By: Whitney Hofer, Roosevelt Elementary and K-5 RRVA Counselor
For several years, Heart River Elementary has held a career day in the fall, including an indoor portion in the gym and an outdoor vehicle fair portion in the parking lot. This year, all elementary school counselors in the district collaborated with Heart River’s counselor Toril Sanford, under the direction of Prairie Rose, Jefferson and Lincoln’s assistant principal Rich Smith, to expand the career day event, so that all 5th grade students in the district could attend.
The career day presenters came from a wide variety of career clusters and included representation from the following careers: veterinary medicine, pharmacists, electricians, sheriff’s deputies, park ranger, baseball and basketball coaches, museum preparers, engineers, construction, artists, police, firefighters, farm equipment sales, cable/internet field operations manager, EMTs/paramedics, towing, plumbing, Army National Guard, tree service and energy services. When asked which career presenter was her favorite, Evangelyne Anderson, Roughrider Virtual Academy 5th grader, had a hard time choosing just one. “I loved the vet and the ambulance, but maybe I loved the police officers the most because I got to sit in the police car and check it out”. While Roosevelt’s 5th grade student, Freyja Reed, was checking out the display of artifacts from the dinosaur museum, a museum preparer asked her which dinosaur was her favorite. Freyja said, “a tyrannosaurus”, to which the preparer replied, “Here is a tyrannosaurus toe claw”.
Students learned many fun facts from the presenters. Midco’s field operations manager explained to students that 60% of Dickinson’s cable and internet is underground, but 40% is up in the air. When a storm hits and cable or internet goes down, Midco’s brave field employees go up in a bucket truck and fix the issues in the storm. Students were allowed to go in the bucket truck and see the safety harness and equipment. East End Auto’s driver did a great job of explaining a career path in trucking. He explained that the tow truck at the career fair is worth a million dollars, and to drive it you have to start by taking a one-month course to get a CDL, then begin with smaller trucks and work up, learning the winches. A third-generation plumber also explained to students that he has invested a lot into his business, buying the latest plumbing technologies like cameras that can help him see exactly what is causing the plumbing issue. He helped them see that investing in the latest technologies can pay off, as plumbing is a lucrative career where you can earn up to $40 an hour. Continental resources couldn’t bring in all of their large, expensive equipment, so they brought Lego robotic models that moved like real equipment. Completions manager Jeff Leavitt explained that his 5th grade son from Heart River, Cole Leavitt made the models, and the coding on one model alone took about an hour to complete.
I spoke with many presenters and students at this event, all of whom gave me positive feedback. Roosevelt’s 5th grader, Izzy Christensen, summed up the event best. She said, “I talked to every presenter and it was awesome”! The DPS elementary counseling team’s goal for next school year and beyond is to grow the event to a larger location. We will be able to include more grade levels since career exploration enhances the potential for success of all students, inspiring them for long-term goals.