Professionally Done

The Pawn Shop’s Dan Rochester captivates a group of boys as he speaks on how to make a career out of video games. GRAND BLANC — Students at Grand Blanc Academy were presented with a variety of potential professions following the school’s annual Career Fair Feb. 7.

Academy teacher Ashley Mengel and Guidance Counselor Ryan Moore teamed up three years ago to introduce the first school-wide career fair to the middle school and junior high students.

Mengel said she had previously hosted similar events for her own classroom, but that she and Moore both felt expanding it to the other students would be beneficial to their futures.

“I want my kids to know all about what is out there,” Moore said, stating he is an advocate of starting career development at a young age.

With 20 professionals participating, Mengel said to make it different from years past they kept participants’ careers a secret from the students.

Assistant Trainer of USA Therapy Dogs Anisa Gordon and miniature American Bulldog Brutus along with creative K-9 Training’s Gerri Ireland and her rescue Boxer Layla explain to students what they do on a daily basis for their profession, detailing also the jobs that the dogs perform. Photos by Amanda Braniecki “We thought it would be fun this year for the students to have to ask a few questions first and try and guess what the different people’s careers are,” Mengel said. “For instance, a lot of the kids see the therapy dogs and think they are just guide dogs. By guessing and then hearing exactly what they do I think they learn more about the career.”

Mengel said each year they search for new people to bring in and showcase to the students, focusing on jobs that students may not know anything about.

Archeologists Frank and Nicole Raslich field questions from students curious about their finds from the Great Lakes region. “We were really excited this year to bring in a mixture of careers,” she said. “They know a lot about some of these and some they may have never considered before.”

Moore said one of the popular stops for students during the career fair was Dan Rochester’s booth. Rochester, of the Pawn Shop in Grand Blanc, has made a career out of working with video games.

“These guys love video games and I think it is important for them to see that Dan is making a career out of it,” Moore said. “All these people here are encouraging our students to go out and live a dream. It’s amazing really.”

Luke Roy, a family and personal lawyer for the UAW legal service, has been involved with the career fair since its inception and said he enjoys giving the students an insight into his job.

“I think it is important for (the students) to hear what else lawyers do besides what they see criminal lawyers do on television,” Roy said. “Every year they have all been really receptive and seemed interested in knowing what I do. They ask fantastic questions.”

Archeologists Frank and Nicole Raslich, who were first-time participants, said they too were impressed with the students they visited with throughout the day.

“We grew up in a small town and there were times when we thought, ‘well that isn’t a real job’ or didn’t know it was a possibility for a job,” Nicole Raslich said. “I think it is important for the kids to know anything is possible.”

Frank Raslich said he felt by participating they were making their jobs as archeologists more relevant.

“We are exposing the children to the different opportunities that they have and I hope we actually are broadening their range of goals,” he said.

In the future, Mengel said the Academy would like to bring more individuals to speak with the younger grade levels to get them thinking about possible career paths as well.

“Mr. Roy spoke with the first-graders earlier today before the career fair,” Mengel said. “It is something we definitely want to do more of in the future because it is just as important for those students to hear about these jobs as it is for the older kids.”