Students explore options for their future at Middle Level Career Day

More than 30 parents, community members and other individuals in various career fields - including a firefighter, special events manager, attorney, journalist, pharmacist, scientist and professor - spent the morning of September 21 talking with sixth, seventh and eighth graders at Lincoln Prairie School's Middle Level Career Fair.

The volunteers spoke with students about their education, their personal strengths and the multiple intelligences that support them in their field. The students have been working to identify their strongest areas of intelligence, the careers that align with those intelligences, and the best colleges/universities from which to earn a degree in that field. Middle Level teacher Dan Levin, who led the planning of the Career Fair, said the students were encouraged to speak with professionals whose careers aligned with what the students thought they might want to do - but also to go outside their comfort zone and experience something new.

"A student might talk with someone in a field that was not on their radar at all, and that conversation could spark something," Levin said.

Principal Amanda Stochl noted that the students came "dressed to impress," asked thoughtful questions, and understood the importance of making a good first impression.

"The eye contact and shaking of hands was noted by many of our guest presenters," she said. "Our Middle Level teachers are to be commended for creating a culminating activity that provided such an impressive, authentic experience for our students."