Fairview/Miss Jewell Elementary holds career day
By PAMELA GRANT
Cove Leader-Press
For a child, a career can be a far-off dream or goal to be achieved. Work is still many years away, but it’s still common to hear kids say, ‘When I grow up, I want to be a….’
The students of Fairview/Miss Jewell Elementary, got to add a few more options to their lists of potential future careers after Tuesday’s Career Day. This year, students had the opportunity to meet and talk with a writer, a barber, a correctional officer, the mayor, and more.
Jonathan Turner, a correctional sergeant at Hughes Unit maximum security prison in Gatesville, was one of many who spoke to the children at the event. He has two daughters that attend the school and although he initially wanted to attend the event because of them, he said he also wanted to help change the perception the kids had about correctional officers. He said you usually only hear about them when they do something wrong, and he wanted to show the kids how much he cared about his job. Turner added that the school had never had a correctional officer speak at one of their career days before.
Turner encouraged the students to be good and do the right thing.
“Always listen to the teachers, and always do good things,” said Turner to his rapt audience.
Turner said that it was important for him to teach the kids a little bit about the consequences of what life can hand them. He also encouraged the kids to visit family members if they have any that are in prison. He said that just having that little extra encouragement can sometimes make a huge difference.
4th grader, Treshawn Smith, said that he really enjoyed getting to look at all of the different careers. “It was cool,” said Smith. “There was a lot of different careers. The tow truck was really cool!”
Smith said that when he grows up, he wants to be either a firefighter or a tow truck driver.
“It exposes them to the different careers that are out there,” said Courtney Jenkins, a 4th grade writing teacher for the school.
Jenkins said that many of her students were particularly impressed by Lynette Sowell, a writer who spoke at the event. Sowell works for the Leader-Press and has written several books. Several of Jenkin’s students write for the school newspaper, and she said that it was good for her kids to see how that writing can become a future career.
Jenkins said that it was important for the students to learn about a variety of different careers. Career Day is designed to allow the students to see what kind of jobs are out there instead of only thinking about the ones they see on television. This also gives them an idea of what to expect when it comes to a career that they may have never even thought of before.