Achieve Twin Cities now offers career and college readiness services in eight SPPS high schools
We’re delighted to announce the expansion of our career and college readiness services to two additional Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) schools, Highland Park High School and Johnson Aerospace & Engineering High School. Students in eight SPPS high schools can now access additional career and college readiness advising, exploration, resources and support from full-time Achieve Twin Cities coordinators.
Achieve began supporting career and college readiness services in four SPPS high schools in 2019 at the invitation of SPPS district leadership, who cited our long-time experience directing Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Career & College Centers and our alignment with the district’s “SPPS Achieves” strategic plan, which is committed to career and college pathways for all students.
Achieve initially provided career and college services to students in four SPPS high schools – Central, Como Park, Creative Arts and Humboldt – and then added staff at Harding and Washington Technology Magnet high schools in 2021. At Harding, Highland Park and Johnson we are particularly honored to build upon the established work of these schools' long-time Career and College Counselors. We collaborate closely with these staff members to maximize and expand career and postsecondary support available to all students.
“After all of the disruption in our communities over the last few years, we are thrilled to have partnerships at eight Saint Paul high schools,” says Kendra Engels, our Senior Director of School-based Programs. “We are honored to have the unique pleasure of working side-by-side with experienced SPPS counseling staff who have been managing career and college readiness services for years. We are excited to build on the existing career and college readiness cultures in these schools and serve even more students.”
Our new career and college readiness coordinators for Highland Park and Johnson high schools are Matt Carlson and Cha Billy Vang, who bring extensive experience in guiding young people in discovering, exploring and planning for careers and postsecondary education.
As one of our region’s leading career and college readiness providers, Achieve Twin Cities is the only universal, fully embedded career and college readiness provider in SPPS and MPS school districts, serving over 18,000 students each year in 28 high schools. Achieve also provides high school internships for Minneapolis youth through Step Up (in partnership with the City of Minneapolis) and Achieve College Internships for college and university students.
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