Rocky Heights Middle School brings career day to the students
Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) canine Scooter spied a ball during RHMS career day presentation with his handler Deputy Brad Proulx.
By Kaeli Nallathamby, RHMS intern writer; photos courtesy of RHMS
The future often seems far off and distant, but eighth grade students at Rocky Heights Middle School (RHMS) looked at what their future careers might look like. This fall, RHMS brought career day to the students.
The entire eighth grade class met Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Proulx and his dog Scooter before students broke into smaller groups and rotated through the other speakers within their team. Each school team saw five different speakers with different career choices.
Among the speakers were Rock Canyon fire science students Aiden Roberts and Aiden Brabec, social worker and therapist Elizabeth Matson, Denver 7 traffic anchor Jayson Luber, aerospace engineer Shannon Cotton and Global Travel Alliance employee Ryan Sparzak. Most speakers explained how they got to their jobs, what their jobs entailed and then they answered questions about their own career paths.
RHMS students learned about various career paths during this year’s annual eighth grade career day.
The speakers provided details regarding their specific jobs, and students were able to apply the common principles across multiple disciplines, inspiring them to learn more about a variety of potential careers.
The perfect example of this inspiration was provided by Cotton, speaking to the engineering profession: “Engineering is not about knowing the right answer, it’s about knowing where to find the answer. You don’t have to know everything.”
When asked how the career day experience was, Castle Pines eighth grader Emerson Yu said, “I didn’t really know how early newscasters had to wake up. I thought the set was really cool and it was awesome that he was able to show us that.” Another Castle Pines student, Grace Bruns, said, “It was very fun. We learned a lot from it and how we can pursue our future [careers].”
Matson said, “My favorite part of my job is helping people find their hope.” That’s what she did. Instead of telling students why they should become therapists, she focused on teaching students to do as she did, take their favorite hobbies, and turn them into a career path. Matson said she really enjoyed talking to people throughout her entire childhood, so she pursued being a therapist.
“Career Day is a great opportunity to spend time with kids, and hopefully I educated them and offered a look into a business that they probably don’t know a lot about,” stated Luber.
