A Taste of Everything: Exploring Career Passions Through Metier
Rock Ridge, a relatively new school district on Minnesota’s Iron Range, is taking a new approach to career readiness.
Created in 2020 through the merger of rival school districts Eveleth-Gilbert and Virginia, Rock Ridge invested deeply in its facility and programs to meet the changing career landscape of the Iron Range. The district set a goal for 80 percent of its graduating students to be ready for the workforce — no small feat. Meeting that goal would take not only a modern learning facility, but also a curriculum that could make the most of it.
Rock Ridge found that opportunity in Metier, an experiential learning and lifestyle design program based on giving students a variety of career experiences: as many as possible, as soon as possible.
“All you’re really doing is taking the question they’re not asked until 18, and sliding it down to 15,” says Jordan Herman, one of the program’s co-creators. “A lot of schools offer plenty of opportunities, but kids won’t know what they want or how to pick. By the time graduation’s on the horizon and they’re thinking seriously about it, we’ve missed some of their best years of self-exploration. We need to be starting that journey way, way earlier.”
Rock Ridge embraced that philosophy. It has implemented all four grades of Metier’s curriculum, which spans the formative years of middle school. Roughly 2,100 Rock Ridge students have participated in the Core Exploration program for fifth and sixth grade, while almost 3,500 students have participated in the Career Exploration program for seventh and eighth grade. It has offered them each exposure to numerous opportunities and experiences: some of them familiar, most of them not.
That last part is by design. “Metier is the first class designed for students not to like it,” says Jordan. “Kids get to try one bite of a bunch of things, some of them really far ‘out there’ — a career they’d maybe never encounter until years after graduation. They won’t like everything they try. They probably won’t even like most of it! But that’s the point. The experience is the point. They try a buffet and find the dishes they do like.”
“We’ve been asking students the wrong question: ‘What do you want to do after graduation?’ We show them a range of wages and send them out, saying ‘good luck!’ It doesn’t help anyone. We can’t ask students about their ideal careers…fuzzy unknowns they’ve never actually seen. We have to bring the experiences to them. Let them get their hands on a unique project, solve a problem, just play in that space for a few hours at a time. Give them the chance, and they’ll find their passion for themselves.”
“Rock Ridge has been nothing short of fantastic in their implementation and buildout,” says Jordan. “They’re supporting the whole child with this approach, using Metier as the foundational tool that connects their college and career readiness system. Rock Ridge’s embrace of this program — and the philosophy behind it — is something to celebrate, and its future potential is robust.”
For Rock Ridge, Metier is a tremendous investment and statement of purpose for its students. It’s also an example of how the program has grown from its central Minnesota roots. Originally devised by two Cass County teachers, the program is now used in almost two dozen districts throughout Minnesota…and expanding further each year.
“A career and technical education grant opened up 11 schools in a pilot form…we’ve been able to work with them through the rest of Minnesota’s service cooperatives,” says Jordan. “We’re so excited to see other schools and other regions picking it up. Through Sourcewell and the other cooperatives, we’re able to work together and serve the whole state.”
“It’s really something to celebrate.”
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Learn more about bringing Metier to your students at sourcewell.org/college-career-readiness/metier.