During their second trimester of Division II, 9^th graders complete a 21-week Career Development Workshop as a prerequisite to beginning their field experience during sophomore year. The workshop curriculum consists of professional and personal development tutorials. During the personal development workshop, students learn about projecting the appropriate attitude, self-respect and respect for others, effective communication skills, and workplace conduct, among other topics. In the professional development workshop, students learn how to fill out a job application, write a resume, prepare a list of references, and dress appropriately for an interview. Each student then participates in a mock job interview with a professional interviewer.

Upon completing the workshop, students must produce a career development portfolio. The requirements for this portfolio are outlined in the ACT student handbook and monitored by Rhonda Kelley, Director of Career Development (DCD). Students are then invited to ACT's Career Exposition (hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank) where organizations interview students and vice versa. This match-making results in employers committing to host students for a 21-week field experience in their upcoming sophomore year. Field experience sponsorship has grown over the years and currently, sponsors number approximately 50 and have included organizations such as Morgan Stanley, Jones Day, Northwestern University School of Law, Community Access Network Television, University of Chicago, and Columbia College Chicago. Finally, throughout the school year, 9^th graders participate in Career Development Tours. These tours are field trips to Chicago businesses where students are exposed to a number of careers in addition to their field experience placement.

In 10^th grade, before embarking on a field experience, students must participate in a formal, 4-week review, the Field Experience-Orientation Workshop, conducted by the DCD. ACT requires students to briefly revisit selected topics from the Career Development Workshop held in 9^th grade. Upon completion, students are sent to work with the field experience employers to which they were paired at the Career Exposition during their freshman year.

This year acts as a bridge between college and career through college exploration and planning as a means to understanding the path to a specific career. Topics addressed include: "Making the Transition from High School to College", "FASFA Completion", "How Not to Succeed in College", and "Keeping Your Grades Up". A grant from Chicago Public Schools (CPS) of 30 Dell computers and college materials dedicated to college and career exploration have provided ACT students with a wealth of valuable research resources.

Based on their previous three years of experiences, students choose a career of interest and are placed in an appropriate internship setting for 10 weeks. Some students return to their earlier field experience sites. Students work a full, 8-hour, business day, Monday through Thursday, then return to school on Fridays for formal processing and reflection.

With guidance from our Director of Career Development, students are required to keep written logs of what they are doing and of their reflections on the experience, which are reviewed each Friday. Students must share their experiences with a Division II class at least once during the trimester. In addition, they create a portfolio about their career choice, including research on its educational requirements and potential in today's economy. Employers evaluate each student twice - once in the middle and once at the end of their internship.

There are three facets to the service-learning program: class projects, on-going school projects, and individual projects. Students must earn at least 10 service learning hours per year in order to meet division promotion requirements.

To begin, the Director of Career Development and a faculty member conduct an in-service for ACT teachers in the beginning of the school year. Teachers learn how to guide students in working together to brainstorm service-learning ideas that will meet community needs. Based upon the ideas generated in the classroom, teachers work with their advisory students to implement one, large service-learning project during the remaining months of the school year. The students choose the focus of the work and initiate much of the planning. Projects are organized based on the belief that service should be a two-way exchange between the students and the people they work with, rather than simply an act of charity. With the guidance of the Director of Career Development, students are allowed to select their own individual opportunities in addition to the class and school projects. Students are responsible for documenting the projects upon which they work and writing reflections on their experiences. The Director of Career Development tracks service-learning hours submitted by each student.

By the close of sophomore year, some students have a career goal in mind. It is for these particularly focused and self-reflective students (sophomores, juniors, and seniors) that ACT's Career Academy (CAc) Initiative, planned as a selective three-year program, has been implemented and continues to be developed.

Career Academy participants will attend workshops that address the specific educational, personal, and professional requirements for each of the above-mentioned fields. Workshop facilitators will be drawn from area-specific, career development professionals and will be augmented (pro bono) by individuals who work in these fields (e.g. newspaper reporters, attorneys, and nurses). Subsequent corresponding worksite placements will be made for these students.

In the 2007-08 school year, the Academy, in partnership with Columbia College Chicago, worked with a handful of students interested in the profession of journalism. ACT students worked directly with Columbia College volunteers and students from neighboring schools to compile, write, edit, and publish two issues of New Expression, a student run paper directed by Columbia College Chicago students and graduates and published by Youth Communication.