Guidance Department Thanks Contributors

To the Editor:

It has become a tradition, at the beginning of each school year, for the Newtown High School Guidance Department to publicly thank all the people who took the time out of their busy schedules last year to be a resource for students in School-to-Career programs at Newtown High School. Each year as the interest and enthusiasm for these programs grows, so does the size of the ad that we put in The Newtown Bee to recognize our many volunteers. Please take a minute to look for our “thank you ad” elsewhere in The Bee. These individuals and businesses deserve special recognition and appreciation for the commitment they have made to better prepare our young people for the future.

Last year we had 66 students participate in the Career Shadowing program. This is a one day “real world” experience where the junior or senior student has the opportunity to see, first-hand, what a career is all about. As they say, one picture is worth a thousand words. For the most part, these are one-on-one experiences with a career shadowing volunteer in the student’s field of interest. Last year’s students explored careers in a wide range of areas – computer engineering, international relations, teaching, video production, thoracic surgery, sport medicine, law, sports management, broadcast production, photography, and emergency medicine, to name a few. This coming year is the seventh year for this highly successful program.

The Career Speakers program brings professionals in during the school day to speak to students about their career fields. Last year over two hundred students participated in Career Speakers. These included a panel from Danbury Hospital (surgeon, nurse, physician’s assistant) speaking on careers in medicine, a scout from the New York Mets, a trial lawyer, and a stockbroker.

Our Senior Project/Mentorship course attracted 23 students last year. They were each paired with a professional in their field of interest for a minimum of 20 hours over the course of a semester. Students had to spend at least an additional 20 hours to produce a meaningful product related to their mentorship that they presented at an open house. The end results were extremely impressive and varied. Some titles from the work they produced are as follows – “Working Towards a Landmine Free World – A Model United Nations Conference”; “Study and Information Packet on Otitis Media”; “Developing the Language Skills of a Child with a Cochlear Implant”; “Music Conducting Debut”; and “Outside Looking In: A Series of Photos.”

This year the number of students who have signed up for this course – co-taught by faculty members Jeanetta Miller and Allison Zmuda – has more than doubled. It’s possible that word has gotten around that one of our students had a Senior Project/Mentorship in the Lieberman campaign. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

As you can see, these programs are building a strong community/student/school/parent partnership and it is exciting to watch as parents whose children have been mentored, career shadowed, etc, by a community professional, step up to do the same for another student. The concept “it takes a village to raise a child” is a reality in Newtown and we are indebted to the caring and generous people who make our programs possible.

We are looking forward to another great year working to improve career education and opportunities at Newtown High School. If you would like to be a volunteer in our program or would like further information, please contact any one of us in the Career Center at 203/426-1915. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Jane McEvoy

Career Center Coordinator

Peggy Ragaini

School-to-Career Coordinator

Donald R. Elliott, Jr

Director of Guidance

12 Berkshire Road, Sandy Hook                                  September 11, 2000