This October, Bear River High School received a gold medal in the Career Choices category for preparing freshmen for the life ahead of them, exceptionally.Bear River was found to be the most efficient at preparing students for the real world, and teachers, parents, and seniors alike agree that the material excels at being applicable to the journey ahead of the students that learn it.Brianne Shannon, one of the Career Choices teachers, finds the Career Choices elective to be fun to teach, and even wishes she had a class like it back in her freshman year.“Very quickly, I worked with (Jessica) Lee to prepare myself to deliver the content for the class for this semester, and so far, I think it's been going really well.” Shannon said, “ As far as the class goes, I have a lot of great freshmen who are engaged in the content, and we make it fun. I believe the content itself is very relatable to like, what we needed growing up.” Shannon realizes that the workbook used for the class may sometimes feel slow, but asserts that it’s a very worthwhile resource.“Maybe the workbook seems, I don't want to say boring, but boring some days, but the content itself is so important.” Shannon says, “As an adult now, I look back on it and I'm like, ‘Man, I wish I had this in high school’ because my high school didn't have a career preparation class. And so having career choices at Bear River, I feel, is such an incredible asset to you guys as freshmen, preparing you for your life down the road.”Even parents have approved of what the career choices elective can teach, and like Shannon, wish they had something similar growing up.“I've had parents that have looked at the stuff that you guys do, and they're like, ‘Wow, this is great.’ Like, ‘Can you teach me this? Because I need some help with my career,’” Shannon said. “And so it's pretty awesome to see that you guys are going through all those steps to plan and prepare for life.”Senior Wyatt Thompson shares similar views on the value of the class and how atmosphere.“That was one of my favorite classes I took that semester,” he said. “I really liked the teacher. It was Mrs. Lee, and I felt like it really helped me learn about a lot of different career choices and what tools I would need in the job search. That has helped me kind of look at colleges too,” Thompson said.
After asking Shannon the burning question and the final verdict, “So you think that Bear River deserves the gold medal for sure?” Her response was: “Oh, 100 percent.”