Additional reporting by Katie Lau
Aragon held its biennial Career Day on March 15, where professionals from different occupations spoke to students about their work and possible career options.
Students signed up online for three different sessions, choosing from a list of over 70 presenters. On Career Day, students went to their three assigned sessions between fourth and fifth period to learn about different aspects of various career, including work load and qualifications.
Career Technical Education and Coordinator Helen O’Brien believes Career Day introduces new opportunities.
“[Career Day] is essential for students because there’s not enough exposure for students of different backgrounds,” O’Brien said. “[It] gives everyone a glimpse of what the position actually is and what goes on in the day-to-day operations of their position.”
Senior Grace Simenc feels that Career Day provides insight into the realities of professions students are interested in.
“Career Day definitely provides a lot of insight into the career path you want to look into. A lot of people have poorly based views on the career they want to go into. Shows like ‘Chicago Fire’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ really hyperinflate the action and downplay the work,” said senior Grace Simenc.
Senior Justin Li found the career day sessions helpful, as they provided information about the path one takes to arrive at their career.
“If I had to choose [a favorite part], it would be the software engineer who went over his career path journey,” Li said. “He described what he did after graduating from Aragon until today, a step-by-step process in which we could learn from what he did, which was very helpful.”
Presenters were enthusiastic about informing students.
“I’m really passionate about what I do, and I love to try to inspire younger people to explore,” said Una Kinsella, a self-employed licensed architect. “I never had [Career Day] when I was in high school, and it would have helped me tremendously to listen to somebody who was working in a profession [about] something I didn’t know.”
“[Career Day] would have helped me tremendously to listen to somebody who was working in a profession [about] something I didn’t know”
After hearing about presenters’ personal experiences with their careers, students like senior Dianna Higaki reevaluated her career choices.
“[The speaker made] me reconsider being a photographer,” Higaki said. “Although I love it as a hobby, the Career Day session made me realize that photography isn’t always a stable job. It requires a lot of patience and determination to become successful.”
Others realized that the career they attended was not the right fit for them.
“Career Day is useful for figuring out what you would like to do and also for figuring out what you don’t want to do,” Simenc said. “Many people in the pediatric nurse practitioner session figured out, ‘I don’t want to do this at all.’”
The speakers gave advice for those who were unsure about future careers.
“I hope students remember that it’s okay not to know exactly what you want to do and to take the time to explore a lot of different areas,” said Sean Trevino, a Biotechnology Portfolio Strategist at Genentech. “[Career Day] is a great way for students to hear about a lot of different careers and get an idea of what they want to learn more about in college.”
According to O’Brien, organizing Career Day this year differed from years past, collaborating with volunteers from the Parent-Teacher-Student Organization and assistant principal Nicole Elenz-Martin. Preparation for Career Day began in Sept. with contacting speakers for the event from past presenters and members of the community.
“[Career Day] was much better organized this year, and we also had online sign-ups, which we haven’t had in the past,” O’Brien said.
When organizing the classrooms for the speakers, the administration encountered space issues due to the FBI career’s popularity.
“[We figured] out which classrooms we would using, which classrooms could hold more than 35 students,” O’Brien said. “When we came out with the sign-ups in February, we noticed the FBI, although we had set up a classroom [of] 35, [there were] huge sign-ups for them, so we were able to switch FBI to the MPR in order to accommodate more students.”
Career Day informed students about available options to them beyond high school.
“Career Day does a good job of shedding some light on these jobs,” Li said. “It’s nice to have people give their experiences and helpful tips for us who are coming into the workforce later on.”
