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While each initiative within Academic Access and Leadership Development can stand alone, together the programs and initiatives create a cohesive developmental pathway from early exploration to advanced academic preparation and career readiness. Students at any level engage at the stage that best matches their goals.
Within AALD’s Discover Program, an early engagement initiative, the Career Launch platform serves as a flexible entry point and a central bridge connecting academic development to professional readiness. Its evidence‑based curriculum blends guided activities, microlearning content, and facilitated coaching into a dynamic, learn‑by‑doing model. Career Launch engages students in hands‑on tasks that build essential career‑readiness competencies, expand professional networks, and increase confidence as they pursue internships and early‑career opportunities.
Cade Carman’s experience within AALD reflects how this integrated model supports student success at every stage. Through Discover, Cade built early academic and career awareness as a first-year student at Mizzou. AALD’s student success coaching provided individualized support that strengthened his confidence and self‑advocacy. This year, as an AALD Ambassador, he has continued developing as a leader in his role as a peer resource. These experiences prepared Cade to fully engage in the Career Launch program, a transformative experience that shaped his professional confidence:
“[Career Launch] helped me increase my professional skills in the workforce. It means talking to employers, working on my resume… It also helped me reach out to employers, which I wasn’t really sure how to do before the program.”
Through the combined support of Career Launch and his AALD mentor—access he attributes to the coaching and community built earlier in the pipeline—Cade increased his professional readiness:
“Through this mentor, I did interview readiness, we worked on my resume, and [we] got to the point where I was actually comfortable enough to reach out to the Forest Service and apply for one of their internships.”
Cade’s outreach led to a summer internship with the trails program of the United States Forest Service (USFS) in California. Most recently, Cade has been selected as an intern with the Missouri House of Representatives through MU’s Civic Leaders Internship Program (CLIP), a clear reflection of how preparation translates into real-world momentum.