RE: Careers - Message Boards - From Learning to Research

What do you think is the most beneficial information for a student in choosing a career? After viewing the career talk on Tuesday night - what do you think would make these career talks useful for you and your students?

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Julie

I think the most useful information is what a "typical" day is like for a person with that career. Also, how much and what kind of education is needed. However, for most students the first question is about salary. I think all of us would agree that in the long run, the salary is not as important as how satisfied you are with what you are doing.

I think the most useful information is about what has impacted them the most. Students get to see the passion and reason behind why these careers are so important and how they could make a difference.

One of the most useful things I believe for students is to actually hear the person talk about their career. Tonight's talk did just that and she shared personal experiences of what intrigued her growing up and how her interest grew. I believe it is very valuable for our students to be able to talk and ask questions because there are so many careers out there that they haven't even considered...such as the OEM.

This was very good. My students need to connect a career choice with the "Why am I learning this?" Having real scientists doing real world jobs that mean something is great. I want them to see and hear about research, but the real job applications of science is so important for them to know about. I want to encourage finding that one thing in a science field they're interested in and figure out how how to make a living at it and then set that goal and achieve it. I would love to have more of these for my students to see and hear.

I agree with Ann that the students need to know what a typical day for a person in a certain career is. Sometimes students get a false sense of a career, because they only see the exciting parts or the dull parts of it. It is good that they see these parts as well, but the typical day is what they mostly will be doing. I think that the way Maribel started with her story of how she came to energy management is great way to get students and teachers interested. The students can see and relate to the scientist's story, and they see that it is possible for them to reach their goals or dreams.

I think it is interesting that her original career path did not even include emergency management, Following your interests in education can take you in infinite directions!

What a typical day is like. Connecting what students are learning with real world jobs. Having students prepare questions in advance about these careers.

Enjoyed the webinar - would be a great experience for my students and easy to set up. I see potential "big" rewards by having something interactive like this. It was a great length (not too long and very engaging) with plenty of time to ask questions. Is there ever a possibility of also hosting webinars with some big names like E.O. Wilson or Sylvia Earle?

I love Marible's quote at the start of the presentation "the worse they can say is NO, but you never limit yourself:. You can here in her voice the passion she has for her work. What is even more interesting is how she go to the place she is today. One experience led to another, and so forth. Her interested started from the love of wind and how interesting she thought it was. Inquiry drives to want to know more and leads us to further questions that we are looking to answer. For students this is a very good example of how someone went along step, by step to the place she is today. I liked her story about wanting to work in Washington DC and ending up in WI. But in the long run her background was the key to her position today. I think it is ok for students not to know what they want to do and to keep moving along and learning new things.

My daughter tells me that if you love your job it will make all the difference and how you look at each day. For Maribel each day is different, yet she has very specific responsibilities that many are depending on. For students looking for a career, they should start with a class they are interested in. That class may lead them to another class and then to internships or a job. There is a lot of hard work involved with deciding on a career path. Students would benefit from clips like this and job shadowing experiences.

I think that the most beneficial message from this forum is related to the 13+/- separate experiences she had during her young career. It was interesting to me that she never wavered too far from her passion/interest but came at studying weather wind from many angles. I have often remarked to my students that age old quote of "find something your are passionate about and pursue it passionately." She exemplified that principle.

I agree that the day-to-day tasks are important for a student to know. If there is anything in the daily to-do list that a student really doesn't want to do then it isn't going to be a good fit for the student. I also agree with the statement that a student should discover something they love and pursue it. Many careers have let to be created for our kids and the best part of the webinar for me was seeing how she traveled the path discovering what she liked and didn't like until she came upon what made her really happy. To see her at 32, so accomplished, excited about her work, was inspiring.

Career presentation was extremely interesting and positive. I think our students would be interested in hearing her presentation because she shared her passion for 'following her dreams', and the journey she traveled to reach that dream. Plus, truly enjoyed her story.
Lauren Watson

I think that it was really beneficial to hear her talk about how she used what she was passionate about to drive her in career choices. At the same time, it was good to hear how her career path had many different twists and turns because that is a very common thing now.

I really liked how persistent she was in trying to get experience. So many kids are afraid to try because they are afraid to hear "no." She just kept asking.