College & Career Readiness

One of our goals as a Counseling and Career Center is for all students to leave Franklin Pierce High School College and Career Ready. Success in the new economy requires a combination of academic knowledge and technical ability. Career exploration requires not only an understanding of the training/education required, but also an awareness each individuals interests and abilities and how those fit into a chosen career path. Through our Navigation (advisory) program we assist students in creating a well-articulated plan for post-secondary training, and provide various additional supports to ensure success.

Every year, our students participate in a variety of college and career outreach programs. A number of colleges and university's sponsor conferences and programs designed to encourage high school students to pursue higher education. Some conferences are purely informational, while others target students with specific cultural or financial challenges. Some of the programs our students have attended in the past few years include Uprise (an educational summit for Pacific Islanders), VIBES (Visionary Inspiring Black Empowered Students), Urban Preview (a free event for high school seniors of diverse backgrounds, low-income, first-generation and/or are students of color who may be interested in attending SPU), and EEE (Esperanza En Educación, a one day conference for Latinx high school seniors who are interested in attending UW-Seattle).

In addition, there are a number of career fairs across the region that provide hands-on exploration of various careers from engineering and computer programming to construction and plumbing. The various branches of the military also provide our students with information regarding their programs and educational opportunities.

Most four-year colleges and universities require some kind of entrance examination (most commonly the ACT or SAT). We provide students with opportunities to take some of these tests here at the high school. At FP, all sophomores take the PSAT (Preliminary SAT) free of charge. When taken as a junior, the PSAT also serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test used to determine National Merit Scholarship recipients. Juniors may also test at the school, but are required to pay for their tests (generally $15-20).  All students also take the SAT free of charge during their Junior year.

The ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) is also offered at FP on a yearly basis. The ASVAB is a broad-based test that measures student’s abilities in academic areas as well as those that are more vocationally oriented, i.e., electronics and electricity, clerical speed and skills, mechanical information, and spatial relations.  While the test is provided and administered by the military, student scores are for personal and school use only and not utilized by the armed services without the student’s consent.  This test is also free and all juniors are encouraged to participate.