By Amy Batista, Special Writer
CRANBURY – The Cranbury School District is preparing for its annual Career Day for middle school students March 11 and is seeking new speakers for the event.
“We are always looking for new and interesting speakers for the students,” said school counselor Joann Charwin.
Ms. Charwin coordinates the day for the students. Assisting her is Anna Persons, a community member, who makes the students’ schedules for the day.
“Anna has been doing the students’ schedules since her children attended Cranbury School about 15 years ago,” she said. “She is still helping with the schedules, long after her children have graduated.”
Career Day, and annual event for students in grade sixth through eighth, has been in existence at Cranbury School for more than 20 years, according to Ms. Charwin.
She said in preparation for Career Day, students do activities that help them identify their career interests – Interest Inventories – and work on identifying and dividing careers into different Career Clusters.
“The purpose of these activities is geared toward helping the students to match their interests with various careers,” she said.
Career Day now starts out with a keynote speaker, which is an aspect of the day that was added when Ms. Charwin began her coordinating duties.
“The keynote speaker is funded by the Cranbury Parents Teacher Organization (PTO), unless the keynote speaker is a volunteer from the community,” she said, adding that the keynote speaker sets the tone for the day and introduces the theme of Career Day.
Last year’s theme was “Above and Beyond” and the speaker was Bill Gibson, a parent from Cranbury School. Mr. Gibson is the director of Global Oncology Commercialization Marketing at Bristol-Myers Squibb.
“Mr. Gibson’s topics included the importance of “Believing in Yourself,” “Everyone’s story is important and deserves to be heard,” and “Following your passion.”
This year’s motivational keynote speaker is Bill Cordes, who travels around the nation to meet with students focusing on how the choices students make they affect their future.
“He is known as the “YOGOWYPI” guy which means, “You Only Get Out What You Put In,” said Ms. Charwin. “He has visited Cranbury School in the past and the students loved his presentation.”
She said after the keynote speech, the students travel around to different speakers throughout the morning in half-hour intervals.
“This is where the students’ schedules come in,” she said. “Each student will select the four speakers they wish to see and then the schedule is created. The speakers are always parent or community volunteers,” said Ms. Charwin.
She said that the school has had interesting speakers over the years including: entomologist, oceanographer, graphic designer, firefighter, EMT, pilot, engineers, scientists, chef, radio station host, meteorologist, astronaut, judge, lawyer, prosecutor, chef, artist, photographer, FBI agent, screenwriter, architect, speech specialist, florist, teachers, sales consultant, vet, author, internet web designer, computer game designer, financial analyst, military, politician, newspaper reporter, and medical specialists including, physiatrist, cardiologist, pulmonary specialist, psychologist, orthodontist, and entrepreneurs.
“The speakers share their professions with the students through slide show presentations or hands-on activities and games,” she said. “The students are able to ask questions about the academic requirements, different aspects of the job, and get an early sense if this is an area they wish to pursue in the future.”
She said that the students complete evaluations at the end of the day and offer feedback.
“They really do love the experience of learning about different careers and are inspired by the speakers,” she said.
If anyone is interested speaking, contact Joann Charwin at jcharwin@cranburyschool.org by end of January.
