The following summaries detail three 2-hour workshops aimed to educate and engage high school students. The series aims to provide insight into career building and the importance of pursuing versatile skills to narrow down career prospects. The workshops are proposed in no particular order, meaning that they do not depend on one another and one or two could be presented without the third. While access to the internet would enhance the experience, these workshops are structured without the need for an internet connection. Since the presentations and demonstrations will be given from a personal laptop (unless other arrangements are made), access to a projector will be necessary. 

GIS Workshop: Map Overlay Analysis

The first proposed workshop focuses on the basic concept of map overlay analysis and will: 1)  summarize the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) process with a power point lecture, 2) demonstrate one of the purposes of GIS using an interactive example with a worksheet and discussion, 3) engage students in discussion over the applicability of GIS in a variety of fields and careers. By the end of the workshop, it will be emphasized that, in some cases, identifying a potential job or career is less important or more difficult than investigating enjoyable skills and their applicability to any position.

GIS Workshop: Remote Sensing

The second proposed workshop will explore another major topic related to GIS, remote sensing, will involve: 1) defining remote sensing and describing the types of remotely sensed data, 2) practicing our remote sensing skills with an Aerial Imagery Quiz, 3) discussing the methods (elements of image interpretation) used to identify some of the objects in the imagery quiz, 4) demonstrating a useful example of remote sensing with a change detection case study, 5) discussing other ways remote sensing could be used to solve or answer problems and questions. The career-learning goal of this workshop is to contemplate how practice and experience impact our skills.

GIS Workshop: Computer Programming

The third and final proposed workshop will expose students to an in-demand job skill, coding. The lesson will include: 1) a brief history of computer programming, 2) an overview of languages and their typical applications, 3) a demonstration and discussion of coding examples at work. If time permits, an introductory course to Python will be sampled. The main goal of this workshop is to highlight an example of a versatile skill and identify creative ways to learn, including online courses, volunteering opportunities, and apprenticeships.