What do you want to be when you grow up? Academy Charter School students introduced to possible careers

Hosting people representing a variety of industries, Academy Charter School held its annual Career Day on May 22 to introduce the elementary students to as many career options as possible.

Ranging from emergency medical service workers and chefs, to lawyers and veterinarians in years past, the school prides itself in its ability to provide kids with exposure to career options early on.

“We’ve found it really impactful to not just do the fireman, teacher kind of jobs, we decided we wanted to think big,” K-2 Elementary principal Kimberly Hunt said.

“We just really wanted to have a holistic view of everything so the scholars can see what jobs are out there.”

This year, the students had the opportunity to meet members of the local police department as well as emergency medical services workers to learn what they do on a daily basis.

They were able to observe the use of breathing machines, defibrillators and were even able to see the inside of the EMS and police vehicles.

“They were so excited to see the inside of the cars and how the sounds and sirens work,” Hunt said. “ The officers that were there let them know that they were here to help so they don’t have to be terrified of the police officers when they come in contact with them.”

Career Day also fell during the school’s STEAM week that consists of several different activities reflecting science, technology, engineering, art, and math.

“We’ve had math carnivals, we’ve had an assembly where we set up the whole gym and showed how kids can use hands-on activities, buildings and drones,” Hunt said.

The idea to have career day in the middle of STEAM week was to show the students what they’ve been learning in school has real world applications.

“We wanted to show them how important STEAM is in each career, because, believe it or not STEAM is in every career,” said Karlene Boreland-Wallace, a teacher and one of the event planners for career day.

Wallace also vouched for the importance of a STEAM program that the school employs called Project Lead the Way that helps students develop by using real world situations and hypothetical’s.

“They are building their critical thinking skills, making them become more well rounded for society,” Wallace said.
Hempstead Village mayor, Waylyn Hobbs Jr., visited all of the kindergarten classrooms. He was more than happy to answer questions and share details about his responsibilities as mayor with the students.

“I believe that they got to understand that one of the responsibilities as mayor is to make sure that our streets are repaired and that we provide safety for all the residents in Hempstead,” Hobbs said. “When you talk to small children, it’s very important that we emphasize the message that (we) live in a safe community so that they can feel safe and secure.”

During his talks with each kindergarten class, Hobbs showed how many of the jobs the students had seen, were all connected and explained how he oversees many of them as village mayor. He pressed the importance of showing children the various paths that they can take in life.

“Maybe one of them will be a future mayor,” he said. “Whatever path the next generation decides to take in life, they deserve to experience all that they can so they can find their passions.”

“They may never decide to go into those fields, but we want to expose them so they have an understanding of what the possibilities are,” Hunt said, and they are endless.”