Welcome to 2024! We hope you enjoyed a restful holiday season with your friends and family, with some time to reflect on the past year’s successes and what’s next in 2024. It’s always exciting thinking about the new year and if 2023 is any indication of what’s to come, 2024 is going to be fun.
Here’s a quick look at some of the highlights of 2023 at Golden Path:
What’s New for 2024
Continued expansion: We’re excited to continue onboarding schools in Minnesota, learning more about statewide processes and how we can help address them. We’ve met with several consortiums about how we can help drive their work-based learning programs and we’re exploring how we can tailor Compass to help schools get to where they want to be. We’re also in conversation with organizations in Montana, Iowa, and South Dakota. Stay tuned!
Compass community solution: Soon communities will be able to showcase themselves to students and other audiences within Compass. We hope that by matching a student to not just a career but an employer and a community, we can help drive value for all, including helping communities market themselves and retain/develop the talent that they need. Watford City, ND, will be the first community within Compass later this month, followed by Fargo-Moorhead and its manufacturing initiative later this spring.
Mobile app and other new Compass functionality: We are weeks away from launching our mobile application, which will allow students to update their profiles and learn about companies and careers from their phones, along with the ability to tailor the experience with their school colors and logo. We’ll also be able to use notifications to communicate more directly with students. Other new Compass functionality includes adding the ability to manage agreements for work-based learning with electronic signatures, a better way of uploading courses to Compass, and new administrative tools for North Dakota school professionals that will make it easier for them to view student profiles and have great conversations with students – key for use in the four-year rolling plan. Finally, we’ll be making Compass available to middle schoolers in North Dakota over the next week.
Community Venture Network event in Minneapolis: We’re excited to be featured at the upcoming Community Venture Network (CVN) Networking and Discovery Event Jan. 12 in Minneapolis. CVN is an organization that helps communities tell their stories, drive recruitment and retention strategies to help their local economies, and showcase solutions that help make this all happen. Golden Path will share how career exploration, work-based learning, and connecting employers and students are a key part of that growth strategy. One of the leaders of this group, Cory Hepola, is also producing an online documentary series titled “My Town,” which features smaller communities across the region, including Rugby, ND. You can learn more here. We’re excited to be part of it!
A goodbye (kind of): We also want to take a moment to say thank you to Julie Hersch, supervisor of the Career Resource Network within the North Dakota Department of Career and Technical Education, one of our key partners in working with RUReady. She’s taking a new role with the Fargo Public School district, driving their school-to-work program within special education. We’ll still get to work with her but in a different capacity. We could not have been successful without Julie’s leadership and connections across the state and we wish her the very best as she becomes a user of what we’ve built.
Thank You for Your Support and Partnership
We have a lot of momentum going into 2024 and much of that is due to you! All of us at Golden Path are thankful for your support and partnership, enabling us to continue to serve employers, students, and school professionals. We couldn’t do it without you!
Important Dates
- Jan. 10: Meet and Greet for Work-Based Learning Partners in Watford City, ND
- Jan. 11: University of Mary Employer Partner Meeting in Bismarck, ND
- Jan. 12: Community Ventures Network Networking and Discovery Event in Minneapolis, MN
- Jan. 16: Eggs & Issues with the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber related to K12 education
- Jan. 19: Data-Informed Career Decision-Making Webinar for ND school professionals
- Feb. 5-6: UND Spring Career Expos in Grand Forks, ND
- Feb. 7: NDSU Spring Career Expo in Fargo, ND
- Feb. 15: North Dakota State College of Science Career Fair in Wahpeton, ND
- Apr. 23: GrowND Workforce Solutions Showcase in Bismarck, ND
Connect with Us
Keep up with the latest opportunities and information here:
- Facebook for students, parents, schools, and employers
- Instagram for students
- LinkedIn for employers
- Our blog for recent news and stories
More Information
Contact Patrick for more information or to connect about opportunities with Golden Path Solutions.