November 2, 2023 | Harold Hare
Future Ready Education is Not One-Size-Fits-All
How Mercer County Education Service Center partnered with Find Your Grind to meet differing needs of districts looking to inspire students’ futures.
Celina, OH – Find Your Grind and Mercer County Education Service Center (MCESC) are excited to announce a three-year partnership to bring Future Ready learning to students in northwest Ohio.
MCESC prides itself on providing high-quality cooperative services that positively impact the diverse educational needs of students, staff, and community. To best serve their 12 school districts, Mercer County knew they had to find a program that could meet the varying needs of their districts. With traditional college and career planning a thing of the past, solutions that just “checked the box” regarding career planning were not enough to cater to district leaders’ needs.
“The ease of working with Find Your Grind to match our district’s needs has been tremendous. Each district utilizes the curriculum in a different way and Find Your Grind goes above and beyond with its customer service to educate teachers to make them feel comfortable with implementation.”
– Lindsey Schmiesing, Director of Curriculum, Mercer County Education Service Center
Find Your Grind recently asked Lindsey Schmiesing, Director of Curriculum for MCESC, to tell us more about why Find Your Grind was the best solution to bring to their leaders.
Why was it important to bring a program like Find Your Grind to Mercer County, and how does the program support your strategic vision?
Our districts have expressed the need to find something that supports student interest and a career-focused curriculum. After sitting through a demo of Find Your Grind the districts expressed interest in implementing it within their schools, but everyone had a different vision as to how it would be used within their districts. Many of the districts felt they had a course that it could fit in or a specific teacher they felt could use Find Your Grind to guide their instruction.
How does Mercer County work directly with Find Your Grind?
The Mercer County ESC provides Teaching and Learning support to 12 rural school districts. The ESC helped support the districts as they explored Find Your Grind, educated administrators and teachers, and helped purchase student licenses. The ESC has ongoing meetings with Find Your Grind to touch base and reach out to districts (if necessary) to support the teachers utilizing Find Your Grind with their students.
Did any core feature from Find Your Grind convince you to bring this program to students in your community?
After sitting through a presentation about Find Your Grind we felt it was important to expose our districts to Find Your Grind. We have many districts that are educating students on careers, but many times the assessments they take do not always mirror what the students are interested in. Find Your Grind allows students to express what they are interested in and then allows them to explore careers that match their interests. It was important to SHOW our districts what Find Your Grind looks like and how it can benefit their students and teachers.
We put together an hour-long demo and invited our administrators to attend. After the demonstration took place, many of the districts expressed their interest and shared the information with their teachers who they thought could implement the curriculum within their classrooms. The ease of working with Find Your Grind to match our district’s needs has been tremendous. Each district utilizes the curriculum in a different and Find Your Grind goes above and beyond with its customer service to educate teachers to make them feel comfortable with implementation.
As an educational leader, what is the most prominent challenge schools must overcome in preparing students for success in a rapidly changing world? How do you feel Find Your Grind can support?
We feel it is important that students express themselves and explore careers that match their strengths and interests. Students grow up using technology, and with Find Your Grind, the platform allows students to express their interests and strengths through a user-friendly look and feel to gather information that is specific to the students. The curriculum allows the teacher to provide the tools and resources to enhance student learning when it comes to enhancing skills needed for the future of employment.
To learn more about how Find Your Grind can be used in your own school or district, contact us today.
