LOOMIS - In the next few months, high school seniors will need to decide what's next. Now there's a one-stop shop to help them decide if college is right for them or if another type of training program is better.
A new concept was created by an El Dorado Hills man after working through college placement for his own kids.
"I was like this is really interesting," said Claudine Tanguileg.
This was Tanguileg's first thought when she logged on to the Go-Educate portal.
"Right away, it showed me what programs and what universities that it specialized in and by clicking on them it showed me what careers follow after," Tanguileg said.
She is a Del Oro senior who is interested in psychology and is one of the many using the free online platform, which starts with an assessment.
"I enjoyed going through it figuring out what I liked. making certain choices and then it was giving me feedback," said senior Cole Kelly.
Kelly is a student-athlete considering a career in marketing or sales.
"I'm not a high level by any means," Kelly said. "When it gave me Sierra College options, I was like I can go play basketball at Sierra College and I can also take this class and do it simultaneously."
Teacher Morgan Zerwas says it's been helpful in her continuing education classroom.
"Most of our students come to us having zero idea of what they want to do," Zerwas said.
She has 40 students and they talk about what happens after high school a lot.
"The one example I have is a student who plugged in that he wanted to be a machinery operator," Zerwas said.
She said taking something hypothetical and turning it into who's hiring hits home.
"Seeing it online as though there were three jobs posted for a big machinery operator and I could do that within six months of graduating and make this amount of money, that felt really exciting," Zerwas said.
The site takes data from multiple sources pulling from real time regional job data as well as colleges and tuition costs. It's updated daily.
"So we have a lot of partnerships right now we are working with," said chief learning officer Frances Winters. "One that has been a great partner is Seta, the Sacramento employment training agency. We're working with Workforce development with them as well as the Roseville Chamber of Commerce."
The site went live in mid-September and already has 54,000 users between 15 high schools, three junior colleges and Sacramento State.
Tanguileg said it's made a difference for her.
"I just thought it's kind of a blueprint in life," she said. "What I can do and what steps I can take."
She'll likely head to Sacramento State where she plans to eventually pursue a nursing career.
Each region has its own portal, so you're not getting jobs from far away. It's not just for students, the public can access it as well.
First published on December 14, 2023
By Rachel Wulff, CBS13, Sacramento