Eighth grade students at Houston Middle and Riverdale are preparing for high school, and GMSD wants to help showcase all the different career paths that they can focus on as they choose their high school academic plan. GMSD had companies from all different fields come to participate in this event, so from live music to engineering, the students were able to explore what they might be interested in pursuing.
Students were given bingo cards to complete throughout the day and each square had a question on it that they needed to ask one of the company participants. This was a great conversation starter, and it really got the students engaged and involved.
Students were divided into three groups, and the groups rotated on a schedule between three rooms throughout the day. In the varsity gym, they are able to interact with companies who belong to the technology and science fields. If they found a company they were most interested in here, then they would be more encouraged to study the CTE programs. These companies included St. Jude, Medtronic, FedEx, Campbell Clinic, Renasant Bank, the Germantown Police and Fire Departments, and more.
In the P.E. gym, the students could engage with companies who are focused more in physical sciences or fine arts. These companies included the Memphis Grizzlies, The Daily Memphian, Memphis Youth Symphony, a restaurant called Genre - with the head chef and owner present, and Action News 5, who did a feature on the event. They interviewed Houston Middle School student Isa Iglesias who said, “I saw a lot of different careers that definitely interested me, and it was just a very fun experience to be able to see all the different jobs that people have.”
In the auditorium, Superintendent Jason Manuel was playing games with students that taught them the importance of knowing details about their courses as they head into higher academic instruction. They learned about AP classes versus Dual Enrollment, how those boost your GPA, how the course selection process works, how many credits are required to graduate, and how to make a plan to prepare for college, all while having fun.
Overall, there were 379 students who attended the event, and Ethan Constant, the event organizer, had this to say about career day, “I'm very excited about how our first 8th Grade Career Fair went. The highlight for me was seeing how the industry partners, faculty and staff, and parents came together for a shared vision of supporting our students as they prepare to transition to HHS and beyond.”