PATHWAYS Futures Form Here

The students of today will become the working professionals and leaders of tomorrow. With this in mind, Pope Francis Preparatory School created the Academic Pathways program in 2019 with the mission of helping students explore careers and confidently choose college majors by providing hands-on career exploration.

Led by social studies department chair, Mrs. Leslie Perreault, Pathways kicked off the 2022-2023 school year with a workshop from MassMutual representatives Melissa McDonough P’24, Compliance Consultant (Financial Crimes and Fraud Prevention) and Sam Bauduccio P’26, Head of IT Portfolio Management (Digital Strategy) who presented on resume and brand building and the importance of networking.

Students at PFPS are invited to join the Pathways program beginning in their sophomore year. One of the students attending the kickoff event was Francesca Hernandez ’25. Francesca shared, “I decided to join Pathways because I like to be prepared, especially regarding my future. I’ve wanted to be a lawyer for many years and I knew the program would help me see if that’s truly the career I want to pursue.” Francesca is excited to explore civic engagement and enjoyed a recent field trip to the high court in Springfield, where, “we met with Justice Edward McDonough ’73, P’24 and sat in on multiple cases ranging from narcotics to involuntary manslaughter. Witnessing how the lawyers defended their point and its effect on the jury and the judge was incredible. It furthered my drive to be an attorney and my desire to try and give everyone the justice they deserve,” she said.

HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE

Recently, a group of Pathways students interested in health sciences visited the STCC Stimulation Labs. Julia Dennis ’23 shares that “visiting the STCC Stimulation Labs has by far been the most engaging tour of a college I have ever had. We were able to work hands-on with the robot simulation patients by taking their pulses, measuring their breathing, and doing minor procedures. Additionally, we were given the opportunity to use Virtual Reality tools for learning.”

Connections

We recently caught up with Elizabeth Goncalves ’22 who is a sophomore at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Liz is earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering and planning to pursue her Master’s Degree in Management in the five-year BS/MS program. Reflecting on her time in Pathways at Pope, Liz shared, “The Pathways Program allowed me to make some important connections. One of the major contributors to finding connections was through the LinkedIn account I created while in the Pathways Program. LinkedIn was instrumental in securing my summer internship last year. One of the greatest lessons I learned from Pathways was to apply to as many internships or job opportunities as you can, even if you aren’t sure you are qualified for all of them. At the end of my first year at WPI, I must have applied for over ten internships, and only received an interview opportunity from one of them. That one interview led me to obtain my internship last summer at Atlas in West Springfield, MA. This internship was a great experience because even though it had little to do with engineering, it was a great opportunity for me to discover my strengths and abilities in the workplace. Atlas allowed me to explore the environmental impact of underground storage tank leaks, as well as the precautions that must be followed to prevent these leaks. I really enjoyed my time at Atlas and the research I contributed to helped me realize that I see myself going into a materials concentration of chemical engineering versus an environmental concentration.”

Liz continued, “Last year I also applied for an internship at Callaway. Unfortunately, Callaway was not able to offer me an internship opportunity last summer. However, after I concluded my internship at Atlas, a recruiter from Callaway reached out to me regarding my application from last year and was wondering if an interview could be scheduled for an internship for the following summer. After three rounds of interviews, they offered me the position of being a product engineering intern. I am beyond excited to have my first hands-on engineering and manufacturing internship in the summer of 2023. I keep my LinkedIn profile updated regularly. This is a great digital resume for me in addition to a

Pathways has given me countless opportunities throughout my three years in the program to discover various careers and solidify my own career path.” traditional resume that I take to career fairs and job opportunities.”

Mentorship

Elizabeth Gonet ’22 is currently a student at Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst. Through Pathways, Lizzie was able to develop a relationship with Attorney Katie McDonough, from Egan, Flanagan & Cohen who was her email mentor. Lizzie shares, “the Pathways Program helped me learn more about my desired career in the legal field and learn from those in the field. As a full time high school student with an interest in law school, the Pathways Program gave me an opportunity to explore that career. While taking two virtual high school law courses, I gained interest in the legal field and decided I wanted to pursue this as my career. Ever since, I have worked hard to gain as much experience as possible.

A few months ago I reconnected with Attorney McDonough and she offered to help me with my interest in going to law school and getting office experience. While remaining a full time student at UMass, I work for Attorney McDonough as a part-time administrative assistant handling corporate governance and estate planning matters. As a college student aspiring to attend law school, I have gained realworld experience in the legal field. I am grateful to the Pope Francis Preparatory School Pathways Program and Attorney McDonough for helping me with my future endeavors.”

Pathways currently has 41 participants who have attended workshops, career specific field trips, shadowed professionals, and even participated in “Wish I Had Known” Zoom sessions with working professionals who share advice in specific careers. In many ways, Mrs. Perreault serves as a career matchmaker, meeting with her students to discover their interests, passions, and goals and matching them with working professionals in hopes of finding each of them the perfect college major and future career. If you are an alum, parent, or friend of Pope Francis Prep interested in working with our students in the Pathways Program, please contact Mrs. Leslie Perreault at lperreault@popefrancisprep.org.