Photos: East Central Middle School hosts ‘Career Day’

"This has a great impact on kids our age"

(ST. LEON, Ind.) – Students at East Central Middle School got the opportunity to explore various career fields on Thursday. 

The school’s annual “Career Day” featured guest speakers, a reality check and a touch-a-truck event. 

The event might be one that eighth grader Grace Kirschgassner never forgets. 

She said ‘Career Day’ has inspired her to become a teacher when she grows up.  

“I did change my career today. I really wanted to do real estate just as recently as yesterday, but now I want to be a teacher,” she said. 

Kirschgassner added that the reality check portion revealed that a future teaching career would also require her to pay off student loans and that she would have to work hard to earn a good salary. 

Meanwhile, students like Reagan Whitehead said reality check reinforced her goal of becoming a biomedical engineer while Dylan Kruse feels more confident about going into the trades.

During Touch-A-Truck, there were numerous local businesses who brought vehicles. They included trucking companies, first responders, utilities, farm equipment, a race car simulator and more. 

Seventh grader Regan Ramsey said the event showed her that you don’t have to go to college to find future success.

“A lot of these careers are really dangerous and you have to be really smart to work in some of these jobs. It’s amazing you don’t need a diploma or a degree to do some of this,” Ramsey said. 

Emery Colon is a seventh grader who expressed a lot of appreciation about the event.

“This has a great impact on kids our age, because it is showing them what jobs are, and what options are out there. It is showing us different things that we don’t see on a normal basis,” she said. 

Here are some photos from East Central Middle School’s Career Day on Wednesday: