Trending
Counselor Connie Townsend created a wonderful community experience for Elkins Middle School students Thursday, May 16. It was amazing to see so many City workers and City vehicles at Phil Gainer Center on that day.
Kids often go on fieldtrips to the fire departments, and a policemen may visit a classroom now and then, but Connie's Career Day was the ultimate community experience.
She had not only the Fire and Police Departments, but she had people from our wonderful new Water Department that stands high on the hill east of town.
This supportive community activity was needed for these students because the schools have been cautious about field trips and inviting visitors during the pandemic. Teachers have been unable to plan for many of the learning opportunities kids need to experience with their peers.
This sort of event lets kids know that our town cares about them and their future. There in the Phil Gainer Center was a large room in the building right next to Elkins Middle School where the kids could talk with community leaders of many types.
I saw a bank president, a lawyer, an instructor from the Sewing Center, a representative of Pierpont Technology Center, and even an exhibitor from NASA.
If the students think about that day of career exploration, they will realize that they can make their best dreams come true by working within the school system here in Elkins.
When kids write about something, they have to think about it. Next year I would like to work with Elkins Middle School English teachers to plan a Kump Education Center Essay Contest for Career Day 2025.
All middle school students would write what they learned about their career opportunities in Elkins after they went to the event. Every student should be required to write something, and each English teacher would submit two entries to the Kump Education Center.
We could have different topics for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, and the essays could be due one week after the EMS Career Day event. English teachers might assign these essays to all the students, and each teacher would select one or two good essays to send to the judges at Kump Center. Three different grade level prize winners would receive awards.
We have time to talk more about the writing contest, but Connie Townsend's Career Day is an event that is undoubtedly worth writing about.