Carrie Paquette is Lakeland’s College and Career Counselor. She has a Google Classroom made for each graduating class for students to sign up for in their freshman year. She works with seniors more individually while working with younger grades in groups. She is always willing to help students find a career that interests them.
Q: What is your backstory?
A: I am originally from Fort Benton, Montana. I grew up on a wheat farm and went to Washington State University. I have a 21-year-old son, Cameron, who is a firefighter in Moscow. I also have a 25-year-old daughter, Kylie. She lives in San Diego, California. She is an esthetician. I have a boyfriend of 7 years.
Q: What do you enjoy about working with high school students?
A: I love showing students different possibilities for what they can do after graduating, possibilities they may not realize are there as options. I also love helping students find creative ways to pay for that and save money, because saving money is a good way to start your adult life. It also broadens opportunities. I especially love when they become seniors because I really get to know them a lot better. I get to work with them individually and get to know them and help them individually.
Q: When do you recommend looking into colleges?
A: I think starting to just generally look at college and other options, freshman year, is not too early. They can slowly get an idea of what the options are and what they want to do and continue to build on that. What you do not want to do is wait till senior year. Junior year is a great time to really get serious and go on tours and financial options and get your resume really polished up.
Q: What is a career you wish students would look into more?
A: What I wish students would look into is all of the different careers in Micron in Boise. They have apprenticeships and will pay for the students’ entire education while the student is paid to work there, and they have cybersecurity and computer science. They have thousands of jobs and hundreds of occupations in one location, from apprenticeships and two-year degrees to year degrees or more. A rep is coming up to Lakeland February 27th.
Q: How can students eliminate stress while looking into future careers?
A: Realizing that the career they choose can be changed. Most people change careers 10-14 times through their life. You do not have to be stressed about what you want to do the rest of your life. You just have to decide what you want to do first.
Q: What do you recommend students do when they do not know what they want to do?
A: I recommend that they utilize the different interest surveys and career quizzes and career cluster surveys and personality tests. I have linked it on my Google Classroom. That can just help narrow down categories that pique your interests and what you like. I would use AI. If you use it in a deliberate way, it can give you so many options.
Q: What has been one of the most memorable experiences since you have been working here?
A: It was when my son was a junior in high school at Lakeland, and I was able to help him to be able to apply and have him come in here and eat lunch with me or just hang out with me. It was a really neat year having to be my job but be able to help him as well. I also have a lot more stories of seniors who thought they could not go and ended up going because of conversations we had; those will always be my favorites.
