Discovery Partner Spotlight: KIPP New Jersey And The Power Of Collaboration

Through Discovery, Basta provides best-in-class career support to 5,000 first-gen students (and counting!) across 64 campuses and organizations.  Discovery offers live, interactive online sessions where students can engage with peers and professionals. Through AI-powered analytics, personalized online career guidance, and support for career readiness facilitators, Discovery powers our partners to enhance their career programs. 

This month, we’re proud to highlight KIPP New Jersey, a network of tuition-free public charter schools, which embedded Discovery into its career prep initiative for alumni. In conjunction with KIPP NJ’s programming, our collaboration was vital in 22 KIPP students landing an incredible internship this summer! Read what Freddie Santana, Manager of Career Services at KIPP NJ had to say about our partnership.

Basta: What was your original goal when your team partnered with Discovery?

Freddie Santana: I came into this role as a seasoned college success counselor with little experience in career prep. To best support our alumni, it was important for us to find programming that would complement the work I would be doing with them. This program had to have a proven track record of success and a program model that best aligned with KIPP’s mission and vision of supporting our alumni to a strong career launch.  Once we connected with the team at Basta and learned about the Discovery program, we knew it would be the perfect fit for our team and for our alumni.

What has been the highlight of Discovery for you and your students?

I'm a fan of the recommended "bundled" Discovery sessions based on where the student is in their career journey, but even more so than that if a student has a certain desire to explore a different session that may not be in their recommended bundled action plan, they have the opportunity to do so... It's student-focused and designed to support their career goals. . 

Anything else you want to add about your experience with Discovery?

The responsiveness to the data and willingness to be flexible have been the elements of our partnership that have made the biggest impact on our alumni. One-on-one meetings with Basta point persons make all this possible. There is a true sense of collaboration. We get to tailor communication to our students' needs and provide language that can be received in a way that is supportive and relatable to move the work forward. 

Ready to supercharge your college-to-career programs? Reach out and let’s get to work.