| |  What is Get Focused, Stay Focused?Maybe you have heard of Career Choices; or Academic Innovations; as well as Get Focused, Stay Focused; and you are not sure how all of these pieces fit together––so here is the explanation:Get Focused, Stay Focused is a classroom-based, comprehensive guidance curriculum designed to increase middle school transition; high school, college, and post-secondary completion; and propel successful entry into the workforce with the skills required to succeed. So what is the Get Focused, Stay Focused National Resource Center? We are a 501c3 non-profit in a public/private partnership with Academic Innovations, the publisher of the Career Choices curriculum series. We work with our partner schools and colleges that use the Career Choices series to support high quality delivery of curriculum and ensure that EVERY student graduates with an informed career choice and up-to-date 10-year plan. | New Services from the GFSF Non-Profit!  | As students return to school in the shadow of the pandemic, we need to help get them back on track. Studies show that students are suffering from depression, lack of focus, and loss of learning. |
We need to give them time to think about their futures and update their plans, providing them with information on local high-wage, high-demand jobs so that they can make informed career choices. Our low-income students of color have been disproportionately impacted by the disruption of their learning, and we need to build their self-efficacy––the belief that they can move ahead with their plans and be successful in their chosen careers. In the last year, therefore, the GFSF non-profit developed three new areas of service to support our partner schools: - Scaling to the whole-school initiative
- Embedding regional labor market information
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion in career planning
| TRIVIA NIGHT
On October 1, 2021, Get Focused Stay Focused hosted a fun virtual Trivia Night fundraiser. Sixteen teams signed up with seventy-two people participating in total. One local team met in person for a pizza party while playing. Other players joined family members or friends living in other states to play as an online team.Our quizmaster for the evening, Tim Duggan, did an awesome job moderating the evening. There were four rounds of questions with twelve questions per round. Team players went into breakout rooms to discuss their answers and sent their results back to Tim for scoring. He announced the correct answers and team statuses after each round. The questions covered diverse topics such as food, famous people, geography, music, sports, art, authors, state capitals, and more.Amazon Gift Cards were awarded to each of the six players on the winning team. The first-place winning team was LORT. Congratulations! GFSF raised about $11,000 to enhance our career-focused program for high school students. A great time was had by all, and Trivia Night was such a huge success, we plan to make it an annual event. Linda Schwartz
Chairperson of GFSF Trivia Night
Board member
| Board Member Spotlight
 | Our New President – Celia Howen Celia was voted in as the new GFSF Board President in August 2021 after serving 10 months on the Board. She has spent 20 years empowering college students for lives of purpose, service, and leadership by providing professional development coaching, general workplace skills, work-related values, and industry specific internship and job search support. Celia has had a leadership role in directing a college career center’s staff, resources, and partnerships across campus. Today, Celia is practicing as a Personal and Professional Development Consultant working with individual clients as well as providing team-building workshops for churches, non-profits, and for-profit companies. Celia holds an M.Ed in Higher Education and College Counseling. She chose to join the GFSF Board because the organization’s work is in line with her previous and current work, her values, and
her passion to help students make important decisions about their futures. |
| Huge Garage Sale to Support Get Focused Stay Focused Nov. 20th @ 915 Randolph • Goleta Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 20th for an opportunity
to grab some great bargains. GFSF is having a giant garage sale
from 8:00–12:00 (no early birds, please). Cancelled if raining! You’ll find treasures such as: • books
• puzzles
• children’s toys and games
• houseware items such as placemats
• kitchenware | • clothing
• knickknacks
• flowerpots and vases
• children’s clothing
• artwork |
and lots more! For more information, contact Linda Schwartz at LESatTLW@aol.com
or call (805) 689-4222. 100% of the money raised at the garage sale will go to help support the ongoing programs and goals of Get Focused Stay Focused. See you on November 20th! |
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