> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Students get ready for next stage of life
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/students-get-ready-for-next-stage-of-life/
- Published: 2008-05-23T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T19:41:22.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Exit interviews help kids get ready to find work*

JAMS Kristen Vasquez took a moment to gather her thoughts, smoothing out the wrinkles in her spring dress, patiently waiting for the most important interview of her young life.

Her name called, Vasquez arose and walked to a cluster of tables, taking a seat face-to-face with a stranger, the unfamiliar adult before her clutching a pen and paper.

In just 20 minutes, Vasquez relived the past three years.

The intent wasn’t to land a job, but more than 300 graduating students at John Adams Middle School treated their exit interviews this week with equal importance, a rite of passage in which the eighth graders are confirmed ready to set off to a bigger and more challenging campus.

The exit interviews — a program unique to JAMS — is part of a trifecta of requirements students must fulfill in order to graduate in June, grouped with the mandatory eighth grade essay and community service project.

“We feel it’s a good culminating activity that gives them a good opportunity to reflect on their experience here,” Titia Murphy, the eighth grade social studies teacher and interview coordinator, said.

The one-on-one interviews were scheduled in 20-minute sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, conducted by parents, teachers, counselors and district staff. The students were asked to reflect on their time at John Adams, about their academic experience and goals for the future. The students were provided with the list of questions beforehand.

The students spent several weeks preparing, schooled in interviewing etiquette, learning such skills as making good eye contact, dressing appropriately and engaging the interviewer. School officials said the exit interviews not only give students a chance to reflect, but also prepares them for the next phase of their life, many of them just a year or two from finding their first job.

“It prepares them for a world of work,” Principal Martha Shaw said. “It won’t be long before they apply for jobs.”

Vasquez, who like many of her peers will attend Santa Monica High School in the fall, said she spent the past several days brain-storming possible answers to the questions, her parents holding mock interviews.

“I feel confident,”Vasquez said before her interview. “I don’t feel it’s stressful because it’s not for a grade.”

Just a few tables away, David Ramirez engaged in a conversation with interviewer Carmen Paul, who teaches Spanish at Santa Monica High School.

A few moments later, Ramirez took a seat next to Vasquez, reliving the interview, which he deemed a success.

“I was not nervous at all,”Ramirez said.“I felt comfortable the whole time.”

Many of the interviewers were brought in from other schools, allowing the students to interface with a stranger, emulating a real-life interview.

Among the volunteers was Estela Flores, a mother of two children at JAMS who works in the College and Career Center at Samohi. Her daughter is graduating from JAMS this year.

“They get to close their life in middle school and get an idea of what to expect at Samohi,” Flores said. “The students work very hard, are well prepared, which is a credit to the teachers.”

Jose Hernandez, a counselor at Lincoln Middle School, said he would like to see an exit interview program adopted at his school. Lincoln has a similar program called “Who am I”as part of the seventh grade curriculum.

“There’s a sense of self awareness of what they’ve gained here and how to move on to the next level,” Hernandez said. “They won’t be as nervous when they go to high school.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 23, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/052308.pdf?ref=smdp.com)