Beach Middle School Career Day (with slide show)

Story and slide show by Lisa Carolin

Eighth grade is a pivotal year for students and that is one of the reasons that Beach Middle School offers a career day for its eighth-graders.

This year’s career day took place at the school on Friday, March 1.

There were 16 presenters representing a variety of fields, who spoke to students in rooms throughout the school. Students each chose to see five presenters based on their interests.

“Career day connects curriculum with course choices and helps students understand why what we’re teaching them is important,” said Nick Angel, principal of Beach.

Dana Bowers, a clinical psychologist, shared stories about his own experiences when he decided to major in psychology. He said that the social and emotional branches of psychology appealed to him at first, and later he became fond of its academic branch.

Also on hand was Colin Seaberg, speaking about golf course management. He let students know that managing employees as well as a budget are key in his field. Many students were surprised to learn that managing a golf course can require more than an annual budget of a million dollars.

Adam Tillman, a senior sales executive at Kohler, initially wanted to work in public relations for a sports team, and those interests evolved into marketing and sales.

“Take the passions and interests that drive you and grab them up,” Tillman advised students.

Although he initially planned to be a medical doctor, presenter Phil Zocharski told students that he didn’t think he had the people skills for the profession. Instead, he is a chemist working in pharmaceutical engineering, and let students get some hands-on experience at creating capsules.

Also presenting was Dr. Chiquita Berg, who did become a physician, an obstetrician and gynecologist. When she asked students what they thought an ob-gyn does, the response was helping women give birth to babies.

Berg said, “I attend birthday parties a few times a week and have delivered close to 5,000 babies, but we’re surgeons as well.”