Careers
The Secret to Nurturing Students’ Curiosity? Give Them the Freedom to Dabble.
To elevate schools and organizations that provide career information and help students build career-relevant skills, College Board is publishing a series of spotlights to help illuminate why this work is so important—and how it’s changing lives.
Lynn Bloomer is the Director, Networking Academy Global Programs and Services at Cisco Systems Inc.
Today's students feel pressure to choose a career path, often as early as high school. But to make an informed decision, students need lots of resources. What do those look like? They need information on what jobs are in demand, career assessment tools to evaluate their own skills, teachers who challenge and nurture them, and knowledgeable counselors to help guide them. But there’s a critical element I think is often missing—giving students the freedom to dabble.
This approach to experiential learning is one of the things that excited us about partnering with College Board. We share a belief that the earlier a student receives access to experiential learning, the better equipped they are as they plan for their future.
Having been at Cisco for more than 20 years and previously serving as a professor at Community College of Rhode Island, I’ve seen what makes the biggest impact on students planning for their future. Dabbling is not a waste of time or a distraction—it’s one of the best sources of direction. When learning encourages students to explore, experiment, and discover what inspires them, we open doors for more learners to see themselves in tech and go into a career pathway with eyes wide open.
Since 1997, Cisco Networking Academy has served over 28 million students across 195 countries. This impact is possible due to our global community of more than 31,000 educators delivering our courses across 12,000 organizations. To ensure as many learners can build job-ready skills for in-demand fields as possible, Cisco Networking Academy provides industry-recognized, certification-aligned curriculum and teaching resources online at no cost.
But the metric that means the most to me is that 97% of learners completing Cisco certification-aligned courses go on to secure a career and/or educational opportunity.
This is reflected in the real journeys of our students. Take Austin Glander, for example, who began his learning journey in college simply exploring his interests. He didn’t have a set career path in mind, but by engaging with different courses and opportunities, he discovered a passion for networking, stepped into leadership, and ultimately secured an internship as a Cisco security consulting engineer. As Austin puts it, “Just showing genuine interest opened doors I never expected.”
His story demonstrates that you don’t have to know your dream job from the start. Sometimes, experimenting with networking, cybersecurity, or programming is the catalyst for finding your true path. By nurturing a student’s curiosity instead of merely pushing for completion—whether they’re an adult learner or a high schooler—we cultivate lifelong skills like ownership of learning, confident decision making, and goal setting.
Connecting Cisco Networking Academy’s world-class teacher resources with the credibility and reach of AP® courses will help U.S. high school students earn college credit and prepare for technology-focused jobs through relevant, rigorous, and inclusive experiences.
It’s never too late to explore a different career or industry, but it can get costly the further along you are in your journey–whether that be spending extra tuition due to changing a major; taking time off work to get a certification; or working in an unpaid internship to gain experience.
When a student takes an AP Career Kickstart™ course, they’re able to explore a wide range of career options in addition to receiving employer-endorsed credentials and college credit that will help set them up for success before they even graduate high school.
In short, they will be able to try out a multitude of career pathways in a safe, low-to-no-stakes environment.
At a moment when career pressure is hitting young people earlier than ever, it’s our responsibility to help them plan and prepare for their future the best we can. And that includes giving students the runway to dabble and discover what’s possible.
About Cisco Networking Academy
Cisco Networking Academy is a proven skills-to-job program that expands opportunities and supports workforce development for tech-curious and early-in-career learners. Cisco Networking Academy offers career-aligned courses, hands-on training, and a global reach that helps learners unlock their potential. Learn more.