Joe Lukowski Recognized as Career Connect Superstar
“I’m as happy as I’ve ever been,” Joe Lukowski, an Early/Middle College (EMC) Career Coach, said. “This is the best job I’ve ever had. I love it.”
Joe helps students find their passion and path towards their future careers. Through his role, students can navigate earning two credentials while in high school: their high school diploma and an associate degree or certificate.
His dedication to his work and students is why Joe was named the Career Connect Superstar for May 2026.
This award recognizes team members whose work reflects KRESA's core values and embodies our shared vision: a community transformed by empowered learners, building fulfilling careers.
When reflecting on receiving the Superstar honor, Joe said, “To be honored this way, it means more than I think I can ever really explain in words. It takes my breath away, and it makes me very happy and very proud to know that I’m in the right spot.”
Joe first joined the KRESA team as a Career Coach in our Career Pathway Programs, previously named YOU. He transitioned into his current role as an EMC Career Coach in August 2023. Before his work in career development, Joe spent 22 years as a classroom teacher and dedicated his time to directing school plays and musicals.
His favorite part of his current role is working directly with students to help them plan for their future and succeed.
“I can literally see every year how they are growing and becoming a different person, and how they’re learning from their experiences and how they’re kind of understanding what they want to do and what they don’t want to do. And it has been just eye-opening.”
This past year, Joe worked with 45 EMC students as they took college classes, finished high school requirements, and planned their next steps in life.
“A Career Coach in the Early/Middle College program is somebody who’s here to help guide you through the process,” Joe explains. “We are a resource. We are a friend, and we are also a person who can kind of help you navigate this journey that you’re taking.”
On top of day-to-day career coaching sessions, Joe worked with students to launch the EMC Student Leadership Group (SLG) and establish the first-ever EMC student club at Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC), which includes students from KRESA, Gull Lake, and Van Buren EMC programs.
The deep impact Joe makes on his cohort is undeniably clear. At the recent EMC Completion Ceremony, Addison Burleigh, a Portage Central senior and EMC graduate, shared: “I’ve had a great time in this program. I made great friends, and my mentor Joe is amazing.”
Joe wraps up every single coaching session by sharing a “dad joke”.
“My favorite dad joke deals with brooms and Velcro. Because when the broom was invented, people loved it. It was literally sweeping the nation. But they didn’t like Velcro so much because they thought it was a total rip-off.”
When his current mentees completed the program this spring, he took the time to handwrite each one a personal letter that included a joke selected just for them.
