THE CALIFORNIA CAREER INFORMATION SYSTEM
EUREKA was founded as a California Non-Profit Organization in 1977 by a group of high school and community college counselors in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our founders were called the Bay Area Computer Educators (BACE).
BACE wanted to provide better career and college advising services to their students, and decided the computer would be the ideal delivery mode. In 1977, the computer was in its infancy and was not widely used in typical educational environments. Yet to them, the computer appeared to be an ideal mode of delivery.
BACE researched and found a software program that would meet their needs. The program was being developed at the University of Oregon. An agreement was negotiated, and the program was brought to California.
The group began by dumping the Oregon information, and replacing it with California information. All of the work was done by volunteers. Contra Costa and Diablo Valley Community Colleges provided free computer support.
Initially, only the schools where BACE members worked received the EUREKA service. As other districts became aware of the program, they too wanted access for their students. The program was becoming too much for the volunteer staff to handle; as a result, the first paid staff was hired in 1979.
This marks the beginning of what has become the most widely used system of its kind in California.
Until 1997, EUREKA was only available in California. Today, EUREKA is available both nationally and internationally.
MISSION
To provide results oriented self-assessment strategies, as well as accurate, up-to-date career and educational information in easy-to-use, attractive formats.
THE PRODUCT
EUREKA is a career guidance resource which has at its core a career development concept that views the human being as a continuous learner with a wide array of interests. It presents career and educational options within the context of who you are as a human being first, and then it links the user to a world of options that are designed to fit, to some degree, their desires and preferences. From there, the user has options for saving and retrieving any information they would like to research or use at a later time. The EUREKA system provides the following information and components: Three Self-Assessment or Career Exploration Strategies. 13 Career and Educational Information Databases. Several filtering, search, and storage capabilities which are designed to make information retrieval easy. An administrative tracking and reporting component. The system is available in both CD and Internet Formats. In addition, EUREKA sponsors professional development conferences and workshops, and also distributes the Self-Directed-Search, True Colors, and Scholarship resources.