By: Heather Hilyer, CAES Senior

Calera High School students recently had the opportunity to learn first-hand about various careers in the community during the school’s Career Day, held on November 19.  Thirty-one speakers from a wide array of fields spent their day sharing their experiences with students.

“We sought out speakers based on online surveys given to our students,” said Dr. Doug Cound, CHS counselor and coordinator of the Career Day event.  “We then matched students with four speakers within their career interests.”

Dylan Brantley, a senior who also serves as a peer helper, was very excited to learn about new opportunities. With numerous job fields such as marine biologist, specialty teacher, nurse, crime scene investigator, and many others, students had a wide array of careers from which to choose.

“I was excited for career day because it’s a chance to hear in detail from people who have been where I am right now, and decided to choose their career path early,” said Brantley. “Now they are experienced in their job and can tell us the positives and negatives of that job. Plus you may hear something about a job you had never considered before which opens up new windows of life to explore.”

Career Day is beneficial to all of Calera’s students as it helps them to envision their future and to set them on a possible career path.

“As a senior going to college next year and beginning to consider what to do with the rest of my life, Career Day helped me see that there are many opportunities out there that benefit me financially and are what I enjoy doing,” said Rachel Jackson, another senior peer helper.

“I think it was vital for our students to receive first-hand information about specific careers in each of the main career clusters, which they begin exploring in 9^th grade in their Career Preparedness classes,” said Dr. Cound. “Students gain a realistic appraisal of the world of work including its challenges and demands in the process, and that speaks to our mission of ‘Every Child a Graduate and Every Graduate Prepared’.”