Career Speakers Help Acton-Boxborough Students Consider Future

Upperclassmen at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School got a closer look at their potential future careers at a recent series of presentations at the school in which community members representing a wide range of professions gave a 45-minute talk on the various aspects of what they do for a living.

Some 200-plus juniors and seniors participated in the Career Speakers Program, the first of three such events planned this year to help students with the “big decisions they have to make early in their senior year,” said Kay Steeves, A-B’s student/faculty support coordinator.

“It gives students a chance to meet an adult who’s not a parent or teacher who can help them in their career exploration process,” Steeves said.

During 10 simultaneous presentations, speakers from fields ranging from education to architecture each gave their group of students a variety of information and perspective about their profession. In one presentation, attorney Hillery Dorner from the Acton-based Dorner Law & Title Services discussed the importance of creating a work/life balance and told the students in her group that having a law degree “creates amazing flexibility—(there are) many options besides being a lawyer.”

What’s more, she said, a law degree “teaches you a way of thinking and analyzing … when you have that ability, you have a great skill most people do not have.”

Acton Police Detective Keith Campbell told his group that following a career path in law enforcement “offers lots of options” and that overall it’s “a very rewarding job” despite its demands.

“Like anything it can be stressful, but you get a lot out of it,” said Campbell, the youth services officer for the Acton Public Schools.

During her presentation, architect Jane Grover also talked about the realities of her profession, telling students the difficulties she and other architects face during times of economic downturn.

“Sometimes it’s tough but I can’t imagine doing anything else,” said Grover, who has a senior and a freshman at ABRHS. “It’s so important to be happy with what you do, even if there are hard times sometimes.”

Despite the early hour of the presentations—during the school’s first period—students who attended reported learning a great deal, whether they attended out of curiosity about a particular field or because of a more concrete goal.

Senior Jose Chacon attended a presentation on civil engineering by Green International Affiliates in which the presenters, Ko Ishikura and Anthony Richardson, described the scope of a sewer project on Causeway Street, and said the presentation affirmed his strong intention to major in civil engineering next year.

“It was good information on what they do on a daily basis,” said Chacon. “I found it highly informative.”

Lucy Jensen, who attended a presentation on nursing by Sue Sheehan, said the information offered “reassurance for what doing the job would actually be like.”

“I went to it because I already know that I want to be a nurse and I have been looking at nursing colleges so I thought it would be good to hear what it's like from someone who in fact is a nurse,” said Jensen, a junior. “It definitely helped to know that to get somewhere in nursing where you want to be, you get there by years of experience, which is interesting compared to doing something because you studied it more … I found it very informative.”

And the rewards went both ways. First-time speaker Grover said she appreciated the chance to describe her field, saying that architecture “seems like one of those careers a lot of people hear about, but they don’t really know what we do.”

“I thought it was terrific and I thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Grover of the opportunity to speak to students. “It was great to tell a group of people that age that being happy to go to work every day is so important.”

The next career presentations will be held in December and March and are part of the school’s Career Exploration Program, which provides a number of opportunities for students, mainly juniors and seniors, to learn more about the world of work to help them in their future planning, according to Steeves. Any parent or community member interested in participating in the Career Exploration Program can contact Steeves at ksteeves@abschools.org.