The Career Exploration Programs (or ExPrograms) at Abington Friends School offer students in Grades 10 and 11 immersive, hands-on experiences that connect classroom learning to real-world careers.

Through direct engagement with professionals, site visits, and skill-building workshops, students gain insight into potential paths and the confidence to pursue them. These programs are designed to spark curiosity, deepen understanding, and help students imagine—and begin shaping—their future. 

[Pictured above: LabEx visited Arcadia University for an evening of astronomy and stargazing with their  Celestron Edge 11” SCT telescope!]

During the 2025-26 school year, there are four cohorts exploring their passions: BizEx (Business), LabEx (Science), ChefEx (Culinary), and SportEx (Sports). Below are some reflections from students on their initial site visits and guest speakers this fall:

ChefEx

From Elise Comerota '28. "I really appreciated the deep explanations from the owner of Velvet Sky Cafe with our Chefex group! I liked the honesty in how managing a bakery can induce challenges in time management but also how you can overcome these challenges and pursue your dream career. Additionally, I learned that if there are numerous extravagant expectations from an employee, it is okay to have your boundaries. Overall, I and the rest of my cohort had a great time trying out the arts of cake decorating and gaining some important insight on what lays ahead when choosing the career. Many thanks to our wonderful speakers!"

 

BizEx

From Aleena Pilgrim-Brown '27. "Our BixEx cohort met with Jarel Daniels who is the CEO of his own Accountant firm. Coming from a student who has no prior knowledge of accounting Jarel's session really taught me the significance of how accounting works for him specifically as a career because he loves math and is passionate about the field. I learned that work ethic is important and so is passion, they are interconnected so if one does not have passion behind the work they are doing on a daily basis most likely they will not enjoy their work days. When asked about how being a minority group affects one's experience as a CEO, Jarel was initially challenged by the question but gave us one of the most powerful answers. He told us that for minorities it is a big leap to be a CEO and run your own business especially in an industry that highlights white male identifying people, however he said the leap is worth it. Even though minority groups may have to work 10x as hard as other privileged groups, if you want to do something, then do it. Don’t let the barriers of your identity get in the way, use your identity as a superpower and forge your own path. In this session I learned things beyond accounting and numbers: it gave me inspiration on how to approach different career pathways and think about how I want my life to look like. Another thing that Jarel described was that his workdays are very long and he sits at a deck for sometimes hours looking at numbers. He addressed that this reality may not be for everyone, but it's for him. And that in itself is beautiful."

 

LabEx

From William Palladino '27 and Lucas Newlon '27. "We in Labex met with two professional civil engineers. One of the civil engineers, Erica R. Forgione, is a post-doctoral scholar at Villanova University and she specializes in environmental civil engineering. The other that met with us, Dr. Kelly Good, is an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineers at Villanova, and previously worked as a water utility engineer. They came and taught us about what civil engineers do and what they do as civil engineers. This included talking about the opportunities in civil engineering, such as environmental, structural, and transportation. They informed us about their studies on micro-plastics and the effects they have."

 

SportEx

From Ethan Smith '27: "During this meeting, BizEx and SportEx combined have a shared cohort with speaker Jeremy Goldberg. There were many takeaways from this session. For example, one of the most important aspects of business is knowing how to pitch your brand effectively. Jeremy himself didn’t start with this big social network. Jeremy had to pitch himself, so early in his career, he worked in the law field on Capitol Hill. There he would go running with one of the senators on Capitol Hill. Although this may sound like a lot, it ultimately paid off because he was able to build a connection with the senator. Eventually, the senator wrote him a letter of recommendation, which really helped his career take off because people saw that he was connected with a well-known senator. Another takeaway is that to run a good and efficient business, you need a unique product that will stand out. You need to find your target audience. You need to find a staff/team. Lastly, you need to regulate the finances of the business."