GNA CAMPUS – Greater Nanticoke Area has been holding onto one of its newer annual events for a few years now, Career Day.
Career Day is a day in March when many different people and workers from different backgrounds and workforces will come to Greater Nanticoke Area Elementary Center, and express to the young kids how important it is to know what you want to do in the future.
There has always been much controversy regarding whether or not schools in America were preparing children for the genuine future. With events like this, children are exposed to career choices at a young age, giving them years ahead of them to decide what they want to do.
“I remember it being very hands-on.” A junior in Nanticoke High School told us. “We had a whole day to move around from classroom to classroom, with different career walkthroughs set up inside. It really made me think about my future, and I don’t think I would be as dedicated to that now if it weren’t for efforts like that.”
It’s a known fact that younger kids learn and develop more with hands-on activities. Kids are bound to remember important information if they have fun learning it independently, with mentors walking them through it.
Mrs. Lukowski, a 5th-grade teacher and coordinator of the 5th-grade Career Day, told us some more about why this event is so important.
“As part of our PA Standards, we are required to provide students with an education that can help prepare them for the workplace,” she told us. “These standards follow students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. As educators, we want to make sure that we are teaching the skills that students need to develop to prepare them to enter the workforce or advance to the collegiate level.”
“Our fifth-grade team as well as administrators and guidance counselor, Julie Perhacs, provide many opportunities for our students to explore a variety of career choices. There are 16 career clusters that we introduce to our students, and they start by taking the RIASEC Test to see what their interests are. Then, they use these interests to choose a career that they are passionate about and would love to learn more about. Students then research that career and write a five-paragraph essay on what they learned, and include information about the education that is needed to obtain that career, the skills, duties, and responsibilities of the career, as well as what they would like or dislike about having that career. After the research essay is written, students get to start deciding which career clusters they would like to sit in on for our Annual Career Day.”
She continued. “This day is extremely important for students because they get to experience listening to a presenter speak about their career, their hardships, and their passions, and get to learn about careers that they may have never thought of before. After career day, they complete a reflection on the presenters.”
This may seem like a very fulfilling event, but this isn’t the end of the learning and planning for the 5th-grade group.
“Lastly, our 5th graders get to visit the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center to learn about their programs and see if that school might be a right fit for them. A lot of people say that fifth grade is a young age to start thinking about what career you want to pursue, however, there are so many jobs out there that we aren’t even aware they exist. By having presenters come in and also see the Wilkes-Barre CTC, they get a wealth of information about careers that are right in our area.”
Career Day is an extremely important event for Nanticoke’s youth, and educators are some of the leading mentors. Hosting events like these are needed more than ever!
Be sure to follow The GNA Insider for more updates on this event coming in March.
