Every spring we award a $750 scholarship to one or more students or clients of our WOIS user sites.  This scholarship is sponsored by WOIS and the Center for Learning Connections .

Nominations must be submitted by those administering a current WOIS site (individuals may not nominate themselves). Each site may nominate one student or client per year. Funds awarded will be paid directly to the scholarship recipient after he or she has sent transcripts to WOIS from one quarter or semester of post-high school training. The scholarship must be used within one calendar year after it is awarded, and funds may be used for any expenses related to training.

Log in to WOIS today and nominate your student or client!  Applications are due on April 16, 2010.

WOIS/The Career Information System is Washington State's most comprehensive career and educational planning resource and is used in over 900 sites in the state of Washington.  WOIS has provided career assessment tools, detailed information about occupations, educational programs, and postsecondary institutions, along with supporting activities and resources, for more than 35 years.  WOIS provides complete, accurate and up-to-date information for Washington State and NOW also provides national wage, outlook, and college information.  As a non-profit organization, our goal is to provide these resources, and related training and technical support, at the lowest cost possible, to the institutions and organizations in Washington State. 

WOIS is continually enhancing our system to meet the needs of schools, colleges, agencies and businesses in Washington.  You ask, and we work hard to deliver.

So What's New for this week?  Pathways and Reality Check!

Pathway descriptions and occupations are now found in each of the WOIS Cluster descriptions.  Now when you go to Occupations by Cluster, then choose a Cluster to explore, you will see each of the Pathways found in the cluster with a brief description of the Pathway, and a list of occupations that relate to that Pathway.

Thank you to Vancouver School District for this request.

The other exciting feature added this week, Reality Check, is a tool that allows a person to decide how much money they will need to live independently, and how well the salaries for their selected careers will meet their expense requirements.  Reality Check offers several different ways to relate a monthly budget to career choices.  Reality Check is found both in the Assessment section of the WOIS website, and the Occupation section.

Enjoy these new features, and watch for more announcements in the weeks to come.  If you want a hint of the new features that will be added soon, send an email to tami@wois.org.

WOIS/The Career Information System is Washington State's most comprehensive career and educational planning resource and is used in over 900 sites in the state of Washington.  WOIS has provided career assessment tools, detailed information about occupations, educational programs, and postsecondary institutions, along with supporting activities and resources, for more than 35 years.  WOIS provides complete, accurate and up-to-date information for Washington State and NOW also provides national wage, outlook, and college information.  As a non-profit organization, our goal is to provide these resources, and related training and technical support, at the lowest cost possible, to the institutions and organizations in Washington State. 

Now your students/clients can enter their career research directly into the WOIS Portfolio! 

If you have used the "Research a Career" worksheet, found in the activities section of the WOIS website, and had students/clients upload the worksheet to their portfolio in the past, now they can enter their responses to the career research questions directly in the Career Research section of the WOIS Portfolio! 

Your students/clients simply log into their Portfolio, click on Career Research, then click on Add New Career Research.

By entering this directly in the portfolio, it's easy for you or the student/client to view and/or print reports on the research. 

Thank you to Kari Farnsworth at Shadle Park High School for this fantastic idea!

We are working on more great ideas from WOIS users.  Stay tuned!

If you have questions about this, or any other WOIS function, call us at 1-800-700-WOIS or email tami@wois.org.

WOIS is a non-profit organization that provides the most comprehensive career and educational planning tools available in Washington.  WOIS is used in nearly 1,000 sites in Washington State, including more than 260 public high schools, more than 100 middle schools and junior highs, and many agencies, libraries and private businesses.

Visit WOIS on Facebook for current trends and information about careers and education.  Enter into our Discussions, or start one of your own.  Become a member of the WOIS Facebook network to stay connected!

You can link to WOIS on Facebook from the WOIS homepage at www.wois.org.  The Facebook link is on the lower right-side of the page.