Career professionals teach students a lesson in choices

Career professionals teach
students a lesson in choices

SPOTSWOOD — Eighteen people, representing a wide variety of professions, came out for this year’s career day celebration at Memorial School on Friday.

The day started off with a "Science Sportacular" assembly, hosted by Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, in which seventh and eighth grade students were challenged to apply simple text book physics to the playing field.

Immediately following, students broke up into small groups where they each had the opportunity to listen and question four professionals from different career backgrounds.

Presenters included Spotswood Mayor Barry Zagnit, Police Chief Jack Oliver, New Jersey Assemblyman Sam Thompson (R-13), a member of the National Guard, a representative from International Flavors and Fragrances, an employee from Chemnet, a martial arts instructor, a reporter, a photographer, a science engineer, a park ranger, a veterinarian, a lawyer, a recycling technician, a fireman, a horse trainer, a flight attendant and a human services representative.

Educators tried their best to match career by class subject as best as they could. For example, a seventh-grade English class was one of those to learn about newspaper journalism.

Those adults presenting addressed issues such as how they got started in their particular field, why they chose their career, what preparation or education they had, what they wanted to accomplish in life, and what they liked most about their job.

"Career Day offers a real cross section of options for students, providing them with access to many different people from many different backgrounds," said Mayor Zagnit. "In some ways, they’re being force-fed exposure to professions that they might have otherwise never been interested in learning about on their own."

— Nicole C. Vaccaro