Parent Teacher Magazine Union County Public Schools Jan/Feb 2018 | Page 4

Cuthbertson Middle students make real-world connections
Cuthbertson Middle student Michael Quinn knows exactly what
he wants to do when he grows up: play professional football. But
as he walked around his school’s inaugural Career Day on Oct.
20, the junior varsity football player said he has enjoyed learning
about other career options as well.
“I talked to a sports writer, and that was really cool,” he said.
“If I’m not able to play sports, then I’d like to do something like
that.”
And that is the essence of what Cuthbertson Middle Principal
Michael Murray said was the goal of the school’s Career Day – to
help their middle school students get prepared for their future
simply by just exposing them to various career options.
“Our goal is just to expose students to as many careers as
possible, so they can have a different perspective and dialogue
with their parents about the future,” Michael said. “We want them
to leave here and go to their parents saying, ‘I learned about this
career today and maybe this is a path that I want to follow.’”
For several hours, every student at the middle school had the
opportunity to visit with the 40 vendors that lined the school’s
hallways and gymnasiums. To encourage conversation, the
students pre-selected at least three vendors they were most
interested in visiting, and arrived with a list of questions about the
presenter’s career industry.
“We have people who work for Microsoft, we have NBC
correspondents, plumbers, anesthesiologists, a pilot, a sports
reporter, engineers, mortgage brokers, the mayor of Waxhaw –
we have the whole spectrum. We have those careers that require
college but also the trade and technical careers as well,” said
Cuthbertson Middle Assistant Principal Ernest Marcello. “With the
push to get our students college and career ready, we wanted
to get out in front of that and also prepare our middle school
students. Several students are already taking high school level
courses in middle school, so why not focus on getting them ready
for college and careers as well?
Richie Berkowitz, a contractor and owner of Ritchie-Fix-It, said
he volunteered to be a part of the Career Day because he wanted
middle school students to see what kinds of careers are available
to them.
“When I was in school 30 years ago, we were told to just go
to college and figure it out. But I think they need to get prepared
much earlier to at least see what’s out there,” he said. “And this is
just a tidbit of what’s out there in their own community.”
As he watched a group of students talk to nurses, a
representative from Coca-Cola and a Grammy Award-winning
songwriter, Michael said he was pleas