CONCORD- Olivia Moseley, school counselor at W.M. Irvin Elementary, says it is never too early to start the conversation with students about their futures. That’s why last year she started a career fair for fourth and fifth-grade students.
Moseley organized the school’s second career fair for Thursday, April 27 and invited members of the community to come and share all about their careers.
“Especially the older kids, I want them to go ahead and start thinking about what it is they want to be,” Moseley said. “I wanted to do this to help give them an idea of what else is out there besides the original professional athlete or teacher or police officer, and give them different things to think about.”
Although a police officer and fireman were present, other careers like a swimming coach, basketball coach, real estate agent and newspaper reporter were also at the fair to share their stories.
Moseley reached out to parents and the community in order to provide the students with a variety of options.
As students entered the gym, they made their way to the careers that caught their eye; asking questions like “What is the hardest part of your job?” and “What kind of education is needed for this career?”
“A lot of times they say they want to be a doctor, but they don’t know how much schooling that it takes,” Moseley said. “So I thought this was a good way for them to learn what it takes to become these different types of careers.”
Students also asked other important questions like “What is the salary range for your career?” and “What is the best part?”
“I think they like the experience of being able to mingle with other people outside of the school setting, ask questions and have that freedom to be able to move around and get different ideas about different things,” Moseley said.
She hopes that by attending the fair, the students learned the education and work they will need to get to their dream career or discovered something new that they might want to pursue.
“If you ask these kids if they know what they want to be when they grow up, pretty much every kid will raise their hand, so they are already thinking about it,” she said. “They are never too young to start the conversation.”
[“Source-independenttribune”]
