Mentors
Does your mentee dream of being an astronaut? How about a social media director or a surgeon? Maybe she wonders what it would be like to be a computer scientist, a conductor, or a car designer. Career Girls role models will help her discover a world of possibilities.
The two of you can sit down and check out Career Girls’ high-quality, no-cost resources available right here. Career Girls is ad-free — creating a distraction-free space to make the most of your time together. Plus, we think you'll agree: the inspiring women role models you'll meet through Career Girls will fire up your mentee's imagination about what her future can be.
With more than 600 role models working in hundreds of different careers, you may be wondering how to get started. There is lots to explore, and no one right way to use Career Girls. But a great place to begin is with the Empowerment Lessons.
Using the Empowerment Lessons
Empowerment Lessons are a special series of videos and educational resources designed to support mentors in promoting empowerment and independence in their mentees. Career-Based Empowerment Lessons are centered around career exploration, and Skill-Based Empowerment Lessons focus on social and emotional learning (SEL) with key topics such as teamwork, confidence, communication, leadership, financial literacy, and the importance of integrity.
Each lesson centers around a short video clip that features real-world role models who share straight-to-the-point career insights and advice, making the lessons an ideal jumping-off point for meaningful and lasting learning experiences. These videos are paired with ready-to-use educational resources that build on essential concepts.
To get started, just follow a few simple steps:
- Choose an Empowerment Lesson. Each Career Girls Empowerment Lesson video is about two minutes and focuses on a different topic. You can use the Empowerment Lessons in any order that best meets your mentee's needs and interests. For example, if one of your goals is to help your mentee develop positive peer relationships, Choosing Friends might be a good place to start.
- Download the Corresponding Resources. Each Empowerment Lesson has a corresponding set of resources accessible on each video page (see example) and can also be accessed individually through the Resources module at the bottom of this page. Download and print the PDFs you'd like to use.
- View the Video with Your Mentee. It may be helpful to preview the video first, noting information that might be particularly relevant to your mentee or vocabulary you might want to review. For example, with “Be Confident,” discuss what confidence means: Is confidence something you get all at once or something that builds? What are some things you feel confident about? How did you develop confidence in this area? What would you like to feel more confident about?
Use the corresponding resources to take the learning further:
- Independent Learning Guide: (see example) This guide is designed to engage girls in digging deeper into concepts introduced in the videos. Your mentee might complete this guide on her own, but you'll find that it's also a great tool for sparking meaningful conversations that can have a lasting impact.
- Classroom Lesson Plan: (see example) While designed for school settings, this resource is also suitable for use in other educational settings, including mentoring, to guide a more in-depth "before, during, and after" learning experience.
- Fun Page Activity: (see example) Guide your mentee in completing this fun activity to further connect what she learned in the video to her own life.
Use the "Positively Empowered!" Certificate. Goal-setting is important in school and beyond. The Positively Empowered! Certificate provides an easy and concrete way to help girls set personal goals for developing the skills and knowledge they need to go after their dreams — and track their progress.
Using the Career Exploration Tools
Along with ready-to-use Empowerment Lessons, Career Girls offers built-in career exploration tools to engage girls in expanding career awareness, imagining what's possible, and taking important steps to plan for their futures.
The free Career Quiz is a fun place to start. This quick and easy quiz helps girls discover careers that may be a match for their skills and interests, with links to role models who can help them learn more. Girls who are natural problem-solvers, for example, can meet Makeda Keegan, an IT Systems Manager. Makeda encourages girls not to be afraid of software and coding. More important than being good at math, she explains, is being "curious, enthusiastic, and thorough."
You and your mentee can also explore by Career Clusters, such as STEM, Health Sciences, and Finance. Or, let them jump right into an A to Z tour of Careers and the Role Models who work in them — from an Accountant to a Zoologist.
Make sure your mentee is aware of our Student Resources. The printable resources promote independence, providing tools you can use with your mentee to set career exploration goals and imagine the future.
Use Our Mentor Resources
Use the Resources module below to find these additional mentor resources:
- Mentors Toolkit. This comprehensive Mentors Toolkit offers activities and additional tips and resources to support more in-depth learning.
- Printable Activities. Print and use activities such as our Career Action Plan, Career Girls Journal, Career Comics, and our Is This a Career for Me Venn diagram.
- Ready-to-Use Scripts. Need something fast and foolproof? Get a discussion started quickly with topics like Friends and Integrity and Leadership and Teamwork.
- Motivational Mini-Posters. Use the Resources module below, or see them all on our Motivational Mini-Poster page.
Resources
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Career Connections Certificate
Explore 10 different careers to complete this certificate. Decorate a star for each career area you explore.
Keywords: printable, printables, certificates(37.63 KB, pdf) -
Career Exploration 101 – Classroom Lesson Plan
This guide facilitates whole-class and small-group learning with the Career Exploration 101 Empowerment Video. Keywords: classroom lesson plans, videos, career-based, career based, CLP, explore(264.23 KB, pdf) -
Career Exploration 101 – Fun Page Activity
Use this activity page with students in conjunction with the Career Exploration 101 Empowerment Video. Keywords: fun page activities, FPA, videos, career-based, career based, explore, careers(25.11 KB, pdf) -
Career Exploration 101 – Independent Learning Guide
This guide is designed to support quick start discussion-based group learning and students who are independently exploring the Career Exploration 101 Empowerment Video. Keywords: independent learning guides, ILG, videos, career-based, career based, explore(203.64 KB, pdf) -
Career Exploration Certificate of Completion
Decorate a star for each career area you explore. This certificate is useful for Empowerment Workshops and other programs.
Keywords: printable, printables, certificates(37.87 KB, pdf) -
Career Exploration Record
Setting college and career goals can motivate students to improve their academic performance. Make copies of this record sheet and have students keep track of career videos they view as well as an overview of each career. This visual record will remind students of the active role they…
(12.08 KB, pdf) -
Career Girls Journal: Careers I’m Exploring
Use this activity page and the questions that follow to examine careers more closely and build connections. What are the important things to know about this career? What questions do I have about this career? What steps can I take to prepare for a career in ____________? Is this the…(24.74 KB, pdf) -
Career Girls Journal: College Majors I’m Exploring
Use this activity page and the questions that follow to examine college majors more closely and build connections. What are the important things to know about this college major? What questions do I have about this college major? What steps can I take to prepare for this college major? Is…(25.13 KB, pdf) -
Career Girls Journal: Colleges I’m Exploring
Use this activity page and the questions that follow to examine colleges more closely and build connections. What are the important things to know about this college? What questions do I have about this college? What steps can I take to prepare for this college? Is this the college for…(25.13 KB, pdf) -
Career Tracker
This chart helps keep track of careers explored. (Print multiple copies of this page.)
Keywords: printable, printables(19.28 KB, pdf) -
Career Tracker – For Empowerment Workshops
Use this record sheet to keep track of each career explored. This version of the Career Tracker is useful for Empowerment Workshops and other programs where students are asked to explore a minimum number of careers in order to earn a completion certificate.
Keywords: printable, printables, certificates(16.51 KB, pdf) -
Choose Your Road
Yvonne Spicer, Museum Educator VP: Choose your road and walk it with pride. Download and print this free motivational 8" x 8" 300 dpi mini-poster. Keywords: inspiration(2.23 MB, pdf) -
Choosing Friends – Classroom Lesson Plan
This guide facilitates whole-class and small-group learning with the Choosing Friends Empowerment Video. Keywords: classroom lesson plans, CLP, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based, friend, friendship, choose(300.76 KB, pdf) -
Choosing Friends – Fun Page Activity
Use this activity page with students in conjunction with the Choosing Friends Empowerment Video. Keywords: fun page activities, FPA, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based, friendship(22.42 KB, pdf) -
Choosing Friends – Independent Learning Guide
This guide is designed to support quick start discussion-based group learning and students who are independently exploring the Choosing Friends Empowerment Video. Keywords: independent learning guides, ILG, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based, friend, friendship, friendships(331.56 KB, pdf) -
Choosing the Right Friends – Classroom Lesson Plan
This guide facilitates whole-class and small-group learning with the Choosing the Right Friends Empowerment Video. Keywords: classroom lesson plans, CLP, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based, choosing, friends, friendship(258.24 KB, pdf) -
Choosing the Right Friends – Fun Page Activity
Use this activity page with students in conjunction with the Choosing the Right Friends Empowerment Video. Keywords: fun page activities, FPA, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based, leadership(27.12 KB, pdf) -
Choosing the Right Friends – Independent Learning Guide
This guide is designed to support quick start discussion-based group learning and students who are independently exploring the Choosing the Right Friends Empowerment Video. Keywords: independent learning guides, ILG, videos, soft skills, skill-based, skill based, choosing, friends, friendship(221.69 KB, pdf) -
College Terms to Know
Download this for a printer-friendly version of college terms for your students to become familiar with. Keywords: college prep(135.61 KB, pdf) -
Confidence Collage – Empowerment Activity
Topic/Theme: Confidence – Use this Empowerment Activity to reinforce the corresponding video and build teamwork and community within your Career Girls Club or other group.Keywords: activities,
(333.29 KB, pdf)
As a youth mentor, you play a vital role in supporting the academic and life success of your mentee. This includes everything from building confidence and learning the importance of integrity to exploring careers and how to prepare for them. That’s quite a range, so where do you and your mentee begin?