Oct 14, 2026 · 20 min · 10 segments
Choosing a career path can be difficult when you're not sure where to start. Pearl River Community College's new Compass Pathways program gives learners an opportunity to explore career options, gain…
So Compass Pathways is basically to connect learners with short-term skills training to help them decide and decide on what pathway they want to take.
A lot of times people enter in different pathways or enter in different careers and aren't sure how to go.
So to support these transitions, we aim to increase people's understanding of specific occupational roles and training options along the clustered career pathways.
Advanced manufacturing, healthcare, construction, welding and shipbuilding, heavy equipment and transportation, business and technology, and utilities and broadband.
And these courses will be offered in a convenient format to all of our adult education learners or any learners that are appropriate for these courses.
right, so this is basically for people that are trying to improve themselves or their situation.
I mean, if they happen to be in a dead-end job or low-wage job, what are we doing for them?
So in these classes, they are 12 hours long, and they offer six hours of pathway mapping.
So, for example, in the manufacturing first six hours, they'll learn some context.
They'll learn about the pathway in general, all the jobs available in that pathway.
They'll do a little bit of personality evaluation, and they'll learn about career paths and even programs at PRCC that they can enroll in in that world.
the second six hours, they'll build some confidence with task performance.
Because a lot of times we find that people know about these programs, but they may not feel like it's a good fit for them.
They may feel like, well, I should tell my cousin about that nursing program, but that's too much for me.
So we feel like if they can build some confidence with task performance, like doing something, For example, in healthcare, learning how to take blood pressure, learning how to, you know, listen to the heart, learning how to take a temperature, learning about different positions that you would put the body in.
We feel like if they're doing some hands-on stuff, that could build a little bit of confidence to give them the ability and support to enroll in these classes.
Basically, only about 30% of those graduates every year were enrolling in some sort of workforce program.
And we found that people have interests, but they don't know where to start.
So Compass Pathways is basically to connect learners with short-term skills training to help them decide and decide on what pathway they want to take.
A lot of times people enter in different pathways or enter in different careers and aren't sure how to go.
So to support these transitions, we aim to increase people's understanding of specific occupational roles and training options along the clustered career pathways.
Advanced manufacturing, healthcare, construction, welding and shipbuilding, heavy equipment and transportation, business and technology, and utilities and broadband.
And these courses will be offered in a convenient format to all of our adult education learners or any learners that are appropriate for these courses.
right, so this is basically for people that are trying to improve themselves or their situation.
I mean, if they happen to be in a dead-end job or low-wage job, what are we doing for them?
So in these classes, they are 12 hours long, and they offer six hours of pathway mapping.
So, for example, in the manufacturing first six hours, they'll learn some context.
They'll learn about the pathway in general, all the jobs available in that pathway.
They'll do a little bit of personality evaluation, and they'll learn about career paths and even programs at PRCC that they can enroll in in that world.
the second six hours, they'll build some confidence with task performance.
Because a lot of times we find that people know about these programs, but they may not feel like it's a good fit for them.
They may feel like, well, I should tell my cousin about that nursing program, but that's too much for me.
So we feel like if they can build some confidence with task performance, like doing something, For example, in healthcare, learning how to take blood pressure, learning how to, you know, listen to the heart, learning how to take a temperature, learning about different positions that you would put the body in.
We feel like if they're doing some hands-on stuff, that could build a little bit of confidence to give them the ability and support to enroll in these classes.
Basically, only about 30% of those graduates every year were enrolling in some sort of workforce program.
And we found that people have interests, but they don't know where to start.
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