Jordan Middle School students learned about different jobs and careers during the annual Jordan College And Career Fair Week. The event features lunchtime talks with professionals in various fields and a college and career fair at which students can learn about public service, the military, acting, art, cooking, electronics, telecommunications, carpentry and more.
“We have created an annual career fair offering our students the opportunity to meet and talk with people representing a broad variety of careers and professions,” commented Jordan counselor Hallie Fleishman. “We believe that providing students early experiences to discover their own interests and abilities as well as meeting and speaking with caring adult role models working in interesting career fields supports their own career development.”
“We share information with our students about setting goals, educational and career planning to empower and inform their choices,” she added. “We want our students to be college and career ready as they move through their school years.”
Noelani Velasquez, a former Jordan student who graduated from UC Davis with a B.S. in Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and a B.A. in Sociocultural Anthropology, gave a presentation on her work in ecology and environmental justice in New Zealand. Velasquez talked about how the choices she made in middle and high school helped her create the path to her current life as an animal activist.
Other guest speakers included chiropractor Dr. Rommil Fernandez and Dr. Jennifer Hunt and Officer Kristiana Sanchez-Suarez of the Burbank Police Department Mental Health Team. Chris Yamamoto and Dante Gudino from Mass Mutual Financial talked about the importance of financial planning for college and being involved in extracurricular activities.
Attorney Amy Lawrence is slated to speak this week at Jordan. Future speakers will include a microbiologist and an equine veterinarian.
“In March, we meet with all eighth-grade students and complete interest inventories through the web site called ‘Bridges’ and help them to set up a college and career folder on their site that they can utilize through twelfth grade,” Fleishman also said. “We will also be taking a group of students to UCLA in January!”
