Sophomore Class Takes On College Career Exploration Session

Students working on their vision boards. Photo courtesy of Mrs. Tobias of SUA.

By Caitlin Kujawski 
February 24, 2025

TOLEDO, OH. - The Saint Ursula Academy offers a College Quest Program to help students find out their future careers. The College Career Quest session allows sophomore students to dive deep into their personalities, strengths and values to find the courses they enjoy and help them find the best fit career. 

“Exploring careers at an early age is beneficial,” said Mrs. Rebecca Tobias, SUA College Counselor. “Understanding who [you] are, because to understand what you like and don’t like makes all the difference when you are looking at careers and professions.”

The Saint Ursula Academy college counseling department is highly engaged with students from the very beginning of their high school careers. 

“We have a college counseling program that is one of a kind,” said Mrs. Tobias.

“When girls apply to college they are pretty well prepared,” said Mrs. Tobias. They know what to expect and are able to articulate who they are and what they want to do. The session also gives them a deeper understanding of what that specific career looks like. 

College Counseling follows the mission of SUA when it comes to this session. They want each and every girl to grow and learn through this once in a lifetime experience. 

Mrs. Tobias reads every interview. It helps her to get an idea of students' interests, personality and who they are. This is why SUA starts this journey freshman year. 

Some interesting job shadowings she has read are when a student got to witness a live birth of a chimpanzee and when another student got to sit in on a surgery. 

To anyone out there who might not know what their future holds for them, Mrs. Tobias recommends to job shadow or a simple chat with others about their journey. This is very beneficial and can make a huge difference when deciding what they want to do. 

When students do not take job shadowing seriously it does not give them the opportunity to realize what they are truly passionate about. 

“There is just as much value in shadowing something that you don’t like to do,” said Mrs. Tobias.  

The big takeaways from this session are preparation, a realistic expectation of the job and getting a head start. 

Mrs. Tobias wants students to know, “This process is a journey.”