Ossining Students Begin to Discover their Passions on Career Day

It’s never too early to start thinking about possible career options. With that in mind, Roosevelt School in Ossining recently held a virtual Career Exploration Day for the fifth-grade students.

“This is about you discovering your passions and things that set your heart on fire,” literacy coach Eleana DeLuna said. If nothing stands out, “think about creating your own career in the future.”

Based on a general survey of students in the fall, Principal Michelle Grier inferred that many of the children are interested in doing good in the world. The Dec. 16 event reflected that, with presentations from young social entrepreneurs, Teatown nature preserve, a child psychologist, a journalist, a high school student who wants to be a nurse, and others.

The students spent part of the day researching potential careers on their own. Some possibilities they shared during one session were teacher, veterinarian, doctor, author, wildlife biologist, nuclear engineer, baker, politician, and cartoonist.

“Ever since I was 7, I’ve always wanted to be a politician,” Anabella Vargas said.

Cora Bomwell said she was considering being a guidance counselor or a therapist. “I really like to help people and it’s kind of fun to give people advice,” she said.

Two older students spoke about being social entrepreneurs. Ellie Zimmerman, a Rye Country Day School senior, founded Interns 4-Good two years ago. The organization helps young people gain experience through tutoring, creating videos, developing social media campaigns, and more as volunteers. It has more than 8,500 volunteers worldwide and works with nearly 200 organizations.

She would like to bring Interns 4-Good into the college world. “Part of what is so exciting about running a business is being able to adapt and change it depending on what’s happening in the world,” she said.

Max Lazarowitz explained how he makes arcade games out of recycled materials and holds fundraising events. The proceeds go toward holiday gifts for Ossining families and the district’s OPRIME program to provide books, necessities, enrichment, training, and other opportunities to children and parents. He held a flash fundraiser for Feeding Westchester during the pandemic and started offering virtual game-making workshops.

“Through these events, I realized my real interest is helping and giving back to the community,” Max said.

Roosevelt students also heard from science journalist Rene Ebersole; child psychologist Angelina Morales; the Mercy College women’s basketball team; Teatown employees; and Sebastian Oddo, senior vice president of innovation for the sports and entertainment marketing firm Octagon.

Ms. Ebersole, the mother of a Roosevelt student, majored in ecology and environmental science in college and worked at a nature park in Florida. After earning a master’s degree, she became an independent journalist covering science, health, and the environment for National Geographic, Popular Science, Audubon Magazine, and other publications.

She told students about some of her big stories, such as one in which black bears were eating humans’ garbage in the Smoky Mountains due to problems with their teeth that made eating a normal diet difficult.

“I pretty much write about anything that I’m curious about,” she said. “Sometimes I just see something that catches my attention.”

Dr. Morales, a child psychologist and mother of a Roosevelt student, explained that what patients tell her is confidential, unless they may be thinking of hurting themselves or someone else, but that rarely happens.

One of the questions students asked her was how she feels when people are telling her about their problems. “I always feel good, honestly, but in order to be a good therapist, you have to really have a lot of empathy,” she said. “Sometimes my patients have sad stories, so when they talk to me about those things, at the moment I’m listening and I’m giving the advice or just talking through their feelings, but afterward it stays with me sometimes and I get sad.

The final speaker was Sebastian Oddo, senior vice president of Innovation for Octagon, a sports and entertainment marketing firm. The Ossining resident and father of three described his job as finding trends and uncovering what is next in marketing in areas like artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and biometrics. He draws a lot of inspiration from reading and art.

“I pair the emerging technology and art and I bring them together,” Mr. Oddo said.
He does not come up with all his ideas on his own; he also relies on a diverse group of creative people. “The more diverse we are at the table, the better the ideas,” he said.

He showed students a slideshow with some of the projects his team created, such as 3-D modeling project of basketball player Stephen Curry for an event that helped participants to shoot like him, and the marketing for the new Playstation 5.

When asked what advice he would give to his fifth-grade self, he offered, “Try to fall in love with something” and learn everything about it.