Exploring Professions at the Upper School Career Fair
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” joked Ryan Roth, co-owner of D1, a local sports training center, at the Upper School’s first annual Career Fair. With certainty, students rattled off a range of professions, including interior decorator, educator, video game designer, and professional soccer player.
Roth continued the conversation, explaining that, at their age, he was just as certain he’d have a career in football. He went on to tell about his journey from being cut by the Buffalo Bills NFL team and later hired by an arena football team in Nashville, Tennessee, to finding his niche in sports training. Throughout that journey, he said, faith, family support, and a passion for helping athletes excel played key roles in steering him toward his current career.
Over the course of the afternoon-long Career Fair, organized by the Academic and Career Counseling Office, 30 panelists engaged juniors and seniors in a lively discussion of career ideas and aspirations. According to Academic and College Counselor Kelly Brown (C’00), the goal was to expose students to a wide range of professionals, including those outside the Principia community whom students had never heard from.
“When we started brainstorming this event, we asked neighbors and friends and made cold calls to companies in order to connect students with new role models,” says Brown. “The response was terrific. Even if our initial contacts couldn’t participate, they’d often offer up a colleague or different person for us to call.”
A poll of students’ career interests guided the Counseling Office’s selection of professionals and resulted in a wide range of careers being represented at the fair, including education, Christian Science nursing, firefighting, nonprofit fundraising, architecture, video production, law, social work, video game development, sports training and scouting, and construction. “Next year, we hope to expand to include a broader spectrum of professions and invite professionals throughout the world to speak with students via Skype,” says Brown. “It was fascinating to see what careers students wanted to learn about, and initial feedback indicates that students found the event illuminating.”
“Hockey has been my passion since I was 5,” notes senior Fletcher Burbee, “so it was extremely cool to hear from Alex Brooks, a pro scout for the Chicago Blackhawks. Plus, I learned that you are not locked into one profession for your entire life. You may love your profession and stick with it, but you can always start something new!”
“I’m very interested in working in the Christian Science field, so attending the workshop with a Christian Science nurse and then one with a Christian Science practitioner was super enlightening for me,” says senior Kale Ostler.
“I really enjoyed the format of the event, too,” Kale adds. “Each professional gave a brief explanation of their job, and then the students were allowed to ask questions. I feel like that helped us better understand the career on a much more personal level.”