Students receive career advice from professionals

By Suproteem Sarkar, Staff Reporter

Conestoga students had the opportunity to learn from professionals during the annual Student Services-sponsored Career Days, held from Feb. 28-March 1. Forty-two speakers from 30 different career paths described their occupations to students, offering advice for college choice, graduate degrees and career options.

Sophomore Rachel Murphy, who attended a session about medicine, said it reminded her how soon she would be attending college.

The presenters “were really helpful because they showed me what I could do to get onto the path of the career,” Murphy said. “They definitely put into perspective college and how close it was, which is kind of nerve-racking. But at the same time, it was a nice wake-up call.”

Once the speakers had finished presenting, they took questions from students. Murphy said getting advice from medical professionals helped her understand what type of work is required in the field.

“The best part was that you can ask someone who’s experienced,” she said. “People asked a variety of questions. It was obvious that we had thought about the questions before, but we had no one to ask.”

Junior Kevin Yao said he was already contemplating pursuing a career in law, and the presentation he attended furthered his interest in the field.

“It made me want to consider law a little more,” Yao said. The presenters “were informative, they knew what they were talking about and they were able to provide a lot of insight. I already had my mind set, and they just made me even more interested.”

News Production presenter Courtney Brinkerhoff-Rau said she enjoyed describing her occupation to students.

“I just think it’s always a great experience when I come here,” she said. “It looks like there are a handful of students who really are intrigued by my work in broadcast news and production, so hopefully they took something away from it.”

Sophomore Michael Mei said he found the chemical engineering session especially interesting, and it caused him to reconsider his future career options.

The presentations are “basically laying out the general path that one could take if they decided to follow their interests and pursue their passion,” Mei said. “It opened my eyes and set a new direction for my future.”

Suproteem Sarkar can be reached at ssarkar@stoganews.com.