Pathways Day Faculty and Staff Overview

What is Pathways Day?   

• A day for current and prospective students to learn about possible degree and career pathways.
• A day for students to learn about resources and opportunities to enrich their journey.   
• An opportunity for current and prospective students to interact with faculty in a non-classroom environment.

Pathways Day web page

When is Pathways Day?

• Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Who Will Attend Pathways Day?

• Pathways Day attendees include current students, prospective students from local high schools, and past students who did not complete a degree or certificate. 

Why is Pathways Day a Great Opportunity? 

• Pathways Day offers faculty and staff the opportunity to provide useful and compelling information to a relevant audience. 
• We know 30-40% of students coming to NHCC don't know what they want to study and many students change majors. 
• For faculty, presenting a program-related session at Pathways Day is a great way for a highly relevant audience to learn about your program and the transfer and career opportunities it can lead to. 
• For staff, presenting at Pathways Day is an opportunity to raise awareness of services that are available to students. 

Questions on Pathways Day? 

Faculty Contact: Brandon Hepola
Staff Contact: Tracii Hunter

What Students Say About Pathways Day

• Erin: “A big connection I can make between the two sessions I went to [Pathways to Careers in Health and Building Teamwork Skills] is that in the medical industry, you need to work great as a team and use each other's knowledge to succeed. A lab technician wouldn’t have his or her job without a nurse or doctor, and vice versa. Doctors and nurses collect the sample, while lab technicians test it and send back the results so treatment can begin. It even takes teamwork for a patient to agree with you and take meds or accept treatment. You must be down to earth and understanding about their situation, without getting angry or upset in the process. I also connected both of these to my career goals because now I know that in the medical field I have an option of being in all the action or behind the scenes, which still is saving people’s lives every day. The teamwork session will help me include others in discussion, which can lead to an even more in depth conversation about any topic that my group has to talk about.” 
• Zoey: “I’m the first in my family to even attempt to go to college, so I have endless questions and went to three sessions. In the session about resources and money, I learned that I qualify for TRiO! In the transfer info session, I learned about transfer-ology, which is going to be crazy helpful because I want to go to the U of M and transferring credits there can be a little more tricky than most.  The last session was the one about the pre-social work pathway. They gave us a nice layout of the best classes to take at NHCC to both save money and make your bachelors experience easier. I got to ask personal questions regarding my specific experience with getting my degree which was extremely helpful. I now have a better plan for what my next couple of semesters should look like before I transfer to give me the best chance at completing my degree. Outside of all that, I had lots of fun. I got to hang out with friends and meet new ones. One of my friends and I played bingo together and I ended up winning a round! We decided to go look at the club tables to talk to new people and see if we wanted to join any ourselves.” 
• Angela: “In the social work and human services session, I learned about the human services associate degree and the required classes for that degree. I work in the social work field and the majority of the elective classes that I have taken are in sociology and psychology. I considered changing my degree from liberal arts to human services, but I realized that it would require me to take an extra 20+ credits, so I decided to stick with my Liberal Arts degree. I’m almost done with my liberal arts degree, and I wish I had learned more about the Human Services degree when I first began my education at North Hennepin Community College. At the end of the session, I took one of the handouts and the Social Work Program application for Metropolitan State University. It’s helpful because it goes over the credit and course requirements, reference letters, personal statements, personal experience and requirements for program and degree completion. It was a coincidence that my co-worker just began her education at Metropolitan State University, and she had asked me to write a reference letter for her for the Social Work Program. I really appreciate North Hennepin for setting up this event and the professors that spoke at the sessions. I sometimes feel like I don’t know what I want to do with my life or in my future, but this event was very helpful in guiding me in the right direction. I am very excited to finish up at North Hennepin and start at Metropolitan State to get my Social Work degree and help people. I feel like events like this should be offered once every semester and that students should be required to attend at least one session.” 
• Nikita: The first session I went to was led by Dr. Mayorga from the theater department. The entire room was actually packed with people to the point where there were no seats left. We did a few activities that taught us about soft skills. Each activity required us to collaborate more with each other and had opportunities for leadership. I had a broad understanding of what soft skills are before coming to this session, but afterwards, I was able to understand a little more about what it means. The activity we did at the beginning showed us how communication and going past your comfort zone is important, especially in a workplace environment. I learned that soft skills encompass more than just socializing with others, it’s how you present yourself in certain settings, time management, collaboration, empathy, and so much more. Soft skills are something I want to improve upon, especially since they’re a necessity in the field I’m going into. I also want to improve my relationships with the people in my life or even start new ones, and I’m sure these skills will benefit other areas in my life as well.” 
• Ariel: “I went to the College 101 and Careers in Health Care sessions. The first one taught me how to become a successful college student. I learned about tutoring, counseling, financial aid, and when to talk to your advisor. The second one taught me about all the different roles in the medical workforce. I learned about laboratory technicians, phlebotomists, and nurses. I learned about some course that I can take if I’m interested in these fields.” 
• Heather: “The mental health session was very interesting because they spoke about the importance of helping friends and family members with mental health resources. I learned how to respond to a person who may be in distress. The presenter also told us how to access mental health services on campus and even gave us her card if anyone wanted help or details about the resources that North Hennepin provides.”