Students at George Washington Carver Freshman Campus (GWCFC) recently participated in job shadowing around Douglas. Students in career, technical, and agricultural education classes (CTAE), which are Mr. Highsmith’s (agricultural teacher), Mrs. Cummings (our business and technology teacher), Mrs. Barlow’s (digital technology teacher) and Mrs. Ross’s (the family consumer science teacher) classes, were given the opportunity to choose a career of their liking and job shadow someone in the area of expertise. The objective was to offer an insight on the career field students planned to join.
Students were told to follow their instructor around a minimum of eight hours, a typical school day. CTAE teachers encouraged those participating to stay the entire time resulting in the student getting a feel for what their full day at work would be like in the future. Students were to observe all aspects of the job and to report their findings to the class the following day. This experience allowed them a better understanding of the career which captivated their interest.
The list of careers students followed was very diverse. The interests each teen had came together to create a wide range of professions. From following pharmacists, to stopping crime with police officers, to helping out mechanics in a repair shop, these choices confirmed students interest on the career they had in mind.
Carter Hutchison, a student a GWCFC, followed Mr. Jordan at Nicholls Elementary School for a day. Jaycee Long, another student attending GWCFC, followed Dr. Heidi Diaz, a children’s dentist here in Douglas. Allison Fussell, who followed Dr. Paratta, stated, “This job shadowing experience opened my eyes to what it’s really like to work in a doctor’s office and it gave me a clue as to what field of medicine I want to go into.”
This opportunity was greatly appreciated by the students at GWCFC, all of whom spoke of it were already asking when the chance to job shadow will arise again. It looks like a bright future awaits Coffee County!
– Submitted by Taylor Whitley, Journalism student at GWCFC