Roadtrip Nation Brings Mentors to Students with Hobsons and Naviance Platform

High school students famously have a tough time preparing for and choosing their college careers, from where to apply to where to attend and what to study. Two companies that are hoping to make this process easier are Hobsons and Roadtrip Nation, which have partnered in to help guide students on their college paths and beyond.

“Roadtrip Nation has spent the last 10 years collecting stories from individuals who have defined their own roads in life,” explained the company’s cofounder Mike Marriner. “Now working with the team at Hobsons, we’re excited to share those experiences and insights with five million students searching for their own paths.”

What this means is the companies are combining the successful college and career readiness platform Naviance with the Roadtrip Nation Interview Archive of video interviews. The interviews total at more than 3,500, and will give students answers to their many questions from accomplished professionals in the fields that interest them.

“With Roadtrip Nation integrated into Naviance Family Connection, students can access meaningful resources to inform their own personal, academic, and career decisions, while collaborating with teachers and counselors in constructing road maps for their futures,” said Hobson’s President for the K-12 Division Stephen M. Smith. “By providing real-world examples of successful leaders who have overcome life’s challenges, students are able to find the motivation they need to reach their individual goals.”

With interviews available spanning hundreds of variant industries, students will have a large scope of advice at hand, and will be able to see just how many options are out there for them--which is important, when many students feel locked in to a certain path, or that they have no viable career choices ahead of them.

The range of interview subjects include CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, political activists, scientists, sports writers and many more, all answering the same question: how were you able to overcome life’s challenges to reach your goals?

By offering such a substantial group of mentors to students visually, it makes up for the lack of physical interviews. The students may not be able to ask specific questions, but the videos are aimed to put them in the right direction and spark their interest more than anything else.

Roadtrip Nation Interviews focus their questions on issues close to home for many students, including fear, failure, risk and determination.

The company’s outlook is that when students see people who were once in their same situation and have come out on the other side, their worries and doubts will subside enough for them to put a practical plan together toward reaching their goals.

Hobsons has decided to make Roadtrip Nation’s video archive available to Naviance Network members for free as a part of their subscription, so educators that are signed up to the service can avail their students of the resource at no cost.