From baseball to microbiology

STANHOPE — Valley Road School in Stanhope held a Career Day for its students last week. Participants from a wide variety of careers came to the school and interacted with all grade levels, introducing them to careers in mechanical engineering, law enforcement, health services, business management, human resources, sports management and officiating, food service, web design, development and infrastructure, and virtual reality medicine.
The idea for the career fair, which came from members of the Home and School Association, was presented to Superintendent Timothy Nicinski. One of the parents, Peter Vergano, a human resources professional, put together guidelines for presenters on setting up a career booth and tips on what to expect from visitors to the fair.
Among the presenters were parents and relatives of students and staff, including F. Frank Shay, a helicopter medic; his wife, Nancy, a veterinarian; Kathleen Campbell, a nurse educator; Rebeccah Davies, a manager from Panera; and illustrator Rob Van Hook.
The event even featured a visiting microbiologist and geneticist, the grandfather of seventh-grader Liam Shalita-Hebert. Dr. Zamir Shalita shared a demonstration table with his daughter, Dr. Daphne Shalita, a psychologist and college professor.
The Sussex Miners baseball team was represented by Tyler Borkowski and Dave Chase.
Students visited tables in the gym set up with posters and banners that described individual careers. Presenters answered questions from the students about how to get started in a given field, and one presenter, Kelly Eller of Internap, invited the students to write on a sticky note the answer to the question, “What do you want to do?” The sticky notes now cover a huge banner hung in the school’s media center as a reminder of the day — and to keep students thinking about the question.
Rick Fahey, from Surgical Theater, had students put on virtual-reality goggles to see what brain surgeons see, and law enforcement officers from Homeland Security, Mr. Matyka and Mr. Dash, allowed the boys and girls to try on Kevlar vests and pick up crowd-control shields.
The students learned about careers in mechanical engineering from Erin Vergano; accounting-office management from Mrs. Arnott; forensic psychology from Dr. Degil; and officiating varsity football and baseball from George Yonki.Later, they took part in various activities and picked up flyers and giveaways.
“We were so fortunate to have so many parents and family members offer to participate in this educational and fun event,” commented Mr. Nicinski. “It’s our hope that this will become another recurring event at Valley Road School.”