OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Alva High School graduate Ridge Hughbanks took part in a panel discussion as State Schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister moderated during the Oklahoma State Department of Education's New Skills for Youth Summit on Thursday, Nov. 9, in Oklahoma City.

While in high school, Ridge Hughbanks "fell in love with arguing" as a member of the debate team and developed a passion for agriculture issues through his participation in FFA.

"In high school you have an idea of your interests but you are just feeling your way around," said Hughbanks, a graduate of Alva High School who is now a sophomore at Oklahoma State University, where he is studying agriculture business in hopes of someday working as a lawyer or advocate for the industry.

Hughbanks was one of several high school and college students who addressed a crowd of educators Thursday at the New Skills for Youth Stakeholder Summit in Oklahoma City, discussing the ways extracurricular activities, job shadowing programs and passionate teachers helped them set career goals.

State education leaders hope to encourage more public schools to focus more on creating more high-quality career pathways, especially as Oklahoma experiences a shortage of skilled labor and a large number of high school students enter college needing to take remediation courses.

The summit, hosted by the state Department of Education, explored ways for schools to partner with businesses to establish student internships and mentorships.

The Department of Education also wants to increase individualized academic plans for students and have more students enroll in concurrent and dual enrollment courses that offer college credit and career certification before high school graduation.

"We really want to shift (the focus of career options) from being something that we only talk about at the end of high school, when students have already spent their high school career taking certain courses, and start focusing on it as early as elementary school," said Hofmeister, who moderated the student panel discussion. "How can we individually prepare students ... to hit the ground running when they graduate and hit that stage ready for college and career?"