Golden Path Solutions Newsletter – September 2024

Hi! We hope your school year is off to a great start. We’re happy to be back in the middle of exciting school events and activities, finding new ways to connect students and employers. From our new College pilot program in Compass to transitioning Compass to help support North Dakota schools’ Four-Year Rolling Plan, we’re focusing on creating new features to help students and school professionals. We’re also reaching out to employers with everything from new Career Profiles to Sponsorships and Placements.

Keep reading for more information about what’s happening in Golden Path in September:

Main Street ND Summit in Watford City a success

The 2024 Main Street ND Summit in Watford City at the end of August proved to be an engaging event highlighting community-focused efforts across the city. Golden Path Founder and CEO Patrick Mineer attended the event, connecting with professionals from numerous organizations.

The summit is an initiative driven by North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to help highlight the ways North Dakota cities are building community engagement through events, downtowns, shared spaces, parks, and more. The Watford City summit featured several speakers, including Cory Hepola from Community Ventures Network and Our Town, based in Minnesota. Attendees also toured different parts of Watford City and Western North Dakota. From their new Bakken Area Skills Center to the new fairgrounds and Ag Expo Center, multiple main street get-togethers and concerts, even a 5K, Watford City leaders did a great job showing off their community.

Compass recommended for ND Four-Year Rolling Plan

We recently shared how Compass could be used to manage North Dakota schools’ Four-Year Rolling Plans at the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) workshops in Fargo and Bismarck. The workshops were hosted by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI), which recommends that the Compass student profile be used to track students’ Four-Year Rolling Plan. Compass already helps support career exploration and work-based learning processes across the state.

In preparation for this transition, our team has updated Compass to allow school professionals access to manage school courses. Individuals with access to the RUReady.ND.gov Professional Center can now go to the Compass Console, click on the gear icon, and update existing course names, activate or deactivate courses, or add new ones. We’ve also made changes to the student experience to make Compass easier to use, including updates to the mobile app. Stay tuned for more information related to training resources, including in-person training and video guidance. Reach out to us at info@goldenpath.net for an overview of these changes or more information.

Get ready for upcoming career fairs

Check out our events list at the bottom of the newsletter for numerous upcoming career fairs, including the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corps BioSciences Summit in Fargo, the Northern Valley Career Expo in Grand Forks, the Minot Area Career Expo, and the Breckenridge/Wahpeton Career Expo. These are great opportunities for students and employers to connect.

If you are an employer attending any of these events, we recommend a few best practices. Make sure you have an up-to-date Compass account with your current contact information, company overview, and any work-based learning experiences you are offering, even if it’s just a job shadow. We can also help you create and publish Career Profiles before your next career fair. The purchase of a Career Profile gives you access to marketing materials you can hand out to students during events. This provides another tool to share your organization’s information and highlight your opportunities.

The goal is to provide enough information in Compass that students can learn about your business before a career fair, making it easier for them to connect with you there and reach out after the event.

Watch for new parent-focused awareness efforts

We want to make it easier for parents to engage with their students about career exploration and postsecondary education planning. That’s why we’re reaching out to parents with a new awareness effort, including social media posts and new parent communication sent via email. We want to be sure that parents are aware of the work we’re doing at Golden Path and how it benefits their students.  Follow us on Facebook and sign up for parent emails today.

New employers and Career Profiles featured in Compass

We’ve added many new organizations and Career Profiles to Compass. Welcome to C&W Services in Breckenridge which works with Cargill in Wahpeton; St. Luke’s Medical Center in Crosby, ND; Scheels in Grand Forks; Red River Communications in Fargo; and Leach Home in Wahpeton. Check out the new Career Profiles for Heavy Equipment Operator at Local 49 in Minneapolis; the Member at AmeriCorps in Bismarck; Youth Development and Education roles at the Missouri Valley Family YMCA in Bismarck; and the Pharmacy Technician at Altru Health System in Grand Forks.

Share your events with us

We’re building a new events calendar to share with all of you. From school career fairs to conferences, workshops, and expos, these events build connections between schools and employers – and now they’ll be easy for you to find and attend. Please submit your events to events@goldenpath.net. Watch future communications for when and where the events calendar will be available.  We’ve also made it possible for employers to publish events to schools and students within Compass, at no cost.