On Thursday Belle Plaine Jr./Sr. High School held a Career Day for all students in grades 7-12. Over 40 professionals from a wide range of careers spent the morning at Belle Plaine to share information about their careers and answer questions about what they do. Presenters also shared information about how students can begin thinking about careers that might connect with their skills and interest and also the qualities that these professions require.
Presenters included former Belle Plaine alumni such as Doug Bannon, Director of Admissions at Kirkwood, Jill Monnahan of Iowa Realty, and Brad Cook of Iowa Mold. Others included Brent Balbinot, play by play announcer for the University of Iowa Women's Basketball, John Rathjen, of Highway Equipment Company, Mark Brinkman from the Vet Med Clinic in Williamsburg, Jo Nelson, Assistant Benton County Attorney, and John Brandt of the Cedar Rapids Fire Department.
As I visited many of the rooms throughout the morning I heard some common themes from nearly every presenter. Communication and people skills are one of the most important qualities that will help individuals be successful. Reliability was also a word that came up quite often as well. Another theme that seemed to be discussed quite often was the importance of having some level of post-secondary training or schooling. Many jobs didn't necessarily require a 4-year degree but most needed some level of training beyond high school. Computer skills was also an area of emphasis for many of the careers.
Overall, it was a great day for students to learn from people in the job world and have the opportunity to interact and question potential employers. Every student in the high school attended 6 different sessions and were exposed to a variety of careers.
A huge thanks goes out to all our presenters and also to Lisa Koch for all her hard work in getting this day organized.
Also a big "Good Job" to our students who we received many positive comments about from our presenters.
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