‘Freedomtown’ Simulation Personalizes Career Exploration

If ever faced with a natural disaster, Freedom Elementary students now have an idea of what a full-scale community response might look like. Most importantly, they know how to tackle each job and whether or not they’re the person to take it on. 

Freedom counselor Rebecca Smith created and introduced a school-wide career simulation that grouped students into public servant roles that best matched their career interests. “At the elementary level, career and college readiness is oftentimes the missing piece,” Smith explained, “but it’s at this age that they need to be exposed to as many options as possible.” 

And so, Smith went to work to make her career simulation a reality. From scratch, she formulated six different challenges necessitated by a made-up community flood that occurred in “Freedomtown.” The town needed an entrepreneurial unit to produce and deliver supplies to the survivors and a communications team to report on the event. A group of engineers would need to rebuild a critical bridge that had fallen during the disaster, while the town’s medical professionals had to treat an influx of patients. A public service team had to come up with an evacuation plan and yet another group of scientists had to tackle the resulting water contamination issue. 

The finished product was a series of stations in the gym through which 14 different groups cycled in over four days. Students spent the entire time at the station that most closely matched their responses to a five-question career survey they completed with their class ahead of time. 

In one corner of the gym, students were experimenting with the limited materials they had to engineer a bridge that wouldn’t collapse when straddling two folding chairs. In another corner, students huddled around a map of “Freedomtown,” strategizing which roads they would designate for the evacuation route. In all corners, the gym was bustling with excitement, ideas and teamwork.

“There was a lot of engagement. Kids were asking a lot of great questions and just being curious, which is what it's all about,” said Smith, who the most challenging part was making the different roles appeal to students ranging from third through sixth graders. 

The simulation was the book-end to a multi-week effort to spotlight a different career path each day. On the school’s morning announcements, Smith featured interviews with a therapist, police officer and plumber, among others, to share their responsibilities, training requirements and career advice. She also led a “Guess Who” game that had students guessing which Freedom staff member she was describing who had a different career before teaching. 

The presentations were followed up with a discussion prompt that students might respond to independently or as a class. “This is where you really saw students growing and connecting the dots for what their futures might hold,” Smith said. “It was a lot of fun to see it all come together!”