​On February 10th, JPS FCCLA hosted a Career Day in collaboration with the National Technical Honor Society (NTHS). February is Career and Technical Education month. The FCCLA national program Career Connection guides youth to link their options, gain practical career kills, and develop success with their families, careers, and communities. 

​​The reasons for hosting Career Day extend further than exposing teenagers to possible jobs in the future. High school is a time for students to find and pursue their passions. It is not all about grades, but also about finding what they love to do and how they can make money by doing what they enjoy. Career and technical education classes actually prepare students for a wide range of high-wage, high-skill, and high-demand careers, unlike the usual academic classes. Giving career and technical education students the opportunity to interact with current professionals allowed them to determine whether that field was something they wanted to pursue a career in. 

JPS FCCLA and NTHS collaborated to find guest speakers who work in technical fields. These speakers gave presentations about their careers and what their respective professions entailed. One of the culinary speakers, Sherri Rotondo, said that the largest obstacle she encountered in her career field was “financing construction of a new business”. She also gave the advice of taking “non-traditional routes”, namely culinary school, to pursue a career in culinary arts. To welcome the guest speakers, FCCLA and NTHS members prepared a continental breakfast. During the presentations, the FCCLA members handed out evaluation sheets which would later be used to determine the effects of Career Day on the audience. 

​Career Day had a profound impact on the students who were exposed to the presentations. Students noted on their evaluation sheets that they were far more interested now in a career in fashion or culinary arts than they were prior to hearing about the countless professions available in those fields. Senior Lea Chen noted, “I learned to appreciate the process that goes into clothing and the production of items much more and will use the information when I enter the fashion industry. FCCLA and NTHS definitely accomplished their goal of opening up the eyes of teenagers to the endless career possibilities available to them even within one field. Career Day was a great success for both the students and speakers, and the event will undoubtedly occur again in the future.