Career Day full of choices for students
May 28, 2008
By Laura Geggel
Software architect Mike Pizzo fielded questions about his Microsoft job April 21 for Mount Si High School’s fourth Career Day.
“The first question I almost always get is ‘Do you know Bill Gates?’” Pizzo said.
Does he?
“I have met him on occasion,” Pizzo said. “I have presented to him, but I’ve never had him over for dinner.”
Luckily, students cared more about his career track than if he was on a first name basis with Gates. In a PowerPoint presentation, Pizzo explained to high school students how he majored in math and physics with an emphasis in computer science during his college years, before applying for a position at Microsoft.
He even provided a few job application pointers.
“When I’m interviewing somebody for a position at Microsoft, I look at the types of experiences they’ve had and how they may relate to the job,” Pizzo said. “Particularly for college hires, I don’t expect that you’ve done exactly the job that you are interviewing for, but how do you solve problems? Problem solving is a big skill for working at Microsoft - you need to figure out how things work.”
Pizzo was one of about 40 speakers, including this reporter, at the 2008 Career Day. The Mount Si High School Career Center typically holds career days every other year, but they skipped last year’s event due to school missed from snow and flood days.
Professionals spoke in four 35-minute workshops, informing students about careers from photography to fashion design and emergency room nursing to carpentry.
“I learned that logging and tree service are two different things, which I had no idea because my dad’s a logger,” said junior Maegan Welcome. “Tree service is more the people who remove trees that are endangering you. If you want a tree removed, you call them.”
Royal Robinson, a plasterer, told students about construction and the importance of belonging to a union.
“I was surprised at how much the kids were interested in the trade. You don’t see a lot of interest in the trade from high school kids. I think that’s because they haven’t been getting the information.
“If you go to college, you run up a debt and you’re not making any income or earning a retirement,”
Robinson added, “whereas in the trades, you’re making an income while you’re working and going to school.”
Some students have trouble connecting what they’re learning in class to real world careers, said Amy Anderson, the high school’s career specialist who organized the career day.
“The number one way to find out about a job and if it’s a good job for you is to do a job shadow,” said Anderson. “With career day, we reverse that situation and we make it easy for our students. That way, the speaker can connect with 30 kids in one session.”
Some rooms were not large enough to seat students interested in hearing the speakers, especially Suzanne Glazier from the North Bend Safeway Bakery Department.
Sophomore Erinn Hill, who wants to go into law enforcement, said she enjoyed listening to Washington State Trooper Joseph Zimmer.
“I learned how long it takes to become a trooper and how hard you have to work for it and everything,” Hill said. “It was interesting to know that after he applied, it took a year before he became a cop.”
It was the first time for many of the speakers to step back into a high school since their own graduations, but many told Anderson they wanted to stay connected with Mount Si as they ate a catered lunch prepared by the culinary class.
“If you have people who are in a career come talk to kids and say ‘Here are the requirements to get into this career, here’s what we do,’ it provides more realism for kids,” said Mount Si principal Randy Taylor.
“It connects them with an interest they might have with someone in that field.”
Reporter Laura Geggel can be reached at 392-6434 x221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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