Grade 10 Careers class hosts double Career Day sessions

On Monday, May 10 and Friday, May 14, Deanna Harris’ Grade 10 Careers class hosted Career Day seminars for Grade 5-12 students and Linden community members. During the lead up, Deanna and the Grade 10s canvassed the community and recruited industry professionals from fields ranging from urban development to mechanical engineering to writing for novels and video games!

With twice as many slots to fill as years prior, and the added challenge of presenting the event virtually, Career Days 2021 will be remembered as a victory.

“This project is already seen as a right of passage in the school,” said Deanna. “Even with all of the extra obstacles they faced, these students rose to the challenge and did an incredible job.”

To open, Alessandra, Caroline and Nina hosted keynote speaker Charlene Cook, a Linden parent who is a Senior Research Analyst with the Office of the Chief Health Officer of Canada at the Public Health Agency of Canada. As co-author of From risk to resilience: An equity approach to COVID-19, Ms. Cook’s presentation touched on the global pandemic and how this past year has shaped the trajectory of her career.

“Hearing what the presenters had to say was very reassuring,” explains Criona Bryson. “It’s important to see that sometimes things will go wrong, but eventually you’ll find passion in a career that fulfills you.”

After contacting potential presenters, putting together the two-day schedule and publicizing the event, students were then tasked with facilitating and hosting the online presentations.

“Spreading the event over two days made it feel like an experiment,” says Clare Heys. “We got to reflect on how Monday went, then improve on certain things by the time we got to Friday.”

Students also took advantage of the networking opportunities by making connections with industry professionals. “Overall, I would say the goal of the event was certainly met by all,” says Julia Smeaton.

Thank you once again to all of our Career Day presenters, to Deanna, and to the Grade 10 students for putting together a successful event! If you would like to see the full list of our Career Day presenters, please see our Careers Day website here.