Youth in school today will eventually enter the workforce and being prepared is crucial for success. In school, students learn core subjects but they don't necessarily gain the soft skills they need to enter the workforce. In an effort to teach kids about the skills necessary to have a successful career, Shelby County 4-H partnered with a local middle school for a career readiness program.

The 4-H Agent presented lessons from the Workforce Prep and Career Preparedness curriculum developed by Kentucky 4-H to supplement materials taught by the classroom teacher.  A pre-test and post-test were conducted with the participants.  Results showed there were large increases in student’s knowledge of hard skills, technical skills, soft skills, what career ready means, and the Kentucky career clusters.  Eight-six percent of the partipants responded that they had used information they had learned to make decision.   More importantly, 98% of the youth indicated they could be successful at a job/task they were given.  

While the long term results of the program cannot be evaluated until the youth are entering the workforce, they have been given a strong foundation to set them up for success in the future.