Forging Bright Futures in East Central Indiana

East Central Educational Service Center

The East Central Educational Service Center (ECESC) serves 38 school districts across 14 East Central Indiana counties by supporting career-connected learning and preparing students for postsecondary success, says Patrick Haney, executive director of the center.

ECESC recently received a Career Coaching Grant from the state to provide students with comprehensive resources to make informed decisions about college and careers.

Lindsey Lovern, ECESC director of strategy and innovation, says Indiana has focused heavily on career readiness in recent years. “A lot of resources have gone to high schools, but our schools were finding that high school was a little late for students to lay out a path,” Lovern says.

To reach students earlier, ECESC created the Forge Your Future Experience, which includes interactive career coaching for middle school students in East Central Indiana. “They come on-site for hands-on activities to figure out what they like, what they don’t like and how that points back to high school pathways and possible careers,” Lovern says.

Aligning Interests & Skills in East Central Indiana

The interactive experience utilizes the RIASEC model, which helps people identify their dominant personality types and matches them to suitable careers and work environments. RIASEC is a career theory organized around six themes: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional.

Taylor Philhower, instructional specialist and RIASEC coordinator, says students typically find two or three RIASEC themes they enjoy most. “We then help them explore pathways of careers that match those same strengths and interests,” she says.

The program’s success comes at several levels. “For some kids, even the thought that a career pathway can be fulfilling, rewarding and connected to their interests isn’t something they’d ever heard of or experienced in their personal environments,” Haney says. “It’s less about a specific career and more about who they are as people.”

Such self-awareness helps students see connections from today to their futures, Philhower says. “Often, they’re finding out about jobs they didn’t even know existed and that those jobs can be found in our region,” she says.  

That connection to local jobs is a key point for ECESC.

“Our primary focus is always to serve our educators and students, but there’s a wider goal,” Lovern says. “This is really talent development and economic development at the same time in connecting our students to possible careers tied to actual local employers. Students begin to see a real future for themselves that’s local.”