The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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October 15, 2008

Connecting kids and careers

Area businesses join together to educate about the future

By Tanner Kent

MANKATO — Dakota Meadows eighth-graders Brittany Nelson and Sam Oudekerk might be a bit young to be making career plans.

But then again, maybe not.

“It’s never too early,” said Monde Schwartz, career education coordinator for Mankato schools. “As early as high school, students can start using electives and credits to begin planning for a career.”

The planning unofficially started Wednesday as the Mankato Area School District organized a career exploration day for Dakota Meadows eighth-graders (East Junior High goes next week).

About a dozen area businesses participated, offering tours and demonstrations that could offer middle-schoolers a snapshot of what it means to be a sleep doctor. Or conservation official. Or digital media technician.

“It was fun,” Nelson said. “I never knew some of these jobs existed.”

And you can’t blame her. Statistics show that the career landscape is rapidly evolving. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases reports each year on the fastest growing jobs and industries and, lately, they have shown an increasing demand for scientists, health workers, engineers and human services personnel.

Those workforce changes have put a spotlight on career education programs, such as the career exploration days for middle-schoolers and the much larger high school career fairs that come later in the school year.

John Billings, who works with the Blue Earth County Soil and Water Conservation District, said he showed students how to survey land with a laser-guided machine and pointed out native plants and grasses during the session he conducted at Indian Lake.

Billings said he was surprised to see so many students take an interest in soil quality and watershed management — but he said their enthusiasm may have had something to do with the surroundings.

“This might have been one of the only careers that got them out of the cubicle area,” he said. “But I was really happy to see so many kids show an interest.”

Nelson, in the health and human service group, visited the dispatching headquarters at the Blue Earth County Law Enforcement Center and toured the J. Scott Sanders Center for Sleep Medicine.

Oudekerk, who chose the science and technology cluster, said he enjoyed watching robots piece together computer chips at E.I. Microcircuits and watching R.W. Carlstrom build a car wash for Snell Motors.

But he also said he didn’t see anything that made him decide on a career just yet.

“I have no idea,” Oudekerk said. “I suppose I’ll stumble onto something some day.”

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