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Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Jena Rajabally, an employment coordinator with NOVA, teaches Columbia Middle School students Jose Castro and Victor Calderon how to use email during National Job Shadowing Day on Feb. 2.
Students explore career possibilities
By Sam Scott
If fate dashes Jose Castro's dream of becoming a professional soccer player, he'll know where to turn for alternatives.
On Feb. 2, Castro and about 30 of his classmates from Columbia Middle School spent the day with Sunnyvale city government officials as part of the third-annual National Job Shadowing Day. Junior Achievement, a national nonprofit group that helps students and young adults prepare for careers, organized the event.
Castro, 13, spent the day with Jena Rajabelly, an employment coordinator with NOVA Private Industry Council, an organization that helps young people prepare for and find employment.
"I want to have a career to fall back on," Castro said, hedging his bets in case the San Jose Earthquakes don't call.
Working with Rajabelly, Castro got a peek at quite a few career choices. "It's cool," he said. "I want to learn more about the careers that there are."
While Castro audited NOVA's resources, other students rode in police vehicles, hung out with librarians and tagged along with city department managers.
Elaine Curran of Junior Achievement's Santa Clara branch said about one million kids across the country participated in the event. Locally, she said, the student demand exceeded the opportunities.
"We probably served 1,400 to 1,500 kids" she said. "We had requests for 2,100 kids."
Curran said Junior Achievement stages the event in hopes of introducing participants to professional possibilities.
"This really gets to the heart of what we are about, preparing kids for their futures," she said. "We want to excite them about the future."
While Columbia students were busy at city hall, students from Sunnyvale Middle School learned the ins and outs of Fry's Electronics and Honeywell Electronic Material.
Teresa McLean, a Honeywell employee who helped coordinate the electronics company's involvement, has a special affection for Junior Achievement. She participated in the organization when she was a student.
"It exposed me to the different kinds of people out there," she said. "I hope this (influences them) the same way I was influenced."
The overall responses from Columbia's students seemed favorable. Everyone raised a hand when asked if they had a good time.
For some, the event offered more than just a window onto a career. Many of the Columbia students aren't native English speakers, said Columbia teacher Naomi Lyall. She said shadowing city workers provided students a lesson in civic culture as well as a first-time view of actual American workplaces.
"It's an exposure to parts of the culture that are in place in the city," she said. "It's been such a great experience."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
