Thinking about what you want to be when you grow up can be intimidating, especially with endless career options. Warrendale Charter Academy students were able to experience a diverse pool of career paths at Career Day.
Briana Dodd, sixth-grade teacher at Warrendale, hosted Career Day because she felt as though her middle school students needed exposure to a multitude of careers. “I wanted to inspire my students to think larger and really get a chance to see what was out there,” said Dodd.
Students were tasked to complete a worksheet as they walked around, and ask professionals about things like salary, degree requirements, job duties, etc. Students will use this experience and their completed worksheets to complete a Million-Dollar Project where they will detail what they would do if they won a million dollars, which combines math and English-language arts.
Career Day brought together over 250 fifth- through eighth-grade Warrendale students.
“Students were excited and engaged to be able to step outside of the classroom, and still have an opportunity to be a part of an informative event,” said Dodd.
Professionals for various fields were in attendance including a firefighter, automobile engineer, lawyer, physician assistant, entrepreneurs (cosmetic company and cosmetologist), navy man, forensic scientist, board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters, librarian, logistics coordinator from UPS, a DJ, nurse, human resource representatives from Ally Bank, and a representative from Wayne State University’s Office of Multicultural Student Engagement.
“We hope to build lasting partnerships with many of the professionals that attended Career Day,” said Dodd.