Help your students play!
Historically, Bridges has hosted the Career Exploration Day, an annual special event offering more than 2,500 high school students from 28 local school districts a unique way to meet business professionals and explore careers. Due to Covid-19, Bridges will again not be hosting this event in 2022. Instead, Bridges is offering students an opportunity to explore the hundreds of careers available to them and to better understand local career options.
Watch this short video to learn how this new website works and how to incorporate it into your classroom or career-readiness activities. If you have additional questions, contact Kathy Moore.
How to use this site
Visit TheGameofCareers.com and help students register or log in.
- Register: The first time students go to the site, have them scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on the "Create your log in & password here!" link. Once students complete the simple registration form, they will automatically be taken to the Career Board page. This is the "game board" of our virtual experience.
- Play! Click on any industry name to learn more about that industry.
- Click on any flipping ‘career card’ to learn more about a career.
- Encourage students to play any Career Skills Activity they find on a career page.
- Ask students to track their activity using our Game Card (pdf)
- Live: A schedule of live streaming activities to participate in is featured on the LIVE page.
- Suggest that students to visit the Career Help page to identify their skills and interests
- Prizes: Find a summary of the prize offerings on the Game Rules page. Once logged in, as students engage with the site, they will earn digital points and "career badges" will appear on the top right side of the page. Students are eligible to earn points between March 4 - April 1, 2022.
Enhance Student Learning by:
Using this website as:
- an individual, class, or small group class activity by having students complete the Game Card for extra credit, an assignment, or class project
- a Bridges Academy career experience requirement
- a class lesson in student-teacher advisory time
- an AVID classroom activity (individual or team assignments)
Include in your PLC Meetings— strategize with your colleagues to promote website career-related classroom activities at your school
Hold preparatory student discussions, such as:
- the type of lifestyle their career choices might provide
- the effect that post-secondary education can have on employment and salary
- your own experiences in the job market and your career planning process
- the importance of career management as a life-long process
Post website/follow-up:
- Invite guest speakers to talk about their career journeys and the importance of goal setting
- Invite employers, or workforce professionals to your class to discuss the world of work, the importance of career management, and employer expectations.
Visit the Educators Resource page for more ideas!
Student PRIZES for time spent on this site from March 4 - April 1, 2022
During the promotion period of March 4 – April 1, 2022, students have an opportunity to be entered into two prize drawings:
- Career Badge Prizes:
- When students reach the 3rd badge level, they will automatically be entered into a random drawing for $10 gift card.
- When students reach the 4th career badge level, they will be offered an opportunity to complete a survey. Students who complete the survey, will be entered into a prize drawing for $100.
Prizes will be distributed to each high school's counselors office in early April.
Q&A Training Sessions for Instructors
Watch a recording of a training session from this week to learn how to use The Game of Careers website in your classroom!
Zoom Recording (25 minutes)
Helpful Download
- Game Card (8.5" x 11" pdf)
- Educators Handout (11" x 17 pdf)
Program Goal
To promote regional career opportunities by leading and encouraging students to
explore pathways that meet their skills, interests and abilities
Features of Bridges career exploration experience:
- The website offers 10 industries from our communities to explore, featuring 110 popular local careers.
- Links for related careers expand the potential exploration to include more than 500 additional possible career options.
- New LIVE activities for 2022!
- Bridges Game Show -- have your class participate live in a game show about careers and compete with other classrooms throughout Central Minnesota
- Register for a campus tour of CLC or MSTATE. (Limited busing reimbursement is also available.)
Interactive, career-based skills labs, simulations and activities (labeled as Career Skills Activity) offer students virtual insight into what each career is like.
- These activities aren't supposed to be instructive (teaching the students knowledge or a skill), but rather offer an interactive sample of what future education/experiences in this career field might be like.
This Bridges initiative is funded in part by Sourcewell and the Central Lakes Perkins Consortium. The Brainerd Lakes Chamber appreciates its continued partnerships with Central Lakes College on this project.