MMS Hosts Annual Eighth Grade Career Day

From the fact that their school’s superintendent liked social studies as an eighth grader to the news that good looks won’t necessarily land them a role on a prime time sitcom, the eighth-grade students at Millburn Middle School got a different kind of education during Friday’s Career Day.

Professionals from many different fields spent all Friday morning at the school, going room to room to talk with students and answer their questions.

“This is my first year to do this,” said Edward Wade, battalion chief of the Millburn Fire Department, as he was shown to his first class. “I’m looking forward to it.”

For Schools Supt. James Crisfield, students had a most pressing question: how does he decide when to call a snow day?

“That’s one of the hardest parts of my job,” Crisfield responded. “I have to get up at 4 a.m. and check the weather and check the forecast, then I have to call some other people in the district to get their input and finally I make the decision one way or other.”

Sometimes it isn’t even that simple, he said. The weather may be bad early in the morning, but if the sun is out and the snow is melting by 10 a.m. , that’s an issue. Conversely, students may come to school in the morning and bad weather could set in mid-day.

“Calling snow days is what students know best about what I do,” Crisfield said. “But I do a lot of other things as well.”

Students asked what a typical day is like for him and if he sticks to a plan for the day.

“I have a plan for the work I’d like to get done, but surprises do come up,” he said. “And then things get shifted around or things I was going to work on get moved to a different day.”

Crisfield cautioned the students not to be too focused right now on what they want to be when they graduate from college, or even where they want to go to college.

“There is plenty of time for that yet,” he said. “Just do your best right here and right now and everything else will come in its time.” He added that when he was an eighth-grader, he didn’t yet know what he wanted to be when he grew up, although his favorite subject was social studies.

Architect Robert Portnoff, however, said he had a pretty good idea in the eighth grade that he wanted to become an architect.

“I had an inkling I was going to go in that direction,” Portnoff said. “Architecture is a little different that studying other things. There are different kinds of programs—I took a five-year program and then a three-year internship, after which I could sit for the exam and become licensed as an architect. There are other programs that do it differently, but they all end up in the same place, which is as a licensed architect.”

Portnoff, who manages projects for his firm, said his job involves a considerable amount of travel and projects sometimes take years to complete. He told the students one of his most memorable recent projects was rebuilding the apartment of singer Jay-Z just before he married Beyonce Knowles.

Portnoff said that although many of the projects he does take years to complete, it’s worth all the hard work.

“It takes just as long to do a really bad project as it does to do a really good one,” he said. “And I don’t want to spend five or six years on a project that’s not that good.”

His sentiments were echoed by Nancy Stone, co-owner of Nancy and David jewelers in Millburn.

“I have a deep passion for what I do,” Stone said. “I’m very fortunate. When you choose a career you love, you tend to be more successful at it.”

Stone gave the students a glimpse into what it’s like to own a business.

“When you own your own business, you end up putting more time in most days,” she said. “It’s difficult to do a truly structured workday, but the nice thing is I do have some flexibility because I own the business. I can put in a 12 or 14-hour day one day, and the next maybe only work six.”

Stone said she loves jewelry designing, the passion that first got her into the business. “I get to buy beautiful gemstones from all over the world, but when I buy, I have to keep in mind that I’m going to have to sell it again. You have to buy with your clients in mind so you acquire things they will want to buy from you.”

Stone said one of the most important things for students to remember when they venture out into the working world is to not be afraid to ask for help, and to not do all their communicating from behind a computer screen.

“The power of communication and face-to-face contact is so important,” she said. “Don’t hide behind a computer. The power of conversation can outperform anything you can do on a computer, and it allows those around you to learn about you on a humanistic level.”

Ken Davis, an actor, stressed the importance of education.

“It’s important to get an education, get a degree,” he said. “Mine is in sociology. But education is first and foremost the most important part of any career. It gives you a certain degree of discipline.”

Davis got into acting right out of college when he began sending his headshot out and was hired by the Guiding Light. He has also been on such primetime shows as Law & Order and Ugly Betty. He showed the students some print ads he has done as well.

“If you’ve ever thought about going into the acting business, you’re at a wonderful age for it,” Davis said. “This is when you’re the most natural, and casting directors want you just to be yourself.”

He cautioned students against thinking they might not have the right “look” to make it in the acting business.

“There is no one ‘look’ that they’re after,” he said. “It’s your personality, the way you express yourself, and your belief in what you can do. “

Many other professional spoke throughout the morning, and after all the presentations students watched part of the movie October Sky, which is about NASA scientist Homer Hickam’s early life in West Virginia.