2022 HS Career Day
On Monday, April 11, the high school welcomed a panel of TSA alumni, community members, and friends to speak about their careers and the paths that led to them. Especially enriching were the conversations in break-out groups with individual panelists. Students were able to ask questions about their post-secondary experiences, workplace environments, and life.
Organized by Director of Human Resources Kate Fabrikant and Director of College and Career Advising Wendy Bordeau, the goal of Career Day was to provide students with an opportunity to explore post-secondary life and career options as well as to engage our community with TSA. As Kate put it, “ TSA does a great job with College and Career preparations and support—that has always been a value that TSA has held and given time and support to in student’s 11th and 12th-grade years. I think the cool part about a Career Day is that students get to see the outcomes of the paths that different people have taken. So I would say the goal of this event was for kids to imagine their ‘possible selves’ one day and start to acquire information about the different paths they could take in the future.”
In addition to supporting students, Career Day fulfills another important goal for TSA. Kate noted, “Bringing our alumni back is always a great idea and a survey that was done last year with alumni revealed that they want meaningful ways to give back to TSA and share in the community. Career Day presents a great, meaningful opportunity to engage alumni in this way. This also applies to TSA’s goal of engaging local community members to build connections for our students and expand our network as a school community.”
Being able to tap into our pool of alumni and our community friends and family enabled the event organizers to assemble an impressive array of panelists and careers. Alumni panelists were Ryan Livingston ‘06, Senior Mechanical Engineer; Danny Moore ‘09, R&D Engineer; Jennifer Sensenich ‘11, SEO Specialist; Samuel Wood ‘09, Registered Nurse; Mollie Faccio ‘14, Marketing Coordinator; and Margaret Gish ‘14, Special Educator and Math Teacher. TSA friends and family participants were Jamie Badams, Network Engineer; Matt Badams, Merchant Marine; Sam Newman, Owner/CEO, Alger Brook Design Build; Lori Berger, Owner, Seize the Day Farm and equestrian educator; State Trooper Stacia Geno; and musicians Jeremiah and Annemieke McLane.
After an introduction to the panel and a brief question and answer session, students had two opportunities to meet in small groups with the panelists to ask more individual questions and explore more deeply their specific interests. The themes of the breakout rooms, which were designed to facilitate the matching of student interests, were Social Services and Education, Marketing, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and Federal and State Services.
Students took away many important messages. When asked by a student how to face fear, panelist Lori Berger advised that they “fail early, often, and spectacularly.” Failure, she noted, was an important way to learn and grow. At the same time, she reminded students to ask for help from people with greater expertise. Many panelists encouraged students to not worry if they didn’t have a clear professional path in mind by this point in their lives, but to trust their own instincts and interests; a path will become clear as they develop skills and experience.
Only a few of the panelists were doing work that they had envisioned as teens. As students consider their next step, it was useful to hear several panelists confess to having been lukewarm about the prospect of even going to college, but each also recognized after graduating that the college experience provided valuable preparation for dealing with life’s uncertainties and challenges. Iris Pulchalik ’25 and Josslyn Nichols ’25 agreed that the Q&A sessions in particular “gave us the opportunity to learn more about the jobs that interest us. Hearing of the panelists’ individual paths helped us to think about the next steps that we can take after high school.”
Panelists were also very pleased with their involvement in the event, setting positive expectations for future participation. The organizers, Kate and Wendy, look forward to planning the next event for next Spring!