With the future rapidly approaching many students have decided to get serious and figure out possible occupations, according to their interests. To help students expand their knowledge of future careers, the third annual Career Day was held, March 12.

Students were to attend three sessions, they chose one speaker at each available session to learn about each career. The goal of Career Day was to inform students of possible career choices. Guest speakers ranged from business men, architects, physicians and many more.

History teacher Kori Friesen, instructed students on what it takes to be a photographer and run a business.

“I prepared a powerpoint and I tried to shed light on the career of photography and what distinguished a hobby from a career,” Friesen said. “I tried to give an honest glimpse into pricing as well as the cost it takes to run a the business. Career Day is a good idea because it gives students a glimpse into different careers, maybe the ones they thought they were interested in and ones they didn’t recognize as possibilities. Even more so, it gets you networking with other professionals.”

Sophomore Sierra Duffy was surprised at the interest she took in photography and is grateful for the opportunity of Career Day.

“I went to Mrs. Friesen session,” Duffy said. “When I first went I never thought that photography would be so hard. Obviously every career is time consuming and stressful but just hearing her talk about all of it made me stress out too. However, it did get me much more interested in photography. I know Career Day isn’t everyones favorite thing, but it’s still good that the school puts it on.”

Tyler Breedlove, ’16, explains his understanding of Career Day and his appreciation for the careers selected to present. He believes having that type of event truly benefits high school students.

“My favorite career out of the three I attended was Mr. Roggenstein, the CEO, because I want to get into business and own my own business,” Breedlove said. “I think it’s a good thing that we have this event because it gives people options and goals to shoot for.”

Anesthesiologist Ty Hutchins, one of the Career Day speakers, explained the journey he took to enter the profession and a description of what his job entails.

“Its takes four years of college and your major doesn’t really matter,” Hutchins said. “Once you get your college degree you have four years of medical school with the first two years being in the classrooms and labs. After those two years it’s clinical and you start seeing patients. Then you have your residency where you start to work on what your specialty is. Since I am an Anesthesiologist, I give out pain relievers and anesthesia when they are going into surgery, and then wake them up.”

Junior Brooke Wood attended the career fair and thought it was very beneficial for students to take part in.

“I decided to go to Ty Hutchins, anesthesiologist, because I want to pursue a career in criminology or something in the medical field,” Wood said. “I think I’m leaning more towards criminology because the anesthesiologist has to do with chemistry and I’m not very good at it. Career fair is good for students because it shows you what careers are really like.”

Hutchins gave insight into some of the difficulties and benefits that come from his profession. He loves the work he does, but also struggles with the lack of sleep that comes with it.

“The most difficult thing about my job is the unpredictability,” Hutchins said. “You have no idea what you are going to do every day. I could have one thing planned for tomorrow, and then it could completely change. The hardest obstacle to overcome is having to function on very little sleep. My favorite thing about my career is being able to give patients a little bit of drugs, go into surgery and watching their amusing reaction when they wake up having no awareness of what just took place.”

Hutchins recommends that students looking to pursue Anesthesia be able to keep up with the everyday stresses of the job.

“I would recommend this career to someone who would like to do something different everyday, and always wants a challenge where you have peoples lives in your hands,” Hutchins said. “Career fair is a good idea for this profession just so students can see what they are getting themselves into.”

Senior Rayna Endicott found Career Day to be very insightful for the career sessions she attended. She appreciated the advice given to her from the different speakers as well as the fair that was held afterwards.

“I thought Career Day went really well,” Endicott said. “The sessions I went to helped me understand what each job entails. It was great to hear from people who are in the profession and give a real life perspective of what they do. The fair afterwards was also very helpful because students could talk one-on-one with the professionals and get more advice.”

These writers can be reached via Twitter: @_sarapeterson and @gaby_siqueiros. Follow The Feather via Twitter: @thefeather.

For more features, read the March 7 article, School-wide service day benefits local organizations (VIDEO).