School is out for the summer. For some that means hanging out with friends at the pool, while for others it may mean the start of their first job. Many recent high school graduates will spend this summer looking for a job they can turn into a career. But what happens for those who don't know what they want to be when they grow up?
In Columbus, Ohio WOSU is giving high school students a reality check of what the real world is like after graduation —showing both the advantages and disadvantages of various careers. Working with the Department of Education and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, WOSU created the website My Cool Job.
“The intent of the website was to make a direct connection between the demands of the job market and secondary school preparation in the state,” says WOSU Director of Educational Services, Marcelita Hopkins, Ph.D.
WOSU's website concentrates on four major career fields: engineering, information technology, arts and communication, and health sciences. Fifteen professionals share stories, demonstrate what their jobs actually entail, and give students honest advice about careers. Each profile includes interviews, photos, and videos.
For those who are new to the workforce, WOSU, through a partnership with The Columbus Dispatch, created a section on the website called Clues for the Clueless. The section includes reporter Samantha Nolan's weekly columns that offer guidance to job seekers, as well as job hunting tips, and a list of starting salaries for a variety of careers.
In addition to My Cool Job, WOSU launched The Shadow Knows, a series of seven half-hour programs exploring careers. Each broadcast — which is also available for viewing on My Cool Job —includes a student-produced segment highlighting what a high school student has discovered during a career-shadowing experience. An employee of that week's host company then participates in an on-air discussion with a group of high school students about the preparation and skills required for the job and the challenges and rewards it offers.
Each program also includes short segments featuring interviews with career counselors on job-specific issues such as: things high school students can do in the summer to benefit their future careers, options for students who have not been accepted to college, and the benefits of apprenticeships. At the end of each program is a segment called My First Job, where well known professionals share what they did for their very first jobs. Guests have included the Governor of Ohio and Jack Hanna, the Columbus Zoo Director.
WOSU is licensed to The Ohio State University. It is made up of multiple services including WOSU-TV, WOSU-AM and FM, as well as regional FM stations in other Ohio communities.
In 1920, the first radio license was issued to The Ohio State University to start an experimental station called Radio Telephone 8XJ. In April 1922, the station was issued the call letters WEAO, making it the first radio station in Columbus and one of the oldest and earliest educational radio stations in the country. WEAO was changed to WOSU-AM on September 1, 1933. In 1946, Ohio State University President Howard Beavis recommended to the board of trustees that the school should proceed with an application for an FM station. The application was accepted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1948, and WOSU-FM went on the air for the first time December 13, 1949. In 1971, WOSU-AM became a charter member of the new National Public Radio and began broadcasting All Things Considered. In April 2005, Classical 89.7 WOSU-FM became the first station in central Ohio to broadcast a digital radio signal.
WOSU-TV began broadcasting on February 20, 1956. The station played an important role in the Ohio State campus riots in the spring of 1970. The school president used the station to announce the closing of the university on May 6, 1970. Over the decades, WOSU-TV has led the way in providing access to information for hearing and sight impaired residents of Central Ohio. It was the first station in Columbus to provide closed-captioning for hearing-impaired viewers. In 1993, Descriptive Video Service (DVS) made select public-television programs on WOSU-TV accessible to people with visual impairments. At the time, WOSU-TV was the only local station to offer DVS service. The station began to broadcast all-digitally in 2009. Today WOSU TV reaches over 900,000 households.