Monroe County Career Coach Abby Clement Helps Seniors Prepare for Next Stage

Supporting career and technical education students helps strengthen Mississippi’s workforce

As enrollment continues climbing in career and technical education programs, AccelerateMS career coaches like Abby Clement are helping students across Mississippi bridge the gap between high school and successful futures.

Clement, a career coach at Hamilton Attendance Center in Monroe County, was one of more than 100 career coaches deployed last fall by AccelerateMS to strengthen workforce development in Mississippi. 

“My main goal is making sure all my students know what opportunities are out there for them and helping them get to that next step,” Clement said.

As a career coach, Clement assists students enrolled in the Monroe County Career and Technical Education Center, which offers programs in business marketing and finance, engineering, collision repair, health sciences, welding, residential carpentry, law and public safety, and culinary arts.

 During her first year, she worked with 46 seniors to develop their post-graduation plans. Their choices demonstrated that today’s CTE programs provide more options than ever to help students achieve their career dreams, whether it’s continuing their education or entering the workforce after high school.

“One of our students earned his certificate in welding so he could have the skills to get a high-paying job after graduation,” she said. “Some students chose to pursue the two-year associate of applied science degree online at Itawamba Community College in Fulton to learn business fundamentals, and others are enrolled in two- and four-year colleges.”

A sizable portion of Clement’s students came from low-income situations and weren’t planning to attend college for financial reasons. By raising awareness of financial aid and scholarship opportunities, Clement helped them see possibilities for the future that included college degrees.

More than half of graduating seniors plan to attend Itawamba Community College, which offers approximately 30 programs in its School of Career Education that are designed to help students prepare for an array of regional job opportunities. 

“Many students don’t think college is an option—they don't even think about it because there's no way they can afford it,” she says. “Finding those opportunities to help them pay for college is huge.”

In addition to helping with financial-aid applications, Clement reviewed college curricula with students to help them understand which courses were relevant to their fields of interest and would count toward their degree programs. She also provided guidance on drafting résumés, submitting job applications and preparing for job interviews.

“I enjoy educating them on what to look for and what to expect and preparing them for the interview experience and what real life is actually like,” she said. “It’s also important for them to understand that if they change their majors or change to a different career path, that's not a failure—that's just a stepping stone in life.”

Clement speaks from personal experience. She studied at Itawamba Community College and the University of Mississippi with the intention of teaching elementary school but found she enjoyed secondary education and changed her focus to become an English teacher. Athough currently working on a master’s degree, she made another slight pivot when the opportunity to serve as a career coach came up.

In her new job, Clement has already demonstrated that thinking outside of the box to help students expand their horizons is a valuable skill for career coaches. She helped prepare five students in the incoming senior class of 2024 to attend Boys State and Girls State—programs designed to teach high school students about leadership, politics and the workings of government in American society. One student was even voted governor.

“Several of them have emailed me and said it was the best thing they’d ever been part of,” she said. “They learned so much, and their experiences will continue to benefit them long after they graduate from high school.”

AccelerateMS serves the people and businesses of Mississippi by developing and deploying workforce strategies to connect individuals with transformative, high-paying careers. By leveraging resources and partnering with organizations that hold complementary missions, AccelerateMS effectuates positive change, creating sustained individual, community and statewide economic prosperity.