BY MIKE WARREN

EDITOR

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – 338 juniors at Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids have a better idea of what they want to be when they grow up.

The junior class on Oct. 26 took part in the school’s annual Career Discovery Day, organized by Liz King, the school’s Academic & Career Planning Coordinator.

“The goal is for students to know different careers out of high school and post-secondary education,” King told City Times, at the end of a very hectic day, which featured 68 presenters talking to students in multiple classrooms about a myriad of career-related topics – everything from the paths they took to their careers, school subjects that helped them along the way, salaries, working conditions, and even their stress levels. “Our goal is really to save them time and money,” King added. “But it’s also exposure. Students need to see it in order to be it.”

“Yes, very,” said Dawn Freeberg of Rudolph, when asked if the event was helpful. “We got to go and talk to people who actually went into the fields of what we want to do, and interact and make connections.”

Jayda Khane echoed Freeberg’s sentiments. “Overall, I feel like a lot of people in high school are scared of the future in a way, and don’t know exactly what to do,” Khane added. “So, having people that have been in the field coming in here and explaining to us how they’ve done things, how they came from high school to where they’re at now, really helps with what we want to do.”  

“Walking around, I did see some very engaged students,” King said. “They were asking a lot of good questions. They had exposure to careers they had never even heard of. I got really good feedback. I wish I would’ve had this when I was in high school,” she added. “It probably would’ve saved me time and money.”

Careers in law enforcement, music, media, education, finance and many more were represented. King says next year’s Career Discovery Day is already set for Tuesday, Oct. 24.