On March 3, the sophomore class took a field trip to various colleges to help kick start their preparation for the future. This is the second year that the sophomore class has been in attendance for this trip.
The students were divided into groups by the sophomore team to go to the different schools and each student’s placement was based on different factors. When being sorted, the teachers took into consideration each student’s career interests based on a survey, research questions they completed and mock interviews they did in their communications class.

The possible colleges were Penn State Beaver, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania Technical College (PTC), Community College of Beaver County (CCBC) and New Castle School of Trades. The top nine in the class were selected to go to Carnegie Mellon University.

The teachers who chaperoned the trip were Mr. Brad Baldwin, Ms. Blair Lasko, Ms. Kelly Krawchyk, Mr. Chris Coennen, Ms. Barb Martz, Ms. Linnea Homa, Ms. Amanda Bovard, Ms. Lisa Liptak, Ms. Tammy Hanshaw, Ms. Sharon Kilmer and Ms. Ruthanne Gudzan.

This trip is part of the Sophomore Academy that has been implemented at FHS since last school year.

“The purpose of the trip was to provide an experience to the sophomore class so that the students can begin planning for their futures. As part of their sophomore final project, students will be creating a video resume where they showcase their qualities, explain their career choice and short-term/long-term goals and reflect on their college visits,” Baldwin, who is part of the sophomore team and assisted with the planning of this trip, said.

This is an exclusive opportunity that the FHS sophomores can go on school-organized trips like this to learn about preparing for college.

“The experience is a wonderful opportunity for the sophomores. It is definitely beneficial because it provides our sophomores a leg-up over other sophomores in surrounding communities. It also provides our sophomores with the opportunity to experience a piece of their potential futures,” Baldwin said.

Some of the sophomores learned new information about college and post-high school options due to this trip.

“The trip showed me that I have a lot of options for my future and it made me realize how fast that I am going to have to make decisions about college,” sophomore Ashley Kanschat said.

This expedition also helped students to make decisions about their future and take their after-school plans more seriously.

“[This trip] helped me decide if I wanted to go to college [at Pennsylvania Technical College], which I might,” sophomore Mikayla Evans said, who attended PTC for the trip.

Correspondingly, this trip has affected the decisions of some of the students planning for the future and their postsecondary education plans.