Exposing Students to Opportunity

I was speaking with a colleague of mine this morning and she was asking me about the military and if I would speak with her son about joining, but guess what grade her son is in?  He's in the 9th grade!  She has already began to place her son into different programs to get him exposed to the limitless opportunities that available to him and I applaud her for that, because unfortunately, there are not enough parents doing this for their children.
When I was grade school age, my mother and father (not married) made sure that my sister and I were enrolled in programs that would keep us active, for instance, one summer we did swim lessons.  Another summer we were enrolled in a summer camp that required us to arrive by 8 AM and we would stay until about 12 or 1 PM.  During those few hours we would have the best time any elementary school kid could dream of.  We would have breakfast, go outside and play on the equipment, getting sweaty and smelly; then we'd eat lunch, maybe do arts and crafts, maybe go swimming and maybe even go bowling or to the movies, but that was all we did.  We had tons of fun and made many childhood friends, but we weren't exposed to things that would help to prepare us for our future.  So as I grew up I remained heavily involved in various activities, because that was something that was instilled in me and I liked it, no matter what it was, but I was limited and I didn't even know it.
I played sports (soccer, cheerleading and track), I was in various clubs, I did Air Force JROTC for 4 years, but I never thought to do anything that would give me insight on what I could do or be in the future (other than sports).  There were a lot of reasons for this: my mother wasn't exposed to potential career opportunities, my father wasn't exposed, many people in my family weren't exposed, teachers had limited exposure and maybe even limited expectations for the future; not that they wanted us to fail, but their goal was to train us for the next grade and to prepare us on how to be good citizens.
When I go speak to students I ask them similar questions that I was asked when I was younger: "What do you want to be? Why do you want to be that?", but I also ask them this, "What are you doing now to prepare yourself to be what you want to be?".  Most students have NEVER been asked this question before, often times students ask me, "What do you mean what am I doing to prepare myself?".  Students don't automatically know that they can begin volunteering in the summer or researching summer camps, they really think and believe that they don't need to begin preparing for their future until senior year!  I thought the same thing when I was their age and that is because no one had exposed me to different opportunities.  I was different though, I was and still am a "go-getter"; if I want to do something I do it, I research it, I save for it and I do it, but I'm almost 30, I've experienced some things, kids in high school, kids IN GENERAL don't know to do these things unless we help to expose them.
My job is only to identify students who are eligible for enrollment into my program, I advise them, register them for their classes and monitor their progress throughout the semester, then REPEAT.  However, I do so much more.  I recognize that students don't know about the opportunities that are available to them, so I go Above and Beyond, and I find different things for them and let them know about the things they need to do to become what they hope to be.

Students: Getting to Know Them

How I came about being asked to speak to a group of 8th graders was simple: I emailed all of the local middle school principals in the county that I work in and expressed how I would like to come speak to their 8th graders about their future.  Of about 6 middle schools only 2 schools responded to my email and 1 of the 2 actually invited me to come and address their 8th graders.  I was so excited because I was going to be able to go in and get to connect with these students, but what I wasn't prepared for was the attitude that the school staff showed for the students.  The only person who truly seemed to care about these students was their guidance counselor, hence the reason she invited me.  There were about 4 other school staff attending my presentation and only 3 of those (including an assistant principal) really cared about what I was saying and cared that their students listened.
The main purpose of me meeting and speaking to this group of 8th graders was to talk to them about college, but see what I've learned about students is that if they don't think you care about them they ain't gonna listen.  So when I went in I examined the group of students before me and I made sure to make eye contact with each and every one of them, which made them understandably uncomfortable. I like to make eye contact with them so that they can see that I'm really serious and that I'm really just here to get to know you and help you.  After the counselor introduced me (she called me Mrs. Green, but anyway LOL) I took the floor and greeted the students who were surprisingly responsive!  I told them my rules for when I'm speaking to them and then I went into my story about my time in middle school and how I visited ISS SEVERAL times.  I also told them about the time that I tried stealing from Walmart in the 7th grade, as well as the time that I got kicked off of the cheerleading squad because I had one too many referrals.  I had their attention, but I already knew this.  Students need leadership and they need guidance, but they also need to feel like you understand where they are coming from.  I'll have to admit that I wasn't really sure how I was going to get to them, but God helped me out the day before.
The day before I happened to be at one of the high schools that I work at once a week and this same group of 8th graders was there participating in a campus tour.  One thing that I like about this county is that they allow all 8th graders to come and tour each high school, as well as get acquainted with the clubs and teams that they have to offer.  So I'm watching the students and one of the school staff says, "It's a shame, but I already know what they're going to be".  I said, "Really, how is that?".  She says, "I can just look at them, you can just look at them and tell who's going to do what once they get here".  I disagreed, I said, "I have no idea how they're gonna be, but I'm going to get to know them.". 
It's important for me to get to know that students I'm speaking with because I want to help them understand that not so long ago I was sitting exactly where they are (just in a different state).  I eventually got around to talking about the program that I run and how beneficial it is going to be for their future, but first they needed to know that no matter what they've done up until this point, they can still be whatever they hope to be.  I think that schools theses days are only concerned with numbers, test scores, school grades, keeping their job, performing well, but they're missing the one key reason they're in the profession: the STUDENTS.