TRUE KIDS 1

TK1’s Pro Pathways Program connects young learners to the workforce in four main ways:

• we shoot short interviews, with illustrative b-roll, of a local graduate at work. How did they choose this career path? What do they love about it? How much money do they make?
• we take these interviews to classrooms for facilitated discussions. Video can be a can-opener, bringing us immediately into the sights and sounds of a job. Students in classrooms across northern NM then get to ask questions, learn, and ultimately see the choices people just like them have successfully made.
• we convene discussions among employers, employees, and young learners. Why should youth consider certain education or workforce pathways? What’s in it for them?
• we lead excursions, bringing young learners directly into the workforce, to experience it all for themselves, and ideally help them make some big choices following HS graduation.

This page also has a video repository of some exceptional local careers. Designed for a teen audience, these videos feature local graduates now working in the skilled trades, in fighting wildland fires, and in the tourism industry. Our newest videos (to the right) we shot up at Taos Ski Valley; and over 2022 we captured Careers in Wildland Fire Management, shot during the massive Hermit’s Peak – Calf Canyon fire.

With funding from the Northwest Regional Education Cooperative #2, TK1 has also created six videos featuring skilled tradespeople throughout Northern NM. Each video explores a different trade by interviewing a local tradesperson and then showing images of that individual at a job site. The intent is to inspire, informing young learners of the choices a local individual made upon graduating high school to the current stage of their career, including income level, responsibilities, and aspirations.

Under TK1’s supervision and direction, students from Questa, Peñasco, Mesa Vista, Jemez Mountains, and Pojoaque all led these video shoots. TK1 professional staff hen edited the footage into final products. Final versions of the videos have been shown in various classrooms, and, on September 15, 2022 at the National Skilled Trades Day Fair in Peñasco.

The ultimate outcome of this work is to show students very real, very rewarding, and very achievable career paths that can keep them in this state as highly productive members of society. This will also help fill a growing void in the local workforce.

TK1 intends to shoot as many videos as possible on careers, knowing this is an incredible resource for our young learners.