Date: Fri 14-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

schools-career-shadowing

Full Text:

Career Shadowing: Bring Realism To The Search For A Career

(with cuts)

BY MICHELE HOGAN

Juniors and seniors at Newtown High School are exploring career options as

part of a newly expanded career shadowing program.

Some participating students have spent a day learning about medicine

one-on-one from a doctor. Others have tried their hand at graphic design

within a publishing firm, or experienced first-hand how autistic children can

be helped by contact with dolphins. These are a few of the many career

experiences open to students in the program.

The community has been very open and supportive of the program. Jane McEvoy,

career coordinator at the Newtown High School, has compiled a list of about

250 people in the area who are willing to show a student what their job is all

about.

Many people in financial services, teaching and real estate have offered to

help, but students keep coming up with new career ideas, which send Mrs McEvoy

searching for an appropriate placement.

"I have been known to drive into the woods, and leave a girl with a man with

tattoos all over him!" said Mrs McEvoy. "She was interested in film

production, and he was shooting an avant-garde production, Pink Pumpkins at

Dawn . She had a fabulous day, getting to see these people and talk to them."

Mrs McEvoy also mentioned finding "a woman in Bridgewater who works with

autistic children and dolphins. She takes kids for the day. She was a teacher

and is wonderful to hook kids up with."

The bulk of Mrs McEvoy's requests are for placements in medicine, law,

engineering, graphic art, psychology, social work and teaching.

"Teachers are easy, and you know they are great with kids," says Mrs McEvoy,

and most other interests can be met, but psychology is somewhat more

difficult.

Mrs McEvoy commented that "so many students want to help people, but it is

hard to find experiences that are meaningful because of confidentiality."

She went on to explain that students can talk with psychologists and see

videos, but people seeking psychological help often decide not to speak in

front of anyone but the psychologist, so the student often cannot get a

complete picture of the job.

Nonetheless, Alyson Robichaud, a student who shadowed a local school

psychologist last week, learned a lot. Alyson said that the career shadowing

got her more interested in the field, and she had a chance to learn about the

tests used on kids. Yet the prospect of dealing with real situations of abuse

made her question whether she would be suited for such a career.

So Many Options

Mrs McEvoy said that "Students are sometimes surprised by how many career

options they really have. One student who was placed with a New York theater

group was surprised at the diversity of positions available -- there was even

a full-time wig maker!"

Another student, senior Marisa Burnham Bestor, who is interested in both large

animal and small animal veterinary medicine, hopes to get a close look at both

in the career shadowing program.

Although she said that witnessing a dog having rotten teeth removed under

anesthetic was "pretty gross," she said that the experience made her career

plans "more real."

Marisa was particularly interested when Dr Rita Power spayed the office's own

cat at the Bethel Village Square Animal Hospital. Marisa said that Dr Power

"made the incision and searched around, pulling out things and pointing it out

to me. Here's the bladder. See the liver."

Besides the actual experience, students are also expected to take a list of

questions with them when they go career shadowing. The questions help the

students to probe into the career field, from specifics of how to train for

the position, to more general questions.

Full Of Enthusiasm

Students are expected to inquire about the most satisfying things about the

job and the hardest thing about the job. This helps them get a feel for what

the job might mean for them.

Some students come back full of enthusiasm. Newtown High School senior Reid

Warner's placement with Dr Malloy, an intervention radiologist at Danbury

Hospital, strengthened his interest in medicine.

Reid said that the career shadowing "made me more aware of what medicine has

to offer." He said that everyone, patients and doctors, had a great attitude.

He said that they were open and that they explained everything.

Reid also commented on the immediacy of the career shadowing experience. He

said, "It's really happening. It's real life. It's not just a fictional play.

You never know what it's going to turn out to be."

Reid is thinking seriously about pre-med, but keeping his options open.

Mrs McEvoy said that the people students have shadowed with have offered to

help students in many ways. One young man was hired at Taunton Press part-time

after school and in the summer, in graphic design, the career field that

interested him the most.

Shadowing also brings home to students the importance of education and

relevant work experience. Mrs McEvoy says that "when someone out there says

`go to college,' it means more" than when we encourage them.

"Some students think they should be coming out of college and getting tons of

money, but there is a reality here," Mrs McEvoy commented.

Students learn what the real starting salaries are from people working in the

field. The career center also has detailed information, including salaries, on

file for innumerable career options. The center also has career interest

inventories that help students identify careers they might like.

Through synthesizing the real life experience of one person in the field, with

general information available in the guidance office, students get a broader

perspective on what a specific career would mean to them.

Alyson Robichaud would recommend career shadowing highly. She said, "If you

want to learn more about what you want to be in the future, career shadowing

will get you started."

Interested students can fill out the request form that is available in the

guidance department.