Stride Career Prep: My Experience As A Student Advisor

My Career Prep Experiences In High School Have Created A Strong Start For My Professional Future

By Andrew Dotson, Stride Student Advisor

In Collaboration With Kendra Berrier

My experience as a Student Advisor with Stride is like no other. I’ve learned essential skills, such as resume writing, interviewing techniques, and time management. Being a Student Advisor could potentially be described as an easy job, but everybody is different. I only spend about three hours a week on my job, and I love every minute of it. Sure, sometimes it gets hard with juggling school, clubs, and the job itself… but I always manage to pull through.

I’ve worked with some great people, during my time as a Student Advisor, and I’ve worked for one great company. Stride is a company that I would choose to work for again and again. A Student Advisor’s core role is to assist their school and their classmates, and that is exactly what I did. And, I did it with a passion. I helped establish an official Career Prep newsletter at my school that is frequently updated, and I also helped to improve school-corporate relations. In addition, I also managed the flow of information between the two.

Social media is an integral part of today’s world, and Student Advisors are a central part of Stride’s mission in that digital sphere. I’ve created many posts and got assistance with graphic design, so that I could create beautifully designed graphics to go along with every post I did. I also got experience with social media marketing, and it is a wonderful world to be in, even for somebody like me whose dream is to be in information technology. It just gives you a new and distinct perspective on the corporate world, and on social media in general.

I’ve gotten to meet with corporate executives during my time on the job, and it was a joy to talk to all of them. They really showed that they cared and valued students’ opinions and questions that we had for them. You also additionally get to be a member of school advisory boards, but only your own, of which I was a member… and I got to give and hear great input, regarding our Career Prep operations.

One of the best things about this whole program for Student Advisors with Stride was that it formed my idea to establish a student-run newsletter at my school. Since its launch in Quarter 1 of 2022, the newsletter has received a lot of attention within the school, by both staff and students. Engagement is through the roof, and the student connection and overall bond is growing stronger. This idea created an ultimate dissemination center for students from all walks of life, with all kinds of skills, to be highlighted and heard at our school… and I surely hope other schools see an example from this and create their own programs.

As I exit this role, I know that I’ll be more prepared for the corporate world in the future, and I also know that companies will see me as a strong candidate, due to my position at Stride. In its entirety, my experience with Stride may seem short to you, but to me, it was a ride that seemed to never end.

To read more about how online schooling helps students grow, be sure to check out Virtual School Motivates Teen To Become More Responsible.

And, you can read another terrific blog post by one of our Stride Student Advisors about discovering the right internship for you, here!

Stride also has an article to help students new to online high school, so make sure you read 5 Tips For New Online High School Students, too!

To learn more about Stride Career Prep’s Student Advisory Council, make sure to visit https://www.k12.com/stride-career-prep/about/student-advisory-council.html