Your Future Is Bright

Your Future Is Bright
Posted on 02/24/2022

MMS Holds First “Your Future is Bright” Event
By:  Julie Lower, MMS Principal
#BulldogNationAheadofthePack

Preparing middle schoolers for high school and beyond has taken on a new look at Mexico Middle School.  In addition to our normal transition activities to prepare our 8th graders for high school, we held our first “Your Future Is Bright” evening event for 8th graders and their parents in January.  Our second event is planned for March, and many more years of events are possible, all thanks to a generous donation from a community member.  The donation was made specifically to help us provide career exploration and financial planning training for students with their parents present so they could participate with their children on the journey.  We are so appreciative of this new partnership with such a kind community member who wants the best for our children, their parents, and our future community.  

The purpose of the donation to provide training for our students to begin planning for successful futures, tied in perfectly with the mission of our Bright Futures site council which seeks to provide community members’ time and resources to help our students with any need they may have to be successful in school and life.  Our Bright Futures site council, including our partners at the First Presbyterian Church, the Mexico YMCA, and Pearl Motor Co, agreed to take on planning and helping at the events.  Our January event included learning sessions for our 8th graders and their parents to rotate through.  Topics included “Adult Budgeting” (including the importance of saving money throughout middle and high school and creating a strong credit score) led by Mary Dickey and Katie Smith from Home Bank, “Missouri Connections Career Interest Inventories” led by our MMS counseling and social work team, and “HS Credits to Graduate” led by Rebecca Moppin from MHS.  About ⅓ of our 8th-grade students attended with their parents for a total of 120 people in attendance.  At the end of the night, many students won fun drawing prizes including TVs, bicycles, gaming equipment, and gift cards.

We hope to have even more 8th graders and their parents attend our next “Your Future is Bright” event on March 10 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.  At this event, we’ll continue training about career exploration and financial planning, but have new activities and topics in those categories, including how to get connected to high school through clubs and activities, how and when to get started on scholarship applications, and the A+ scholarship, as well as more information about exploring career paths.  It’s a great learning opportunity for our students and families, and more fun prizes and gift cards to win!