ASHTABULA —
On April 27 Ss. John & Paul School will be in full gear when it comes to getting the students motivated and thinking about college, careers and futures. SSJP students in grades six through 11 will be participating in the annual Career Day. If you ask, most students will say they enjoy the day; they get to choose to learn about up to three careers they are interested in and two enrichment activities or avocations. New avocations have been added to the Career Day festivities from last year.
“The day also provides an opportunity for students to explore avocations that they may never have tried or experienced on their own,” said Terri Chadowski, guidance counselor at Ss. John & Paul.
These avocations include art, yoga, zumba, karate, theater, stress management, dance, French and sign language.
But it’s not just fun and games. One day every year, the school has people come from various types of working careers, which students have expressed an interest in. This year’s focus is on the careers in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as the “STEM” careers. There are many different careers the students can choose, such as the most commonly known ones of architect, lawyer, pharmacist, mechanical and civil engineer, accounting, sales/ marketing, nurse, physical and occupational therapy, emergency medical technician/ fire, radio broadcasting and TV producer, and counseling. Also, there are some careers that aren’t as well known, for example, watercraft officer, geospatial engineering, human resources, biotechnology, cardiac rehab, lab technician, information technology, speech therapy, nuclear medicine and radiology.
The day starts out with a prayer service including all the students and staff. Every year there is a keynote speaker who talks about how to be successful in your life and career. This year, the keynote speaker will be Susan J. Stocker, the dean and chief administrative officer of Kent State University, Ashtabula Campus and also associate professor at Kent. She has been very successful in her career and has her associate in applied sciences degree in medical laboratory technology from Trocaire College, her master of science degree in nursing from Case Western Reserve University and her doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Kent State. Stocker has also been involved in many different activities such as president of the Ohio Nurses Association from 1997-2001; appointed to the Ashtabula County Medical Center Board of Trustees; a member of the Ashtabula County Workforce Policy Committee; and is the first woman to serve as president of Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County.
Students get a Career Day schedule, with an exception for the seniors because they are expected to know what they want to do in college at this point, so they are given the responsibility of helping to make sure the day runs smoothly for the rest of the students, and go to see career speakers learn about different avocations.
More importantly, the school really has its guidance counselor Terri Chadowski to thank for a successful day. She is in charge of gathering together a list of good careers that students would be interested in, and she makes call after call and sends email after email, to arrange for the best people and the most wide variety of careers for students to learn about.
“I believe in Career Day because it gets students to start making future plans by listening and interacting with professionals in careers they are familiar with and careers that are new,” Ms. Chadowski said.
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Brenna Powers and Kelly Baxter
Discussion
Area professionals to speak at SSJP annual Career Day
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