Golden Path Solutions Newsletter – December 2025

Dec 9, 2025 | Blog, News

Patrick visits with two students at the Golden Path booth at a recent career expo

Career Expos, like the recent Health, Tech, and Trades Expo at the FARGODOME, provide an excellent way for schools and employers to introduce themselves to students. Afterwards, students can use Compass to learn more and contact employers about opportunities. Check out the Important Dates section for upcoming expos.

Happy holidays from the Golden Path Solutions team!

We hope you are enjoying a nice holiday season with family and friends.

We are thankful this season (and always!) for our partnerships and collaboration with our schools, state agencies, and community organizations that recognize that connections with young people are a critical part of developing our future workforce. From a new grant providing Compass to all 11 North Dakota State University System institutions to recent workforce survey results compiled by the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corp. and participation in the Greater North Dakota Chamber’s workforce council, we’re all working together to find more ways to connect students with employers, including through work-based learning.  It’s fun to be a part of that work!

Thanks for all you do to support future workforce as a part of the Golden Path community.

Keep reading for more about these partnerships and other updates.

North Dakota University System receives grant to fund Compass statewide

The North Dakota University System (NDUS) has received a $250,000 Strategic Impact and Innovation Grant from the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) to provide all 11 state institutions access to Compass.

This initiative will enhance student success by offering personalized career guidance, connecting students with regional employers for internships and careers after graduation, and aligning academic pathways with workforce needs – all through the online platform.

All North Dakota middle and high school students currently have access to Compass through RUReady.ND.gov. This new initiative will enable Compass to bridge the longstanding gap between K-12, postsecondary institutions, and the workforce by providing a unified, data-driven system that follows students through every stage of their educational journey from middle school to college graduation.

All 11 institutions will be able to highlight their programs and employer partnerships to high school students, helping students make better decisions about their post-graduation plans while also helping colleges with enrollment activities.

Read the press release for more information.

Workforce survey results indicate interest in student connections

The Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corp. recently released its regional workforce survey results, featuring data from 173 surveys representing more than 38,000 employees. Golden Path Solutions was proud to serve as a survey partner.

Read the GFMEDC’s summary of the survey results.

Some findings that stood out to us, especially as they relate to future workforce and building student connections, include:

  • The survey indicated a 20% increase in primary sector companies embracing work-based learning as an in-person hiring strategy.
  • Golden Path Solutions ranked fourth most utilized of the 37 resources and programs featured in the survey.
  • The GFMEDC is formulating ongoing steps for supporting employers with workforce development, including helping with college student recruitment.

We will continue to support employers as they build connections with high school and college students. Whether through work-based learning opportunities, Sponsorships, events like career fairs, or Career Profiles in Compass, employers can find the services and features they need.

Compass training sessions now available online

The former half-day, in-person Compass training for school professionals is now available as a shorter, online workshop.

“The Compass System Within RUReady.ND.gov: Facilitating the Four-Year Rolling Plan, Career Exploration, Work-Based Learning, and Employer Connections” will be held on two different days to accommodate schedules: 3 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15, and 11 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 17. North Dakota counselors, work-based learning coordinators, career advisors, CTE teachers, and school administrators are encouraged to attend.

Learn more about the workshop and register.

Two business internships open doors for Detroit Lakes High School senior

Brody Foster is putting his business studies to work this semester.

The Detroit Lakes High School (DLHS) senior is taking full advantage of his school’s work-based learning (WBL) program to prepare himself for college and a career. He’s interning at two different local businesses this semester: as an administrative assistant intern at the Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce and as a marketing intern at Nature’s Embrace Soap Company.

A driven student with a passion for business, entrepreneurship, and building community, Foster serves as the regional president for the student organization Business Professionals of America (BPA) and has an 11-page business plan for the resort he intends to own after finishing college. In the meantime, he’s earning both academic credit and valuable hands-on business experience through the two internships.

“I’m mostly taking business classes this year, along with taking these internships,” Foster says. “They are definitely my favorite classes, and I get to do them during school hours.”

Foster matched with both businesses through Compass, which helps support DLHS’s extensive WBL program, enabling students to earn academic credit while working at local businesses. He was immediately drawn to both opportunities.

Read Foster’s story.

Compass helping Moorhead High School track programs of study

Moorhead Area Public Schools is actively using the new Compass features we released to support their Programs of Study for high school students. Compass enables students to enroll in a program of their choice, while also enabling school professionals to track competition.

Moorhead High School is using a career academy model, where students enroll in a Program of Study that helps them plan for the classes and activities that prepare them for a future industry. Programs of Study range from Visual Arts to Facility & Mobile Equipment Maintenance to Production (Manufacturing), and more than 100 students have already used Compass to indicate their program.

If you’re interested in leveraging this functionality for your school, let us know.

New features released in Compass

The latest Compass release made our new Career Profile layout the default layout. This updated format features more photos, an embedded video, links, and a streamlined layout for a more engaging experience for students. Check out the new Surveyor Career Profile for the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

School professionals will also now receive notifications of new postsecondary programs published in Compass. Other new features include improved event notifications for employers and integration with Clever for single sign-on.

Watch your inbox in January for the next Compass Release Notes email with the newest features.

Welcome to new and renewing employers

We’re excited to welcome DakotaMB in Fargo to the Golden Path community. The following employers also renewed their Golden Path memberships: ComDel, Swanston Equipment, and Sanford Health, all in Fargo; and the North Dakota Court System in Bismarck.

Check out these new Career Profiles:

Watch for upcoming Career Profiles from Lund Oil and Delta Constructors.

Connecting with you at regional events

Golden Path is currently at the ACTE CareerTech VISION 2025 conference Dec. 9-12 in Nashville, TN, to explore best practices across the country to prepare students for their careers and build connections between educators and employers for future workforce.

We also recently connected employers and students at the 2025 Health, Tech, and Trades Expo Dec. 2 in Fargo, and employers and school professionals at the Minnesota State Career & Technical Education Summit Nov. 11-13 in Minneapolis.

It’s amazing to see so many people come together to share ideas and find ways to collaborate.

Check out our ‘Getting Tactical’ series for employers

We launched the second part of our “Get Tactical” employer series, providing very specific best practices on how to use Compass for workforce development.

These recommendations support employers with everything from helping students better understand an employer or industry to highlighting careers, using work-based learning to find students with specific skills and interests, and leveraging in-person events such as career fairs and classroom presentations. The blog post also features our updated employer marketing resources, available to paid employer members.

We’re here to help employers optimize their efforts and drive better results.

Read Part One now.

Read Part Two now.

Contact us if you have questions or need assistance.

Let us know about your events

If you have an event that you want us to include in our newsletter, please send us a note at info@goldenpath.net. If you are an employer and want to publish your event to schools and students, remember that you can do that through Compass. If you’re an educator wanting to invite employers to a school event (like a career fair or expo), you can do that in Compass too, choosing the employers you invite by industry, name, career cluster, or distance from you.

Important dates

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Contact us for more information or to get started with Golden Path Solutions and Compass.

 

Categories: Blog | News
Tags: Career Profiles | Compass | Employers | Events | survey | Workforce Development