Shawnee Mission South and SMSD are dedicated to helping all of our students reach their highest potential and watching them succeed after their high school years and beyond. The challenge lies in discovering each student’s unique set of talents and understanding how those talents will drive college major, career, and even life choices.

That’s why we’re excited to share with you that SMSD has recently partnered with YouScience, through the generous support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and is part of our strategic plan to prepare every student for college and career,  Learn more about how the program works and watch video demonstrations at YouScience.com.

YouScience is an exciting new tool for us and is being offered directly to our families for the first time. With this program, students will discover their unique set of talents through the revolutionary intersection of aptitudes, interests, and personality. It’s a completely new way to understand where your children will succeed and allows SMS to deliver even more effective and accurate guidance.

The online scientific program takes students through a series of assessments and interest questions, which are designed to determine their results in the 9 key aptitudes utilized in the working world. The results include a review of the student’s strengths, suggested environments where they will succeed, detailed information on possible careers that match those skills and interests, majors that map to those careers, and much more.

Based on the science behind the YouScience and our review of the program, we believe that this will help students to make more informed decisions when it comes to major and career-related choices. This could translate into a more cost-effective and enjoyable journey through the college years as well as help students make better initial career choices.

YouScience Overview

YouScience helps our students chart their path from ‘I don’t know’ to post-secondary pursuits and career confidence and success. By completing a series of fun and engaging ‘brain-games,’ students learn where their natural strengths are and how they can leverage their strengths in post-secondary pursuits and beyond. YouScience combines decades of rigorous scientific research and cutting-edge matching algorithms to uniquely identify the intersection of your students’ strengths, passions, and future opportunities. YouScience brings your students data-driven insights about themselves and their future.

What is YouScience? Watch this Video

The Problem YouScience Solves - Watch This Video


What YouScience Provides Students

• Aptitude assessments that use engaging exercises rather than self-reported surveys
• Personalized feedback on natural abilities including self-language, tips, and aptitude descriptions
• Up to date information on approximately 500 careers including job forecasts, education investments, and a personalized FIT profile to specific careers
• Engaging results interface that guides students to build a comprehensive education & career readiness plan
• Downloadable reports making it easy to share information with counselors and parents
• Easy to use self-language to improve college application essays, resumes, interviews and recommendation letters
• 100% online so that students have access 24x7
• Continued access to the YouScience Profile for the next 10 years