Career Day Held at Dillon Middle School

by Submitted article | November 19, 2015 11:30 pm

The annual Emerson J. Dillon Middle School Career Day provided students with opportunities to consider educational pathways needed to reach their desired careers.

Sixth grader Maurice Handy works with puppy Kimberly, as Guiding Eyes for the Blind Dog Trainer Cynthia Swift engages with other students. Swift and nearly 30 other professionals were presenters at the school’s recent Career Day.
Sixth grader Maurice Handy works with puppy Kimberly, as Guiding Eyes for the Blind Dog Trainer Cynthia Swift engages with other students. Swift and nearly 30 other professionals were presenters at the school’s recent Career Day.

About 30 professionals with careers in theater, architecture, cosmetology, dancing, radio, and firefighting, among other genres, spoke to students about how hard work and dedication is needed to be successful.

All students in grades five through eight participated in three 40-minute breakout sessions.

Ann Pellegrino, pastry chef and owner of Gingersnap Cake Bakery in downtown Phoenix, encouraged students who are interested in culinary careers to pay attention in math so they can learn conversions of ingredients, in science so they understand what makes ingredients bind together, and English so they can read recipes and write to clients.

One student told Pellegrino a successful career will help him and other people make money to support themselves.

Gingersnap Cake Bakery owner Ann Pellegrino explains the importance of working up professional ladders to achieve goals. Culinary careers transform from internships to becoming a sous chef, executive chef and then a premier chef.
Gingersnap Cake Bakery owner Ann Pellegrino explains the importance of working up professional ladders to achieve goals. Culinary careers transform from internships to becoming a sous chef, executive chef and then a premier chef.

Connecting academic purpose with career goals is a way to help students to plant seeds for the eighth grade family and consumer science unit, according to school counselor Andrew Quirk.

That helps students prepare for their high school and post-secondary academic careers.

“This is an attempt to get kids to broaden their horizons,” Quirk said.

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