Eighth Graders Explore Career Options

By Martha Coville

Susan Connelly, a guidance counselor at Newtown Middle School, organized the school’s eighth annual Career Day, designed both to give students information about well-known professions, and to introduce them to careers they might not have considered.

The entire eight grade class took a break from their usual class schedule to participate in presentations by professionals from a variety of fields. Twenty-two parents volunteered for the event, and shared their knowledge as architectural restorers, dentists, gulf professionals, police officers, and members of the National Guard with the middle school students.

Kevin Gregoire, a chemical engineer, told students they might enjoy his field if they like physics, math, and chemistry. He explained what subjects a chemical engineer would need to study in high school and college, and what kinds of other postgraduate degrees one might need. And he also listed the many different fields a chemical engineer can work in, such as the medical field, where they often do biomedical and cellular research, and the plastics industry.

Mr Gregoire himself works in food production, and has designed factories for many different food companies. He currently works for Ragu, the spaghetti sauce company, for whom he designed a factory. “I enjoy taking the small scale stuff and turning it into a [big] factory,” he told students.

Mr Gregoire was one of several volunteers who brought a hands-on component to his presentation. Like Casey Michael, who brought woodworking material to his carpentry presentation, and Dr Scott Solomons, a dentist who helped students make molds of their teeth, and engineer Thomas Fahey, who handed out suits meant for sterile environments, Mr Gregoire brought one of the tools of his trade to the middle school. Only his was a volatile chemical.

As Mr Gregoire poured liquid nitrogen — a favorite of high school chemistry students everywhere — into a small Pyrex beaker, vapors curled around his hands. Students enjoyed dipping red roses into the liquid nitrogen, which quickly froze the water molecules in the flowers. The roses became so brittle they shattered against the front of the teacher’s desk: it might have been the highlight of the afternoon.

Eighth grader Ben Stoller even said he thinks he might want to be a chemical engineer. “[Just] the thought of having a liquid substance freezing in a matter of seconds is pretty cool,” he said.

Mary Siroky was impressed by author Suzanne Collins’ presentation. “She told a lot of things you wouldn’t expect,” Mary said, “like the process you go through [to get published]. And that movies, and advertising are also considered part [of the field].”

Nicole Lang, a friend a Mary’s, was interested in where Angel Calva, a vice president of product design for shoe and clothing company Nine West, finds her inspiration. “She mostly did shoes,” Nicole said. “She took a lot of designs from her mom’s napkins and wallets and she even had a design she took from a plate.” Nicole said she was interested in fashion, and started to say that she really did not do much drawing, but her friend Mary cut her off. “You do pencil drawings,” she reminded Nicole.