Nashoba Regional High School Career Day offers students keen insight into possible career paths
BOLTON _ Oftentimes one of the toughest tasks for a high school student to undertake is trying to figuring out what career path to take after high school. Nashoba Regional High School in Bolton has tried to reduce a bit of that pressure off the shoulders of its’ student population by recently offering an interactive Career Day.
On Friday, October 30, close to 1,000 students from the regional school, which serves the towns of Bolton, Lancaster and Stow, attended career workshops showcasing over 40 different industries. The event, which drew over 120 professionals from all types of careers, gave students the opportunity to hear and speak to role models in career fields that were of interest to them. Each workshop was 45 minutes in length with between two and four presenters, who spoke for approximately 10 minutes about their careers and background before opening the discussion to student questions.
In addition to the career workshops, the school hosted grade level presentations in the auditorium. Freshmen and sophomores heard a talk from employees at The Hanover Insurance Company on the topic, “Making the Most of High School – How habits you form can translate to the workplace.” Juniors and seniors listened to a talk from Resident Life staff from Worcester State College and Assumption College on the topic, “Life in College, the Next Chapter.”
Each student attended their grade level presentation and three career workshops during the morning. “It was a wonderful opportunity for our students in grades 9 – 12 to hear about careers of interest to them. It gave our students an idea of how their classroom learning connects to the real world,” said Sue Allaire, career counselor at Nashoba Regional High School. “The presentations served as a vehicle to get students thinking about their own strengths, abilities, skills and postsecondary options.”
Karen Droogan, public relations manager at PENTA Communications, Inc., along with David Kurtzer, senior director of Go To Market Operations for RSA Security (security division of EMC), and Laura Spear, a senior marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in marketing and communications, presented a career workshop on Marketing and Public Relations.
Over 70 Nashoba Regional High School students attended the Marketing and Public Relations workshops.
“This event was one of the most professionally organized career days I’ve been involved with over the years,” Droogan said. “The students who attended our workshops were eager to learn more about marketing and public relations, and they were a great audience. They asked intelligent and thoughtful questions and were attentive and enthusiastic. The workshops were not only instrumental to the students, but reminded many of us in the working world why we chose our career paths.”
“We have a strong business program that offers courses in Marketing, Accounting, Graphic Design, Webpage Design, Multimedia and Sports, and Entertainment Marketing,” Allaire said.
“Opportunities like the Nashoba Regional High School Career Day are instrumental in helping our youth learn more about the opportunities available to them in the future. Having so many professionals on campus to share their stories provides the students with an excellent means of role modeling and mentoring,” said Deborah Penta, CEO of PENTA Communications, Inc.
“The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive from participants, faculty and students. All student feedback has been positive and the career workshops really helped our students to begin to define their postsecondary goals,” Allaire said.