Underclassman and upperclassmen alike will be preparing for life beyond FHS before they know it, but this transition is not always easy. For this reason, there is a school Career Coordinator, Cheryl Reardon, who helps students plan and complete their Educational Development Plans (EDP).

“EDPs are critical because they’re the steps students are taking while they’re in high school that are going to have an impact on what they’ll do when they leave here,” Reardon said. “So by continuously revisiting their plan and continuing to update it and do research it helps them to not miss out on opportunities that could have made a smoother path toward their career after high school.”

Some opportunities that every single senior at FHS has are local scholarships, given by community members who often look at student EDPs.

“They’re particularly important for seniors because one of the ways that EDPs are used for seniors is when seniors fill out local scholarship applications, about 40 scholarships are given out to just Fenton High School seniors,” Reardon said. “You don’t get much better odds than that.”

Students can help their odds in getting the local scholarships by recording past career planning activities.

“In the past, we’ve gone in as a class and we put in the extracurriculars we do, we talk about volunteerism and all those kinds of things,” junior Felicia Lee said. “It’s supposed to help us grow as students and get our minds on track to help us prepare for the future.”

EDPs are not just for entering past experiences, however. They can be used for future events as well.

“I don’t think that students have a clue what they can do to prepare for college or a job, and the EDP really helps dial them into all the different things out there,” Spanish teacher Nickole Smelis said. “They can even look up specific colleges and see what the requirements are and it’s all in one place for the kids.”

Juniors and seniors especially should focus on their EDPs as they can be used to build resumes, Social Studies teacher Kevin Crimmins explained.

“Some kids don’t think about what’s next enough, so it makes sure that everyone is at least thinking about either college or a career,” Crimmins said. “One of the main reasons we are here is to prepare kids for what’s next, and if a school is not using an EDP or something to get kids to focus on what’s next, then they won’t be ready.”

For those who need help planning their upcoming years, an EDP can be a good place to look to.

“You put in your interests and it tells you what kinds of jobs would suit your interests,” freshman Anna Weigle said. “I think it will be helpful in the future because you’re figuring out what careers you want to do and it gives you insight on how many different careers there are and the different options.”

Anyone with questions regarding their EDP or career planning can contact Reardon at [email protected].