Perry 6th grade student, Brianna Fazzolare, operates a fire hose with the assistance of part-time Perry Firefighter/Medic, Andrew McBride.
On October 18th, Perry 6th graders had the opportunity to explore various career pathways through off-campus experiences based on their own interests during the annual Share Your Genius Day (SYGD). Pathways included transportation, performing arts, health and public safety, hair and fashion, manufacturing, construction, and the environment.
SYGD was named out of the belief that everyone has a “genius” and that every student should explore their interests and passions. Throughout the event, experts in each pathway shared their own genius with students to enable them to see their own potential outside of the classroom.
Students were able to travel to different locations for a personalized experience. For example, the transportation group visited the Lake County Executive Airport where they used flight simulators, learned about drones, and some students even took a short airplane ride!
Led by Perry School’s Career Exploration Specialist, Rita Soeder and Gifted Enrichment Specialist, Jodi Hicks, SYGD enables students to get an idea of what a career in their chosen field might look like. “SYGD is different than a typical day at school”, said Soeder, “When students re-enter the building from their experiences, they are full of energy and enthusiasm, even if they learned it may not be a pathway they want to pursue.”
SYGD is one of the first steps that students in Perry Local Schools take in their career exploration journey. Sixth graders used Snippet, an interest survey, to break down their career related interests and parents can then see their student's results in the student resource platform, Clever.
Students then provided Mrs. Hicks and Mrs. Soeder with written feedback about what they thought about their Snippet results. Each student's results and individual feedback are considered when planning the day. “It's important that students see the connections between what they like to do and what they could study or do as a career beyond their time with the Perry Local Schools,” said Soeder.
Student, Quinn Johnson, explored the health and public safety pathway. “The best part was putting out the fire and eating lunch with Sergent Ovalle”, said Johnson. “I could see myself as a fireman.”
Camden Haire chose the performing arts pathway and visited Willoughby Fine Arts. “The best part of my Share Your Genius Day was that I could go up on the catwalk,” said Haire about his visit where they took an above the scenes tour over the stage into the lighting. “I could see myself taking a career in what I experienced today because I like to do the lights and marketing posters.”
This was the 8th year the Perry School District has run SYGD and the 5th that students have traveled off campus for their career experiences.