Professionals Give Students Career Know-How

Whether students’ interests lie in the sciences, arts, technology or medical profession there was someone on hand to show them the ropes, tell them what they will need and how to get there.

Thirty professionals representing numerous careers from aerospace engineering to owning a fast growing cupcake shop came to Friday for Career Day.

Students listened as Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan told them a typical day for her may last about 12 hours but she loves the excitement.  She advised that one must communicate well and recommends taking public speaking classes. She also advised that to be a politician one must have a very thick skin as people are likely to say negative things. Donovan also advised they have a career to fall back on. She started out with a legal career that later led her to politics.

Local officials Mayor Rose Heck and Councilman Russell Lipari joined Donovan in sharing their political careers. Heck said one of the things she loves most is problem solving and being able to help many people at once. Her advise for the students is to learn to be a leader but also know how to be a follower. To be successful one must be able to lead at the right time and know when to follow at other times, she advised.

William Toledo, an aerospace engineer for the U.S. Department of Defense, told the students that studying for this profession will definitely involve a lot of work and dedication but it will pay off as they will be able to get into some fun work after college. He briefly walked the students through some of the dynamics involved in designing aircraft also sharing some of the things he studied when he was in college. 

John Manganiotis was only 22 years old when he bought a dying bakery business that he hoped he could turn around. He did, and the well-known Clifton-based Mr. Cupcakes was born. The entrepreneur shared his tale with students about how his dream of owning a successful business came true.

He said it really took a lot of hard work and dedication to turn things around, come up with a name that would stick, and an affordable product and he managed to corner a market that at the time he didn’t even realize would expand so quickly.

Students learned about the publishing world and its many changes over the past decade from Sylvia Jackson, an editor who has worked in both print and online media. Jackson pointed out the many different roles in publishing students can consider based on what interests them most.

She shared some of examples of what those roles would require such as if one feels he or she would not be comfortable calling multiple sources for interviews then perhaps reporting would not be the right fit. However someone who likes detail may enjoy the copyediting side of things while someone who is interested in being a salesperson may pursue the advertising end of publishing.

Students gathered in the auditorium to learn about different types of law from attorney Isabel Machado. Across the way in the band room students heard from musician Kyle Shinall who explained to the students about the changes in the industry as record companies are falling to the wayside more and more as artists no longer need to depend on them to distribute music on iTunes. His advice for musicians is to always keep playing and to network.

Among some of the other professionals on hand included Kumar Ayer of the Bergen Blended Academy; Hasbrouck Heights Police Chief Michael Colaneri; State Trooper Lonnie Peele;  Bryan Horowitz of Major League Baseball.com; sports writer Ed Kensik; Lidia Comp of the Parisian Academy and various others include engineers, lawyers, medical professionals and technical trade professionals.