March 2007
Baltimore County Website Created For – And By – Teens Helps
Students Prepare For Life After High School

BALTIMORE, MD (3/15/07) --- Thanks to the vision of Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith and the innovations of the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education, students in Baltimore County can connect the dots between what they're learning today and their future careers through a new website, launched today before an audience of high school newspaper editors, reporters, and videographers at Dundalk High School.

BeWhatIWantToBe.com/baltimorecounty is the first of its kind - a localized web tool that offers Baltimore County students rock-solid information about all kinds of careers and how to prepare for them. The site features career profiles of workers at dozens of Baltimore County employers, student activities and links to careers and higher education resources available in the County, facts about internship and scholarship opportunities available in the County, and action steps students can take to get on track for specific careers.

The section is part of BeWhatIWantToBe.com, a website developed by the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education (MBRT), a non-profit coalition of more than 100 leading employers committed to improving student achievement in the state. Created for - and by - teens, BeWhatIWantToBe.com enables students to explore a wide range of career options and to understand what they need to do in school now in order to prepare for their career choices.

The success of the broader career website spurred Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith and MBRT to explore the feasibility of "localizing" a portion of the site in order to showcase the resources and range of career options available in Baltimore County.

"The website shows students that Baltimore County wants to keep and attract young talent and has a wide range of exciting career opportunities available, provided that students possess the prerequisite knowledge and skills," Smith says. "Graduates will have opportunity, and Baltimore County can continue to have a home-grown, high-quality, world-class workforce, but only if today's students work hard and apply themselves now."

"BeWhatIWantToBe.com allows students to see for themselves what successful young workers do, why they chose their professions, the rewards and challenges of their lines of work, and how they prepared in school to succeed following graduation," notes Baltimore County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joe Hairston. "In short, it frames school performance so students can see the connection between what they're learning in school today and what it takes to be successful professionally and personally."

The partnership includes trusted adults from other organizations who will promote student use of the Baltimore County section of BeWhatIWantToBe.com: Police Athletic League; Baltimore County Public Library; Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks; the Baltimore County Workforce Investment Board; Baltimore County Office of Economic Development; Baltimore County Executive's Education Advisory Board; and the county chambers of commerce.

MBRT originally created BeWhatIWantToBe.com as one part of its nationally recognized Achievement Counts program, a comprehensive campaign that mobilizes parents, teachers, and business volunteers to motivate students to achieve academic success.

The website continues the conversation begun with high school students through Achievement Counts' Speakers Bureau, a highly effective initiative through which business volunteers enter the classroom to discuss with students how hard work in school pays off in life.

"The teen website illustrates exciting careers, demonstrates the kind of knowledge and skills each career requires, profiles young workers in a variety of professions, offers facts about salaries, job outlook, and major industry employers, and provides information about education pathways to these careers, internships, and scholarships," explains MBRT Executive Director June Streckfus.

The site also contains interactive challenges for students where virtual jobs are featured, points are accumulated for completing certain activities, and rewards (such as iPods and gift cards) are earned by student participants.

Industries currently profiled on BeWhatIWantToBe.com include finance, health, teaching, aerospace, IT, telecommunications, homeland security, building, manufacturing, and energy.

"This innovative site gives Baltimore County students a meaningful shot at a better life," says Maryland School Superintendent Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick. "Just as important, it sends students a strong message that working hard and completing rigorous coursework will pay huge dividends, regardless of whether students go on to college or directly into the workplace after graduation."

Achievement Counts funders include: Baltimore County Government, Bank of America, Building Congress & Exchange Foundation, Community College of Baltimore County, CitiFinancial, CitiGroup Foundation, Constellation Energy Group, Corporate Office Properties Trust, Dollar General Foundation, France-Merrick Foundation, IBM Corporation, Legg Mason, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Macht Philanthropic Fund - The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore M&T Bank, Maryland Construction Trade Association, Maryland Higher Education Commission, McCormick & Company, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Northrop Grumman, Pepco, Provident Bank, Space Telescope Science Institute, T. Rowe Price Associates Foundation, TIME Center, U.S. Department of Education (MSDE / University System of Maryland), Verizon, Villa Julie College, Wachovia Bank.

For more information about BeWhatIWantToBe.com, visit the site www.MBRT.org/teenweb or call Will Anderson the Program Directors at MBRT at 410-727-0448.

July 2006

We completed a very successful year.

Over 920 students have created personal accounts this school year. Over 39,000 visitors spent time at BeWhatIWantToBe.com.

So what is ahead in 2006/07?

We're adding careers in: Telecom / IT / Energy / Homeland Security ... with partners Verizon, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Constellation, and Northrop Grumman.

August 2005

December 12, 2004

Student reaction
Student reaction to Teen Web has been extremely positive in the first 60 days

• Total page views = 35,000
• Average pageviews/day = 564
• Average pages/session = 9.7
• Average time/session= 4.5 minutes
  (This is a significant amount of time for youth to spend on one website session)

The people profile pages account for nearly 50% of the total page views, (as we predicted following the summer 2004 prototype tests).

Over 200 students have registered on Teen Web, many more are expected this month and next, as speakers promote the site in classroom. We are very pleased with this response.

We chose to "soft launch" the site and NOT promote it widely in order to gauge the effectiveness of our speakers bureau as the primary marketing channel to teens. And indeed, visitors to the site are finding it by name, not by searching; 91.6% of visitors had no referring website. They simply typed in the web address, BeWhatIWantToBe.com.

So, we know the name IS memorable and that speakers and teachers are very actively encouraging their students to visit the site.

(On November 17, speakers and teachers drove the highest number of students to the site to date, totaling 3,179 page views for that single day.)

Now we are focused on improvements to the Teen Web in 2005, new careers, many more people profiles, and more activities on the site itself. Your thoughts and suggestions are always welcome!

- Will Anderson -

October 2004
Teen Web Launched on October 4th!


The Teen Web officially launched as www.BeWhatIWantToBe.com

Thanks to the efforts of our project partners … we have a successful web initiative underway.

What's inside
Currently, the scope of industries, careers and people profiled on Teen Web include aerospace, finance and teaching. We are adding healthcare careers next.

We are incrementally adding new pieces on career and college readiness, cost of living and high school performance. As the speakers bureau season wraps up, we'll begin to analyze the student comments and usage, and plan Teen Web improvements moving into 2005.

Your thoughts?
Please continue to send your comments and suggestions for improvements.
(Students haven't been shy in their remarks so far!)

Thanks again for your interest in this important Achievement Counts campaign effort.

- Will Anderson - Project Director

For more detail, questions, or comments
Please contact me. Thanks,

Will Anderson - Project Director
will@mbrt.org
410.727.0448