This past school year, eighth-grade students at Oyster Bay High School and students at the James H. Vernon School got a little help finding an answer to the question: “What do you want to do when you grow up?” More than 50 professionals, including several parents of OBEN students, participated in the annual event, which is jointly sponsored by the high school and Project LEARNS (a partnership between the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District, the Oyster Bay Chamber of Commerce, and the Oyster Bay Main Street Association).
Career exploration is a central part of the Home & Careers curriculum. Career Day is the culminating event of the semester-long eighth-grade course. Under the guidance of their teacher, Antonia Woodman, students research a variety of fields to begin thinking about possible career pathways. The goal of Career Day is to provide students with introductions to some of the varied career opportunities available to them and to give them a chance to interact with professionals. Participants represented a wide array of professions including law, veterinary medicine, dentistry, finance, education, engineering, photography, and more. Volunteers included professionals with experience in the private, public, and non-profit sectors.
Students asked the visitors for advice on what education or training was needed for their chosen profession, what high school courses and activities they would recommend students take, and what they liked and disliked about their careers. For the presenters, the chance to positively touch the lives of young people made morning spent at Oyster Bay High School well worth their time.
Last spring OBHS successfully placed its first group of interns with local businesses, a collaboration between OBHS and the Project L.E.A.R.N.S. committee. BOE Trustee John McEvoy worked with Debra Strell, the supervisor of counseling, and Lara Gonzalez, supervisor of social studies, career technologies, and service learning to implement a new program in which students at the high school could earn credit for supervised internships in the community. Students were required to complete a minimum of 30 hours at the internship site, to keep a log of their time at the work site, and to write a detailed reflection of what they learned during the experience. Two OBHS seniors and three juniors participated in internships with Chrison & Bellina, Dodds & Eder, the Centro Cultural Hispano, the Life Enrichment Center, and the Law Office of George Chalos.
