Northville High School recently hosted a dynamic career panel, where business professionals shared their insights with our curious students.
"We really wanted to highlight something outside of the four year traditional pathway and so we invited some of the community members and some Northville High School graduates to come in and talk about just those alternative pathways like trades, apprenticeships, things along that route," explained Leah Babinski, school counselor, Northville High School.
"I’m a Northville High School grad, I graduated in ‘02, and was invited to come and speak. So I do massage, skincare, and nails. I got a chance to talk to students about what I do and what schooling was like for the trade programs and talked to them about starting my own skincare line as well," said Jessica Jourdan, massage therapist.
"We really wanted the students to lead the discussion a little bit with their questions and the things they were looking for more information on. So each one of our panel members sat at a different table, we gave them an opportunity for about 5 to 8 minutes just to chat with that person and then rotated them around," said Babinski.
"I really like that we get to talk to every single person there, so they rotated and we got to experience from business to police officers to graphic designers, we could get everywhere like every single career choice, we could learn about it," explained Mackenzie, 11th grader, Northville High School.
And making meaningful connections.
"Well it helps me with the welding and I was talking to one of the welders over there and he’s talking about how I could do pipe fitting because I like to stick weld, so I could get into that area. It was nice because I can relate someone that’s doing what I want to do," said Ewan, 11th grader, Northville High School.
Jourdan continued by saying, "Definitely was nice for them to be able to see that there are other options and avenues than just a 4 year degree and give them an idea of where to go from there and how to get there."