Introducing the Beacon College & Career Center

For a short time earlier this year, the former Austen Room at Beacon High School looked like the set of an HGTV show, as a team of Beacon staff members worked to transform the extra classroom space into the new Beacon College & Career Center.

The recently redesigned and repurposed room will now offer Beacon students with a dedicated space for researching and applying to colleges and universities, professional internships, and next steps toward potential career paths.

Despite limited resources and a modest budget, the make-over was a priority for the Beacon guidance department team. The Center has been quickly put to use as meeting space for the new Beacon career exploration course.  The room also hosts a weekly college-planning seminar, as well as a set of informational sessions on community service.

But aside from this staff-assisted research, the guidance team hopes that the welcoming and well organized resource space will invite casual and informal inquiries by curious students who are planning for their lives beyond Beacon.

While several computers are available for Web-based research, the room also offers a broad range of college catalogues and view books, as well as many print resources for college planning, career exploration, post-graduation transition, and the development of new life skills. Bulletin boards share information about upcoming SAT & ACT tests, and other important deadlines.

And while this collection of resources is impressive, there are plans to grow the collection further.  Beacon guidance team intern Aliyah Farooki points out that, “We still have some room on our bookshelves!”

If you wish to contribute to the new Beacon College & Career Center by purchasing and donating a book, please visit the Beacon Guidance team’s Amazon Wish List.