Haine Students Get Real World Experience with 'Career Day'

When students at questioned rising country music star Sarah Marince about what’s its like to be a singer, she responded with a first-hand example.

Calling a few students to the front of the school’s music room, the Moon native asked the fifth-and-sixth-graders to sing and dance alongside her as she belted out the lyrics to Firework by Katy Perry.

Pretty soon, the whole room was clapping with her.

Now living in Nashville as she pursues her music career, Marince, who is the face of Eat 'n Park, was at the school Friday at part of Haine’s Exploratory Career Day. She also served as a judge at the school’s talent show last year.

“I’ve been a Haine fan for two years now and I love coming back here,” she said. 

Joining Marince at the school was about 40 other experts. Throughout the morning, the professionals shared their insights with students about careers ranging from chiropractor to firefighter to federal agent for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Steven Smith, principal at Haine Middle School, said the school’s 672 students spent weeks studying career choices before deciding on four workshops they wanted to attend out of the presentations lined up for Career Day.

While Marince was in the music room, Shawn Griswold, head strength and conditioning coach for the University of Pittsburgh Panthers, held court in the school’s gym to talk to students about athletics.

In another classroom, Ed Thomas, an electrical engineer who works for Texas Instruments, made students giggle when he pulled out one the nation’s first talking toys, a Speak & Math from the mid-1970s.

The laughs turned to ohhs and ahhs as Thomas, of Seven Fields, shared some of the technology behind the to hit the marketplace.

When a student asked when the iPhone 5 would be coming out, Thomas only said "soon," before adding the phone will have “slide pad technology.”

"It’s super cool,” he said enthusiastically.

Thomas also raffled of an iPod at the end of the day.

Other popular career choices were cooking, which featured a cooking demonstration by Michael Barczak, an instructor at the Butler County Area Vo-Tech School, and a veterinarian workshop with Dr. Michael Hutchinson, a Cranberry vet from Animal General who often is featured as an animal expert on KDKA.  

After spending the morning in the different workshops, the students used C.A.R.E time, a portion of the day set aside for additional learning, to work on a resume and other activities related to Career Day, Smith said.