WAYNESBORO – Remember when you were growing up. You wanted to be a baseball player, a fireman, or an astronaut. That was what you saw on TV and heard your folks discuss. Good for you if you had the athleticism, or the aptitude. Most likely, you did something else with your life.
So how do you prepare youngsters to make a good choice? One way is to expose students throughout their years in school to a wide array of potential occupations.
“The WASD Elementary Career Days for grades 3-5 was held during the week of April 15” said Tom Hoffman, Career Coordinator. “Elementary Career Days began in 2022 and are currently held every other year at the Otterbein Church Community Center.”
“The ‘First Choice’ approach to education came to Waynesboro with Dr Tod Kline several years ago. Dr Sterner Hine has continued the approach” said Hoffman. The idea is by the time students get to high school, they may have a good idea what they want to do, and the high school tries to provide the tools to prepare for that path.
In the elementary grades, the idea of occupations is a very low level introduction every other year. Grades K – 2 is an inhouse approach conducted in individual schools by the teachers. This year’s grades 3 – 5 is done more like a job fair, but is still fairly low level.
Hoffman said the program gets more serious as students mature. “Middle School does an ‘Adventures in Careers’ program every year with trips to multiple locations. High School is where older students, who’ve seen a great number of occupations and have developed skills to better assess their options, get very specific about preparing for their First Choice.”
Last week approximately 1,000 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students from Fairview, Hooverville, Mowrey, and Summitview, rotated through various stations representing numerous career pathways and occupations.
The following businesses and organizations participated in the event:
Blue Ridge Risk Partners
Buttonwood Nature Center
Drayer Physical Therapy
Dwight Karkan, Author
F&M Trust
GRC
Greencastle Veterinary Hospital
Manitowoc Cranes
Specialty Granules, LLC
Tom Shockey Collision
United Disability Services
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Washington Township Police Department
Waynesboro Community and Human Services
Waynesboro Fire Department
WellSpan EMS
WellSpan Health
WRGG Radio
