CCR Champions is a spotlight series from Connor Harrington, CEO of Kuder, that celebrates educators and school districts leading the way in preparing students for college, careers, and life. From classroom innovation to districtwide systems, these champions are redefining career readiness, making it more real, relevant, and accessible for every student.
Dive in as we explore how career coaches at St. Clair County Schools in Alabama, including Christina Puckett, Candace Blackmon, and Emily Ray, are enabling all students to engage in meaningful work-based learning experiences before graduation through a steadfast commitment to career-connected learning supported by strong systems, intentional design, and investment in the educators who guide students along the way.
With the Alabama Career Planning System featuring Kuder Navigator, provided by the Alabama State Department of Education, St. Clair County Schools has built a work-based learning approach that ties together career planning, classroom learning, Career Tech pathways, and community partnerships. Students don’t just hear about careers; they experience them, test them, and reflect on them in ways that feel relevant and real.
The district’s work-based learning model begins with helping students understand themselves.
Using Kuder assessments within the Alabama Career Planning System, students identify careers aligned with their interests and strengths. But the assessments are only the starting point. What makes St. Clair County’s approach stand out is how intentionally those results are carried forward into applied learning experiences.
Students don’t take an assessment and move on. They revisit results, research careers, explore requirements, and connect interests to tangible next steps. Their work-based learning activity log and digital career portfolios become living documents that capture each experience over time.
This continuity matters, especially for students who may not immediately see how today’s activities connect to tomorrow’s opportunities.
Christina explained why that documentation is so important:
“I love that students can go to their profile and see everything that they’ve participated in because they cannot always remember it when they go back and build their resume and career documents.”
By anchoring work-based learning in a system students can return to, the district ensures that experiences build on one another rather than fading away.
One of the clearest expressions of this approach is the district’s Reality Check experience, which reaches approximately 700 eighth-grade students each year.
Students begin by using the Alabama Career Planning System to complete foundational assessments and identify a career aligned with their strengths. From there, they research the local median salary for that career in their specific area of Alabama using the system’s built-in labor market information. This step ensures students are grounding their thinking in realistic, regional earning expectations, not abstract national averages.
Equipped with that information, students calculate take-home pay and step into a simulated “town.” In this environment, they make everyday decisions to see how their career choice affects their lifestyle related to:
This is work-based learning at its most effective, grounded in relevance, realism, and reflection. It also highlights a critical capability many districts seek: budgeting tied to regional earning data, which helps students understand that income and cost of living vary across the state.
For many students, Reality Check is the moment when career planning stops feeling abstract and starts feeling personal.
Reality Check sets the stage, but it’s only the beginning.
St. Clair County’s work-based learning framework continues to expand through college tours, industry tours, employer presentations, and career-connected experiences that help students see pathways up close.
These experiences are intentionally aligned with what students have already explored in their planning profiles. Rather than offering random exposure, the district connects students to environments and employers that reinforce their interests and goals.
This alignment is especially important in smaller or rural communities, where local job options may feel limited. By bringing employers and postsecondary partners into schools, and taking students out into real settings, the district broadens what students believe is possible.
One story Christina shared illustrates this perfectly.
For one St. Clair County student, work-based learning did more than spark interest; it created a structured, supported pathway from high school to a postsecondary credential and directly into the workforce.
That turning point came during an employer engagement event hosted by the district.
That clarity emerged when Alan Halbert, a Ford ASSET Coordinator at Lawson State Community College, visited as a guest speaker. What began as an employer presentation quickly became a direct connection between a student’s interests and a supported pathway into the automotive field.
“As soon as he heard from an industry professional, it clicked,” Christina shared. “He could finally see how his interests connected to an actual career and a clear training path. It wasn’t just information anymore, it provided him an action plan.”
Instead of a general idea about what he might do after high school, he saw a defined sequence: apply to the Ford ASSET program, rotate between classroom learning and paid dealership experience, graduate with an Associate of Applied Science degree, and step directly into the workforce.
The Ford ASSET program is intentionally structured to bridge high school, postsecondary education, and industry.
“This program gives students momentum,” Alan says. “They’re not waiting until after graduation to figure things out. They’re building their career while they’re earning their degree.”
And the work itself reflects how much the industry has evolved.
“These vehicles are rolling computers,” Alan explains. “You’re diagnosing networks, software systems, complex electronics. It’s high-level technical work and it’s a career you can build a life on.”
Alan has seen firsthand the difference preparation makes.
“Because these students already understand their interests and strengths from their career assessments, they come in with purpose,” he says. “They’re not unsure. They know this fits them. That clarity makes them stronger candidates and stronger technicians.”
Instead of convincing students this is a viable career, Alan finds himself helping them take the next step.
“I don’t have to sell them on the opportunity,” he adds. “They’ve already connected the dots. I just show them how to move forward.”
With continued support from Alan and his local dealership, the student entered Ford’s mechanic training pathway and stayed the course.
“The instructor and local dealership really stepped in to support him, and he graduated with his two-year associate degree,” Christina said.
And that preparation shows on the employer side as well.
“I know for the students coming out of St. Clair, the service managers are happy with them,” Alan says. “They’re prepared. They understand the expectations. They’re ready to work.”
For Christina, the impact of this journey extended beyond one student. It became a visible example of what’s possible when exposure is intentional and systems are aligned.
“I went back and brought students to tour the college he was at,” she shared. “It was powerful to see them realize, ‘This is possible for me, too.’”
That is the promise of work-based learning when it is intentionally designed.
In St. Clair County, that promise is supported by more than a single event. It is reinforced by a districtwide career readiness system that helps students understand their interests, explore real workforce data, and connect to employer partnerships at the right moment.
In St. Clair County, Career Tech education is yet another piece of building a robust education pathway available to students to help them reach their career goals.
Because students have already explored careers, earnings, and real-world environments as part of their model for career readiness, Career Tech pathways feel purposeful rather than abstract. Students understand why a program matters and how it connects to their goals.
The district reinforces this understanding through immersive experiences like Tools of the Trade, an annual event for approximately 1,200 sixth and seventh grade students.
During the event, students rotate through interactive booths representing each Career Tech department. Public Safety students bring fire gear for younger students to put on and race in. Collision has a virtual paint sprayer that they bring and let students paint a car door with. Other programs showcase equipment, technology, and hands-on activities that students can try themselves.
A defining feature of Tools of the Trade is who leads it: Junior and Senior Career Tech students themselves. Seeing peers succeed in these pathways makes Career Tech feel attainable and exciting, and the impact is clear. Plus, with expanded features in the Alabama Career Planning System, students can easily see how their assessment results align with Career Tech pathways offered in their district, increasing visibility into their options.
Christina noted “we’ve seen a drastic increase in our Career Tech pathways over the past few years.”
While work-based learning is the centerpiece of St. Clair County’s story, the district recognizes that strong experiences require alignment among the caring adults delivering them.
To support this, St. Clair County has invested time in professional learning opportunities, including the Certified Career Advisor Program through the Institute for Career Advising & Development (ICAD), to help career coaches and counselors deepen and align their practice.
Christina reflected on what stood out to her:
“The ICAD program challenged me to rethink how I engage with students and gave me practical strategies I’ll apply in future conversations, such as helping them interpret their results and emphasizing the importance of taking assessments seriously before getting started.”
This professional development didn’t replace what St. Clair County was already doing well. It helped ensure consistency, shared language, and intentional connections across schools and experiences, so students encounter work-based learning as a cohesive journey.
St. Clair County Schools is demonstrating what happens when work-based learning is intentionally designed, consistently delivered, and supported by strong systems and professional learning.
St. Clair County students are:
This is why St. Clair County Schools stands out as a CCR Champion: a district showing how work-based learning, when thoughtfully implemented, can transform career readiness from an idea into a lived experience for every student.
Learn more about how Kuder solutions can support your work-based learning initiatives.
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