Hidalgo Independent School District hosted a successful Career Day for High School students to give them the opportunity to interact directly with professionals, ask questions and gain valuable insights into different career paths.
Career Day is a highly structured Career Awareness activity in which specialized professional guest speakers were invited to attend Hidalgo Early College High School to share information about their business/company, their job and the education and skills that are required for a successful career.
Hidalgo ISD educators understand the importance of incorporating Career Relevance in the classroom, therefore, counselors placed an emphasis broadening student horizons by reaching out to local professionals who were willing to share their stories, expertise, and time.
“We began to prepare for Career Day back in December,” said Cristito Lampos, Hidalgo Early College High School (HECHS) counselor. “Each one of our counselors were tasked to contact presenters from businesses in the community, HECHS Alumni, South Texas College, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), Law Enforcement, Border Patrol, Fire Department, among many others to better provide students with an interactive and dynamic learning experience.”
The students were given a career survey to fill out before Career Day. They were given three options in which sessions they would attend based on their interests, likes, and end-goals. The students then filled out the survey, and each one of them was sent to those respective sessions according to what suited them best.
“Every student was encouraged to attend three sessions based on their career survey. Each session was thirty-five minutes long in which students had the opportunity to ask questions and interact with higher education faculty members, experts in the field, and seasoned practitioners of highly specialized careers, such as lawyer, dietician, professors, speech pathologist, law enforcement, military personnel, and our very own, athletic trainers,” explained Lampos.
Hidalgo Early High School Career Day was designed to benefit students who are exploring different career options. In addition, it gives students the opportunity to set goals and make decisions about their future education, and career path possibilities, while creating opportunities for networking and collaboration by helping them become more aware of the local job market.
“I think Career Day was very informative and very interesting because some of my presentations were hands-on, for example sports medicine, our own school trainer gave us the opportunity to participate taping each other’s ankles as he explained the proper technique,” explained junior, Jasmin Martinez. “Sports Medicine is something I really want to pursue which helped me better understand of what this field is about.”
Career Day builds Career Awareness in which helps guide and expose students to a variety of careers, and jobs by enabling students to begin identifying areas of their own personal career interest.
“We are very fortunate to have Career Day at our school because we received information that truly gets us ready for our future,” concluded senior, Cynthia Cobos. “I already knew what career path I wanted to take, and the experience I had during Career Day just confirmed the path I want to pursue.”
