Activities & Events
MYP Career Day
E
ach year, Concordian organizes a Career Day for the middle school students, opening them up to the realm of possibilities available to them. In the past, speakers from outside of school have come in as experts, presenting on their different professions which might be of interest to the kids. The purpose of this is to not only inspire our children to all of the options the future may hold but to also get them actively thinking about their careers, considering what may be a good fit. This year, as with so many things, COVID 19 presented new obstacles to overcome, and we needed to get creative. Unable to bring in members from outside of the Concordian community, we looked towards our very own grade 8 students to fill in and become our experts. The grade 8 class discussed the process of selecting a career and different criteria that they may want to consider, took a career aptitude test which offered suggestions on different career paths that may be a good fit, and then selected different jobs they would ultimately be interested in learning more about. From there, students were put into pairs, based on similar interests in a career, and tasked with researching and developing presentations to give to the grade 6 and 7 students. The grade 6s and 7s overall enjoyed getting to learn from their older peers for a change. Students mentioned that, “it was fun and very engaging because they asked questions to help us understand.” “I felt special. Thank you for leading us down the right path for a career.” Not only were they able to interact with older grades in the MYP, but they gained valuable information about careers and their future in the process. “It feels like I have more jobs on my list of what I want to be in the future,” one student shared. Another noted, “It helped me think about what I like and what is best for me.”
Filling the shoes of field experts proved an exciting but also taxing challenge for the grade 8s. One student explained that during the process, “it shows the many factors of different jobs, like the education needed to apply. This gave me some insight into what future job I might pursue.” Another student realized, “ there are many types of people and more careers available than you think.” Other students enjoyed being able to take on the role of teacher, and share information with their younger peers. “It was great, I felt that the kids were able to learn something about the different careers.” “It was fun and interesting because we got to share our knowledge,” One student was surprised with how tiring it was teaching middle school students. “Our throats hurt. There should be a limited amount of time, like 5 minutes [to speak] then 5 minutes of rest.” If nothing else, hopefully, this gave the grade 8s a newfound appreciation for their teachers and all their hard work they do. Mr. Jaren MYP Counselor
53 CONCORDIAN IMPACT - ISSUE 30