STRICKLAND MIDDLE SCHOOL HIGHLIGHT

Congratulations to Strickland Middle School Choir Students, Abby and Juliet ( both happen to be in UNT TRIO Talent Search at Strickland!) for their selection to the ACDA National Honor Choir!

March '25

8th Grade Talent Search students hit the road visiting  a Hooves and Paws Pet Hospital, Medical City Argyle, UNT College of Visual Arts and Design, UNT Discovery Park, El Matador Restaurant, and learning about Law, Forensic Science, and Law enforcement complements of UNT.

 

Our final trip of the month was to UNT for an enlightening day of learning about criminal and civil law, law enforcement, and forensic science. We share this day with the Talent Search students from Gainesville Junior High school!

 

 

Our future engineers had a great day visiting UNT Discovery Park. The toured through the very interesting machine shop, learned what a clean lab is, learned about different kinds of engineering, and then had a fun hands on activity building bridges out of Jolly Ranchers.

 

 A small group of artistic 8th Grade Talent Search students enjoyed touring the College of Visual Arts and Design, seeing some amazing art, as well as trying out the culinary choices at Eagle's Landing for lunch.

We are so appreciative of Mr. Martinez, owner/manager of El Matador Restaurant, who shared his very interesting career journey with a group of UNT Talent Search 8th Grade students. He had great advice for our students, whatever career path they choose: set short and long term goals, and be open to opportunities that come your way! After speaking with Mr. Martinez, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at El Matador Restaurant.

The great team at Medical City Argyle showed us through the radiation department, the emergency department, the labs, gave us caps to try on so we could look like surgeons (and be silly), and then fed us cookies! We also learned the importance of the housekeeping and environmental services as well as nutrition in the hospital. So many career paths in the hospital setting!

Hooves and Paws Pet Hospital hosted Strickland UNT Talent Search 8th Grade Students on a tour of their facility. The students learned about the different aspects of veterinarian medicine from the lab to the stable. Thank you, Hooves and Paws!!!

 

Our own Mrs. Van Bunnen had the opportunity to commune with a cute koala on a recent trip to Australia and New Zealand! Ask her about the deer!!

Coming Up in March '25

Strickland Talent Search students will be headed out to visit some local businesses and UNT campus sites in March to learn more about careers:

March 5 - Hooves and Paws, Aubrey, TX

March 19 - Medical City Argyle, Argyle TX

March 20 - UNT College of Visual Arts and Design, Denton TX

March 25 - El Matador Restaurant, Denton TX

March 26 - UNT Discovery Park, Denton TXMarch 31 - UNT Law Presentation, Denton TX

February '25

UNT Talent Search students practiced the questions they will ask on their career field trips in March. What good questions they came up with!! "Did you have to go to college to do this job? What are the best parts of your job? What days/hours do you work? Do you spend a lot of time with other people? " 

Permission forms for the March career field trips will be handed out later in the month at school. Trips coming up include UNT Discovery Park, UNT College of Visual Arts and Design, UNT Law, Paws and Hooves Veterinarian Clinic in Aubrey, Medical City Argyle, and a local business TBA. All field trips are FREE to our students and include lunch and transportation. 

January '25 

High School prep is underway! UNT Talent Search students learned the difference between Endorsements and Career Pathways and helped each other discover where their  own top career  choice lined up. They were ready for the RHS Counselors to come the next week and sign up for their courses for high school. 

December '24 FUN!

This month the whole group of Talent Search students (59) went to the Lone Star Events and Sports to roller skate! The students showed cooperation, respect for each other and the adults,  taught each other how to skate, and helped pick each other up when they fell:) There was a LOT of FALLING and a LOT of LAUGHTER!!!! 

The next workshop will be January 21, 22, and 23. See you then!

November '24 Career Exploration

Talent Search students filled out a survey with their top 3 career choices so that their advisors can start planning the spring FIELD TRIPS! It looks like many of them are interested in medical fields, law and law enforcement, business, and the arts.

October '24 Workshop with PIZZA

This October, we changed up our meeting time so that we could have a working lunch with pizza and other goodies. With plenty of time to enjoy lunch the students also had time to explore the career they are most interested in on www.careeronestop.org. They found out about salaries, job availabilities, education and experience needed. Students are encouraged to look up as many occupations/careers as they want. The SKY IS THE LIMIT! 

Talent Search September '24:

Talent Search 8th graders attended their first workshop of the year on September 20. Strickland hosted a Career Fair (way to go SMS Counselors!) that morning and the students  shared their impressions. Some take-aways: it was really exciting that the FBI showed up and there was a wide variety of occupations represented, from auto mechanics to the recycling center to real estate and law! Talent Search students will be doing an Interest Survey on www.careeronestop.com to get their brains started on their career plans. They will meet again on Oct. 11.

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Strickland Middle School 2023-2024:

The 8th grade Talent Search students spent the fall researching possible career options. In the spring they
chose a field trip to explore a career they were specifically interested in. We visited the Nelson+Morgan
architecture/interior design firm, a video/animator producer, Medical City Argyle, spoke with a UNT lawyer
about various law careers, toured the Denton Community Theatre, and the Denton Police department where
we were able to experience making molds of “evidence” in the forensic lab.

TALENT SEARCH MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS PRACTICING TO BE FUTURE MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS