• Career Cafe is a career exploration program the School Counselor, Mrs. Nieves has introduced aqnd implimented at the Surfside School.  The program targets the fifth graders.  Mrs. Nieves does a class lessons in which the students are given a modified and age-appropriate version of the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator.  The modified test version used to assess the students was found on the following website  http://www.elementaryschoolcounseling.org/career-exploration.html.  Once the students are placed in the appropriate color group based on the results of their color quiz, they are invited to a Career Cafe session that would be of interest to them!  
     
    The Career Cafe sessions are done during the lunch period of the students participating.  An average of 12-15 students are invited to each session so that the students have a real opportunity to communicate with the professional who is there to talk about their career and career journey.  Due to the small, intimate setting, the students freely ask questions and interact with the professional.  In some instances, the students take a field trip to meet the professional at their work place.  
     
    After their Career Cafe sessions, the students get an opportunity to reflect on their experience and write thank you letters to the professional.  A book is created for the professional with the thank you letters and photos of them with the students.  The students also receive photos of them with the professionals as a keepsake to remind them of the experience.