2025 L/Earner VOICE SYMPOSIUM
Navigating the Future: L/Earner Perspectives on Meaningful Career Advising
Join us on October 2 for the 2025 L/Earner Voice Symposium, a virtual convening for educators, practitioners, and policymakers to ensure career advising systems from high school, to postsecondary, workforce, and beyond empower learners and earners to navigate their futures with intention and purpose.
With new state legislation setting a goal for all high school students to complete a credential, postsecondary coursework, or work-based learning – the time is now to ensure our career advising systems and practices are aligned, accessible, relevant, and grounded in the voices of those navigating their careers. This convening will elevate learner and earner perspectives and spotlight promising practices that support career advising as a lifelong process of meaning making, exploration and growth.
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Round 1 Breakout Sessions
Brewing Careers: Connecting Education, Work-Based Learning, and Career Navigation with MSU Denver Student Leaders
This interactive session spotlights the collaboration between MSU Denver’s Brewery Program, the Denver Botanic Gardens, and the C2Hub Industry Partnership Team to illustrate how to turn classroom learning into meaningful career pathways. Two to three brewery program students on a virtual panel will share how hands-on training with the Denver Botanic Gardens deepened their industry skills. Participants will explore strategies through first-hand learner insights to identify ways to connect education, work-based learning, and industry engagement so that students can make informed next steps toward their future. The value of mentorship through MSU Denver’s ICAP-Industry Career Advising Program as a way to clarify career goals and expand professional networks will also be shared by the Assistant Director of IPT-Classroom to Career Hub.
Careers in Construction Colorado: An Employer Driven, Learner Supported Model for Career Connected Learning
The Purpose of Careers in Construction Colorado is to Educate, Empower, and Employ high school students and graduates within a pathway that’s relevant to each of them. Our approach is based on the development of relationships with both the learners and employers to help each navigate workforce demands. In this session you will learn more about the Careers in Construction Colorado model, including how CICC utilizes an in-school navigator to support career exploration, connection and navigation. Participants will also hear directly from the learners and earners who have participated about their experiences and the impact this kind of support can have.
Data Discussions: From Dashboards to Decisions
Join ActivateWork for an interactive dashboard demonstration and discussion. This tool, made possible by participation in the Colorado Wage Outcomes Coalition (CO WORC), has allowed ActivateWork to gain new insights to share with their l/earners, specifically around earnings trajectories and industry placement. Learn how ActivateWork is using this data to help inform program improvement, l/earner outreach and advising, and employer partnerships, and engage in meaningful conversation around how to continue to make this data actionable.
Grow Teachers, Grow Careers: Rethinking Your Pipeline with Apprenticeship Programs
How do we recruit and retain the next generation of teachers, especially in high-need areas? In this session, we will explore Colorado's Teacher Degree Apprenticeship program and how districts support both teacher apprentices and their mentors throughout their careers. Attendees will hear from a K–12 leader and apprentice as well as CareerWise as the sponsor who collaborated with Colorado legislation to build a registered apprenticeship offering paid, on-the-job training, a debt-free path to a degree, and opportunities for career advancement. The session will also highlight how the Teacher Degree Apprenticeship Pathway will receive feedback from participants and stakeholders to shape the program’s design and implementation, ensuring it remains responsive to the needs of schools, educators, and communities.
Round 2 Breakout Sessions
Inside Work-Based Learning: Real Stories, Real Impact from Poudre School District Learners & WBL Coordinators
Join us for an inside look at the power of Work-Based Learning (WBL) in Poudre School District (PSD). In this breakout session, WBL coordinators and their students will share firsthand experiences that bring the WBL model to life—from how it's implemented to the transformative outcomes it creates. Hear real stories, learn what makes WBL in PSD unique, and discover the impact of connecting classroom learning to real-world careers. After the presentations, we’ll open the floor for a Q&A where you can dive deeper into the model, ask your questions, and engage directly with the students and educators making it happen.
The Five Principles of Economic Mobility: Learner Insights in Shaping Career Navigation
For many, economic mobility is a result of wage outcomes and career growth. At Ednium, our Alumni define economic mobility as having the agency to live a thriving life in the community they want to call home. In this session we will explore the five elements of how we define agency - financial security, physical and mental wellbeing, quality relationships, sense of purpose, and authentic sense of self - and how these elements have framed a new way that individuals and systems should think about how to support learners in their career navigation and advising needs.
Upskilling in Action: Strengthening Pathways for Learners and Employers
This breakout will spotlight how San Luis Valley partners are addressing employer needs through upskilling strategies that strengthen both workforce capacity and learner success. Employers and l/earners will share lessons learned, project strengths, and firsthand perspectives on what’s working and what challenges remain in building sustainable career pathways. Participants will leave with insights into collaborative approaches that can be adapted and scaled in other regions.