Marian Catholic Holds Virtual Career Day Amid Coronavirus Crisis

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL — Marian Catholic High School held its annual Career Day virtually this month, and organizers have said it was the most successful one yet.

The Chicago Heights school usually holds the event, in which alumni and friends of the school present information about their professions to students, in-person every April. But do to the coronavirus shutdown and the closure of all Illinois schools for the remainder of the academic year, staff at the school decided to take the day virtual. Zoom sessions were set up for each presenter and students who were interested in their particular career, the school said in a news release.

Because of the virtual option, the school was able to more than double the number of presenters, from 34 to 76, and offer it to all students rather than just half that were involved in previous years.

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Students learned about such careers as human resources, architecture, collegiate coaching, banking, nursing, cyber security, and video game design from alumni and friends from coast to coast, the school said. Teachers and staff served as moderators, asking questions of
presenters and allowing them to respond.

“This may well have been our most successful Career Day yet,” said Brendan Diamond, Marian
Catholic’s director of alumni relations. “Students had so many careers to choose from, a
testament to the diversity of life experiences for which Marian Catholic prepares its students. But
it couldn’t have come together without our incredible teachers and staff, who served as
moderators, and the unflagging support of our Director of Instructional Technology, Sean
Scanlon, who set up the logistics for the entire day.”