So, What Do Our Students Want To Do When They Grow Up?
MPS Opens The Flood Gates To Help Them Figure It Out!
On a single day, a host of students’ lives were touched by careers including marine biology, illustrating, acting and a lot in between! The day started when I was invited to Fort Lauderdale for a morning visit with a marine biologist-without leaving Steele Elementary-go figure!
One of our very own 2000 Mason graduates and a childhood friend of Kate Wiseman dialed in on Zoom for a visit with Kate’s 4th grade classroom who had been studying about animals. While a field trip seemed like a natural choice, going to Florida for a day was hardly cost effective. Thankfully, Derek Burkholder stepped in and filled the gap!
I would classify Derek as a passionate fountain of knowledge, role model and gifted communicator. After his rich overview, complete with photos and videos, the students were equipped with questions, stories and comments. For more than an hour, the students were captivated.
When Derek was asked how and when he decided to become a marine biologist, he was quick to respond: at age 10 on a family trip to Florida, where he observed some ocean wildlife and met an individual who studied the animals. He was stoked! He had some serious advice for those spellbound 4th grade students; namely, follow your interests and develop them. He said frequently interests turn into passions and maybe even a career!
Later that day, I popped over to North Aurelius where I was an invited guest by teachers Faith Ames, Jen Meeuwenberg and Hannah Fitzpatrick to the 3rd grade Author and Illustrator Tea. I spent two hours with the students as they celebrated their published works in their amazing series of books of “How-Tos.” Their stories were varied and wonderful, ranging from “How to Make a Cake” to “How to Learn the Game of Basketball.” Several students voiced their aspirations for replicating these interests and possibly developing them into careers. What a great beginning!
My next invite took me to the high school for the May Alaiedon Leadership Awards Event on the big stage. Students were nominated by their teachers for standing out, going above and beyond, for their work ethics, helping others, being positive in tough situations and more. All of these attributes are so essential for successful careers!
The day ended with Alaiedon’s Disney performance at the high school. “Finding Nemo” expressed on stage by 44 talented 3rd through 5th grade students was spectacular as they showcased the fruits of their labor. Stage management, acting, singing, writing and a host of other careers in the performing arts were on display.
Through this single day, I was struck by the number of occupations that came into play in truly organic ways: marine biology, publishing, illustrating, producing, writing, singing, acting and more. Interestingly enough, the current educational literature encourages our schools to begin teaching about careers in the early grades. At face value, it sounds and feels like one more thing; in reality, Mason teachers are doing it naturally. Thank you!
Our challenge as a community is to support these initiatives, talk and listen to our young people about their interests, school experiences, hopes and dreams. Giving them our time and resources will do a lot to help our students figure it out!
