The Wildcat's approach to the future: L-R Career Day

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" As kids, we would give answers such as an astronaut, president, or bullfighter, which was fun. But, as years went on, that little question started to loom over and cast a shadow filled with anxiety and dread, primarily as graduation from high school drew closer. "What do I want to be when I grow up?"

Starting in 2014, the L-R High School has been helping students tackle that question making it easier and easier to manage. One way is through their annual Career Day, which is happening this coming Friday, Nov 18. But it is not your typical walk around the gym; get a few business cards and pens, maybe chat with someone and move on with your day kind of Career Day.

"Honestly, we just want to bring a lot of opportunities for our kids," says Dr. Teresa McKenzie, principal of the L-R High school. "It is very engaging. We intend to give more time to the presenter that the students are interested in. So instead of asking them to walk around a carousel situation, we set up sessions, and the students pick four that pique their interest.

More like a seminar convention, the students of L-R High school signed up for their sessions via a website. Career Day will include presentations from over 70 companies, businesses, and speakers from various fields, including medicine, constriction, and even video game development. Each speaker will have 40 minutes for presentations, giving the students more time to learn about the careers they are interested in.

"We tap into a lot of people. Obviously we use local businesses, we also reach into Springfield as there are a lot of options there."

Dr. McKenzie continues, mentioning it was not only businesses the school reached out to, there will also be some familiar faces. "We have a lot of our LRS alumni that have gone on and done amazing things. We tapped into those people as well and they are all the way across the country working, one is in Los Angeles, some work for Apple. We have some working for big companies and we are trying to highlight the success of our school system with those careers and local ones as well."

Steps like these will help students leaving high school take that first and often scariest step toward their future. Check out next week's paper, where we will recap the event.