Seniors participated in Career Day, a special event designed to explore a wide range of career opportunities and help students plan their futures beyond high school, last Thursday.

Volunteers from businesses and many career types gave their insight guiding students in different career options. Students had the opportunity to ask questions and explore career paths they were interested in.  

Director of Advancement Mary Joyce coordinated Career Day, which featured a wide group of professionals including a construction manager, attorneys, engineers, a traffic coordinator, the President and CEO of Balliettes, a counselor from Catholic Charities and more.

Keynote speakers oil executive Adam Wilson and Brian Byrnes, Vice President of Business Operations for the Thunder, spoke about their careers, shared their personal stories and helped the students see their possibilities in the future. 

“Brian Byrnes gave us a motivational speech, saying you can do anything you put your mind to as long as you meet the right people, you work hard and you’re diligent,” senior Alex Valerio said.

Talking to other business owners helped Valerio with ideas of how to improve his lawn care business, Sweet Clippings. 

“It helped me with my networking,” he said. “Knowing and seeing who I may want to get in contact with and find those people to be my clients for landscaping.”

The experience helped some students rule out what careers they didn’t want to go into and narrow down their options for future careers. 

“I was thinking about healthcare,” senior Mary Sigmon said. “After talking to the healthcare workers I have ruled that out of my options because I realized I cannot work with body fluids since it makes me queasy.”

Seniors also learned what they need to do to pursue careers that interest them.

“The main takeaways from the whole day were that you have to network to be successful and get your communication started by stepping out of your comfort zone and talking to people,” senior Aimee Martinez said.