Kate Lynch is the new Career Counselor at Milford High School (Photo courtesy of Facebook)
Kate Lynch began her career in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 2006 as a Life Sciences teacher. During her teaching career, Lynch found that building relationships with the students and supporting them in their academics and social-emotional growth was the best part of her career. This led her to accept a position as the new Career Counselor at Milford High School.
“For the past two years, I have overseen the 12th graders and really enjoyed working with this group of students on their college and career plans after high school,” Lynch said. “I am excited to be able to focus my energy now on helping students find meaningful work-based learning opportunities that will make them more marketable in the career fields they hope to pursue.”
Lynch holds a degree in biology from the University of Rhode Island and moved to Milford in 2008, starting her career at Milford School District as a substitute at Lulu Ross and Milford High School before she was hired as a biology teacher. She taught biology as well as anatomy and physiology for ten years before completing her master’s in School Counseling in 2013. She made the switch to counseling in 2018. She has two daughters, one attending Lulu Ross and one attending Milford Central Academy.
“My focus as a Career Counselor will be working with students to find internships and employment opportunities that will help them learn and develop skills in the career areas they wish to pursue after high school,” Lynch said. “My job will allow me to do a lot of community networking and outreach to help match students with employers that will provide supported Work-Based Learning throughout their senior year.”
One of the goals Lynch has in her new position is to collaborate with local businesses to identify meaningful and appropriate tasks and projects that will allow students hands-on opportunities to experience what a job in their desired field may look like. She hopes to create an open line of communication between businesses in the community who are looking to hire exceptional and well-trained students in order to support both the businesses and the students.
“The biggest challenge right now is building a network of businesses and employers who are willing to host our students and support them as they learn about different career opportunities,” Lynch said. “The students we are looking to place in learning experiences have successfully completed their pathway at Milford High School, and Work-Based Learning offers them the opportunity to build upon the knowledge base they gained in the classroom. Our hope is that these work based learning opportunities will provide students with the on-the-job training they will need to make them more competitive in the workforce after high school and beyond.”
Currently, the most popular pathways at Milford High School are Allied Health, K12 Education and Agricultural, including Agricultural Structures and Engineering, Animal Science and Food Science.
“My goal for this year is to work closely with district office members and CTE teachers to identify student strengths and develop strong relationships with businesses in the community,” Lynch said. “I’d like to develop some procedures and structures that will allow us to seamlessly move students into and out of placements to allow them the most comprehensive work based learning experience possible. Building the program and ironing out all the kinks will take time, but I’m hoping we can work collectively to start the ball rolling in a positive direction this year.”
Share this Post