, what are you doing to do after high school? What are you going to do? So they find an answer that seems to get them out of being asked that question further, and they stick with that even if they don't really know if that's what they want to do.
Yeah, it's funny because if I was to talk to my kids 10 years ago and ask them what they wanted to be, they would come up with a lot of answers. But now that they're getting into that tween and teen stage of life, they don't know. They like certain subjects in school, but they're not ready to say, this is what I want to do for a job for the rest of my life.
Yeah, and I really don't think that all of the time our teens, our 9th, 10th graders, really need to know, and that's why they're in high school, is to start doing some of that exploring. There are lots of options available in high school now to get into different areas and take a little bit deeper look at what those careers really would be if you went on and got a certificate or a degree in that area.
And the reality is most of us go through so many different job changes in our careers anyway that there's a lot of things you may be interested in.
Yes. Yeah, definitely. Interests change all the time for adults, for students. So I think that's another thing that I really like about Utah Futures, is that you can do a lot of research on a variety of careers in one location, so you're not jumping to different websites to do your research. You go from researching computer programmer to researching forest ranger on the same site.
Another tool that's within Utah Futures-- and I can't remember the name, but it's where they pick a lifestyle first and then it tells them careers that could support that lifestyle. It's almost like a backwards search. Like, oh, I would like to live in a mansion without my parents. I need all of the cable and internet, eat out, have luxurious vacations. How can I support-- yes, exactly. What's that called?
That's called the Reality Check.
Yes! That's what a lot of kids need.
Based on that description of what you just shared, Dani, that student needs a reality check.
Yes, exactly.
It's very true. And the Reality Check is very popular. They do choose a lifestyle by setting up an initial budget, and then based on how they budget their money, they're shown careers that fall within that budgeted amount. if they are spending $10,000 a month, then they realize, OK, to support this lifestyle, I probably need to get a postgraduate degree and more education in order to actually fulfill this dream.
My kids keep wondering why we don't drive one of those luxurious SUVs, and it's because my Reality Check told me to be a teacher.
We're all in your same boat.
Oh, that's right, we're all in the same boat.
Yeah.
So I have a question for you, Jami. A lot of parents are probably looking to get involved with what's going on with their high school age students and help them prepare for life after school. What would be some suggestions that you would share with them to help them work with their students?
That's a great question. I think that all parents want their students to be successful in life, and knowing where to start--
And move out of the basement.
OK, I'm glad you said it. I was thinking it. A good place to start is definitely Utah Futures. For parents, we have a Parent Toolkit. There's a Parent Guide on the website. There are also resources for financial aid, if that's something that you think you might be interested in for your student. There are lots of financial aid resources. Utah Futures also developed a set of conversation cards. It's an app that you can download, iOS or from the Google Play Store, and they're just conversation starters. So different questions to help you talk to your student about college and career planning if you don't really know where to start.
So it's a set of 52 questions, like a deck of cards just in an app. So you just flip through the questions. And maybe you don't sit right in front of them with your app and grill them, but when you're trying to think of how do I start this conversation, you can just quickly download that app and then get a couple of ideas of what you might talk about with your student.
And I love that idea that it doesn't have to be a formal, like, for the next hour we're going to talk about your future, because all of us know how well that goes.
Right. This would be more of the you've got your child stuck in the car with you on a long trip, and then we can just have a conversation.
That's actually a really good idea.
The cards, I think, are just a good jumping off point for parents, and then you can go into the website and do a little bit more deep dive, I guess.
So if you happen to have a 30-year-old who's still in the basement, would you suggest those cards for those parents?
Yeah, maybe just download that app onto their phone and put it out there on the nightstand for them when they wake up.
Yeah, just leave the phone out on the table so they can see it.
I love it. All right. What does Utah look like for post-high school education? So what's it looking like for students? Are there are a lot of opportunities?
There are, there are tons of opportunities here in Utah. And one of the, what I feel is a huge benefit to us is that post-high school education in Utah is very affordable compared to national averages. So being able to get a certificate or a degree is a lot less expensive than what you'll find elsewhere. So as far as options go, I would say if your student is not sold on college yet or maybe they're not really sure what they want to do, start looking at maybe some of the technical colleges that are more affordable and will get them into a career faster.
So they're still getting some kind of education before they're getting into the workforce, but it's not going to take them four years before they start seeing some return on their investment. And then from there, they can always build upon that education and maybe go into a two-year or four-year program later. So that's always an option. If you have a student that is a little more directed and knows where they want to go, then we have great options for two and four-year colleges here in Utah.
And while they're in high school, they can also start looking into some programs that we have available now in most of our high schools. We've got great health care programs and aerospace programs throughout the state, where your students are getting some training while they're still in high school that will transition into a job. And then hopefully that job can then help pay for their education later. So we really do have great opportunities here.
Yeah, I was going to say, I've been spending a lot of time in Granite School District at the Granite Technical Institute, and one of the big benefits to it is kids get a chance to really, instead of just filling out a form, experiment and try what these careers look like. And sometimes they learn that they love it and sometimes they learn this is not for them, and what a great lesson for a student who's 17.
Yes, I completely agree. I worked in Granite School District. I think the GTI is a great opportunity for our students to try out a program before they get into college and they're actually paying for it. And you could bounce from one to the next until you find something that maybe is a great fit for you without spending any money on those college credits in order to have that experience.
And like Jami says, those programs are available in many districts along the Wasatch Front, so that's something for parents and students to look into.
Yeah, definitely. I would talk to your counselors about what your options are through your school district for those programs.
All right. Beyond college or beyond any education programs, what does the job market look like after they graduate or finish these programs?
Yeah, the job market in Utah seems to be very strong, and there are some great resources on Utah Futures because of our partnership with the Department of Workforce Services that can talk more specific about job outlook and job data for the state of Utah. And so that's, I think, a great resource from within Utah futures to help you understand every career field is a little bit different, so just knowing exactly what your job outlook is.
There's also a resource in Utah Futures called So Can You. It says Explore Careers, and then underneath, this crazy name, So Can You. Within that resource, when your students are looking at different careers, if they click on and look at the Job Outlook, it will actually give them a grade, A, B, C, D, F, for what the job outlook is. And I really love that resource because it puts it into terms that we all understand. We understand what an A looks like, we understand what an F looks like, rather than it saying there's 2.5% growth, and that equates to what? We don't know in the state of Utah.
So that resource is super helpful in understanding what the job market looks like.
What grade do you think that being a teacher in Utah gets?
I feel like right now it'd be an A.
I think the outlook is very promising that you could get a job as a teacher if you wanted to.
Absolutely.
I'll agree with you guys.
All right. Jami, is there anything else you'd like to add? Where do we go for these resources? Who do we see?
Yeah, UtahFutures.org is your one-stop-shop, I guess you could call it, for lack of a better word, for all of your college and career planning. And if you have any other questions, you can always contact me at UEN, and I'd be happy to answer any of your questions. Also, just a little FYI, right now, Step Up Utah, which are your FAFSA gurus, the financial aid-- Free Application For Federal Student Aid, they are doing a tour of Utah, hitting most of the high schools, where you can go in and fill out the FAFSA with their assistance and find out what your student qualifies for for free financial aid.
So if you get a chance, check with your school and see when your FAFSA night is with Step Up Utah.
And we've been participating in those recently, and a huge turnout, you guys, for people who just want to find out what their options are.
Yeah, and it can seem like an overwhelming process, and so to sit down and in one night, probably less than an hour, have the application filled out and submitted with guidance from experts, I think it's very beneficial.
I also saw that FAFSA and PASFAA now has an app, which is life-changing for a lot of people.
Right.
Yeah, anything to--
Streamline.
Yeah, take the anxiety out of it.
Yeah, because it is a stressful process.
Right, and on UtahFutures.org, there is a FAFSA forecaster. So if your student is not a senior, you can at least go in and use the FAFSA forecaster, enter in some preliminary information, and get a projection of what your financial aid packet might be. So that's a good resource for younger students as well.
That's awesome. Jami, thank you so much. Always a wealth of knowledge
I feel more prepared for the future now.
That's good. I'm glad.
Yeah, I might figure out what I want to do at some point in my life.
[LAUGHTER]
You better not leave me, Jared Covili.
The forecast is really low on that.
All right. Thanks again, Jami.
You're welcome. Thank you.
Thanks, Jami. So, Dani, do you want to give our audience a tech tip today?
I mean, do we have to?
Well, this is a podcast kind of about technology.
I'm tired. Do you have a tech tip for today?
I guess if I have to, I can come up with--
I mean-- OK. I guess it's my turn to give a tech tip. So something that I'm really passionate about is trying to unplug when I am not at work, which is horribly difficult for me because I am a millennial, if you did not know this about me. But something that's really great on the new iPhone update, it automatically keeps track of your screen time. So if you go into Settings, you can find that there is a Screen Time piece that captures what you are spending your day on.
So right now I can tell you that I have spent an hour and 56 minutes on my phone, 17 of which were for productivity, four for health and fitness, and an hour and five on social networking. Don't judge me. But there's also apps that you can download if you do not have an iPhone on iOS devices. It's called Moment. And on Android devices, there's one that's called Space.
I've also heard on Android devices there are programmed into the device that you can use as well to monitor how much you or your family is spending-- how much time they're spending on their devices. So it might be something that just gives you a little insight into something that you can tweak or change to maybe spend a little less time on your devices.
Well, Dani, thanks for sharing with us that great tech tip about how to monitor our progress on our devices. I think that's super important for us.
Yeah, it's just like anything. The first step is being aware of what you're doing on your device, so maybe you can improve your time and how you're spending it.
Clearly, I already know how to do that, but we're going to work with you--
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And thanks again for our episode today, where we were able to talk with Jami Gardner about Utah Futures.
She's brilliant, isn't she? She just knows everything about being college and career ready.
It was a great conversation. I love the idea of us helping students plan for their futures.
Agreed. Hey, Jared. It is after 3:00 on a Friday. Fun's over. Get out of my class.
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