Ridgewater College Foundation and its school and business partners received a $25,500 LYFT Pathway award to develop IGNITE Your Future a career exploration event to serve about 1,200 high school students annually.

IGNITE Your Future is a career exploration initiative that connects high school students with the business community and Ridgewater College. IGNITE is a high-quality, experiential career exploration event modeled after the highly successful Bridges Career Academies of the Brainerd Lakes Area and EPIC of the St. Cloud area. Students will gain exposure to local careers and employers through hands-on, interactive activities that highlight the career skills needed in regional industries by simulating work-place activities of businesses in all 6 Career Fields: Business, Management & Administration; Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources; Arts, Communications & Information Systems; Engineering, Manufacturing & Technology; Health Sciences; Human Services.

IGNITE is NOT a job fair; industry partners, along with collaborative college partners, drive the exposure activities and provide staff, equipment and materials that truly engage students in exploring careers. These experiences bring life to the Minnesota Career Fields, Clusters and Pathways that students gain exposure to during high school career planning coursework and help students understand what jobs and careers are available to them at varying stages of educational achievement.

Schools taking part in this event include ACGC, BLHS, Dassel-Cokato, GFW, Glencoe-Silver Lake, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, Hutchinson, Kimball, Lester Prairie, LeSuer-Henderson, Litchfield, Sibley East, and Winsted Holy Trinity. 

In the Fall of 2019, 1,174 students attended the event. 

For more information contact Matt Feuerborn at Ridgewater College.