As students begin their final years of high school, many ask themselves the question, “What should I do with the rest of my life?” The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) Career Exploration Program, a test designed to help teenagers in answering this question, will be administered on campus to those who sign up, Sept. 21.
The two-and-a-half hour test will take place in the multi-purpose room from 9:30-12 p.m. Students interested must sign up in the high school office by Sept. 4. Excluding freshmen, all high school students are eligible to take the test.
Two weeks after students take the test, Rene Knight, a test administrator for the ASVAB program, will meet with students who seek interpretations of their results and college advice.
Beginning in 1968, the program was developed by the Department of Defense’s Personnel Testing Division in order to determine qualification for enlistment into the United States armed forces. Since then, it has grown popular among high school students seeking career options to fit their interests.
Although the ASVAB was offered on campus several years ago, its use has since faded away until this year. Upon receiving numerous career questions from parents and students, as well as remembering the benefits, academic advisor Molly Sargent reinstated the assessment.
“Parents had asked me what could help direct students in choosing colleges, majors and what to do with their lives,” Sargent said. “Taking the ASVAB would be a great way to help them, so I scheduled the test as early as possible so that seniors could take it before submitting applications [to college] in order to receive the benefits.”
The ASVAB assessment provides teenagers with a means of pinpointing careers suited to their personalities through eight test categories of self-evaluation questions concerning knowledge, interests, skills and values.
The ASVAB measures a student’s academic development and skills, as well as capabilities for success in certain careers. Sargent strongly encourages students to take the ASVAB because of the contemplative mentality it instills in those who take it.
“[All students] should take the ASVAB because even if the results they get do not interest them, it causes them to think about what career factors matter to them and what areas they want to be in,” Sargent said. “It gets them thinking more seriously about the rest of their lives.”
Besides the maturing aspect, the ASVAB test can also help students who feel clueless or confused about career options.
“The ASVAB has many benefits, especially to those who have no idea what they want to do in the future,” Sargent said. “With so many career choices available, it can really cause them to get confused. Taking the assessment helps students to determine what are the right questions to ask themselves about the future. It help determine where one’s interests lie.”
Recognizing these benefits, junior Ricky Lopez hopes for future direction from his test results.
“I want to take the ASVAB because I’m not sure what I want to do with my life,” Lopez said. “I hope it will point me in the right direction, as well as give me a general idea of what to do and receive possible career options. I want to be involved in math or science, but that is such a broad area. With no idea what the result will be, I’m not sure if I will take it seriously.”
According to the ASVAB Overview Guide, 63 percent of past participants agreed that the assessment helped connect their interests and skills to career possibilities. With this accuracy level, Sargent stresses that students should not take their results as divine truth.
“The results are as accurate as the input; they are based on what you say,” Sargent said. “People change, so the answers could be different and no longer apply.”
Results can differ from completely applicable or comical and outrageous.
“When I took it as a teenager, it said I should become a forest ranger,” Sargent said. “Obviously, that isn’t what happened. It provides suggestions for the future, not answers. The older you are when you take it, the more accurate it will be because you know yourself better.”
Whether backing up their plans or refuting them, the ASVAB results can have a security blanket effect on students’ ideas for the future. Senior Julio Ibarra seeks assurance to the career choice he chose.
“Since I have an idea of what I want to do, I’m mainly taking the test out of curiosity,” Ibarra said. “I want to become a family doctor, but I want to get a second opinion. Hopefully from taking the test I will receive assurance on becoming a doctor.”
In choosing their careers and college majors, students may feel uneasy and pressured to make a decision. With such an abundance of career information available, it can become overwhelming.
Senior Sarah Hollingsworth hopes to settle her unease and learn about other careers by taking the ASVAB.
“I feel like I don’t know what careers are out there; I only know of general ones,” Hollingsworth said. “Taking the ASVAB will give me more options that I didn’t know of. I want to find out what career my heart is in, because I don’t know where it is.”
Whether seeking assurance, a different opinion or just feeling curious, the ASVAB career exploration program can be beneficial to many different students.
For more information on the ASVAB program, visit asvabprogram.com or e-mail Sargent.
