FARMINGTON -- Farmington High School's first session pairing career mentors with groups of students was a positive experience for students and mentors alike, according to Clayton Williams, assistant principal with Farmington Career Academies.
Williams held a debriefing meeting with the mentors afterward. He said most "seemed surprisingly shocked" at how well it went, with students being attentive, respectful and asking questions. A few responded after the experience, "I'd love to be a teacher." Williams said he jokingly replied, "No, you wouldn't."
Career mentors already are thinking about what they want to talk about or do for future sessions. Several are considering some hands-on experiences in their career field. The entrepreneur/marketing career leaders, for example, may allow students to simulate a sales pitch to their group, similar to the popular show Shark Tank.
Students in 10th-12th grades were matched with mentors based on their expressed career interests. The first mentoring session was held for one hour Sept. 23 and the next one will be Oct. 24. Students will meet with their mentors six times this school year.
About 27 professionals have volunteered for the program and mentoring groups ranged in size from about 12 students to more than 30. Mentors are representing a diverse range of careers, including dentistry, engineering, nursing, education, military, public safety, politics, transportation/logistics, banking, architecture, arts, attorney, agriculture, journalism and mortician.
Williams said he still is looking for people in the healthcare field and would like to have a professional working in the information technology field.
"This program is for kids to be able to explore and figure out what they want to do," Williams said.
Some students after attending their first mentoring session think they may be interested in another career and Williams said he will try to be flexible to help students change groups. One goal is for mentors and students to build relationships over time so that plays into the equation, he added.
Heather Holcomb Cooper, a 2004 graduate of Farmington High School, said a mentoring program would have been beneficial when she was in high school. Cooper talked to students about banking careers.
"This gives kids a great insight," said Cooper, banking center manager for Great Southern Bank in Fayetteville.
Cooper said she started in psychology in college. She attended NorthWest Community College, the University of Arkansas and is finishing up a degree in business management at John Brown University.
For her first session, Cooper said she talked to the students about the different careers at a bank, job descriptions and what qualifications are needed for those jobs. For her second session, students asked her to describe her day and what she does for her job.
"Every day is different," Cooper said. "Banks have lots of opportunities."
Three seniors offered their comments on the career mentoring groups.
Baleigh Beeks knows that she wants to go into nursing but she learned from the first session that a nursing degree offers other options, other than just being a registered nurse in a doctor's office.
"This gave me an opportunity to speak to someone who went through what I'm going through," said Baleigh. "It showed me I need to be open-minded. There are so many other areas with nursing."
Joel Falknor first was signed up for the undecided group but then said he thought he should at least participate in a specific career. He chose attorney but after going to that session now thinks he doesn't want to go into law, he said.
"It sounded like not what I wanted to do. It sounded boring to me," Falknor said.
He is still exploring his options and attended an information technology day at the University of Arkansas to find out about an IT career.
Corbin Shaw already knew that he was interested in pursuing entrepreneurships and said he liked his session with Phyl Amerine and Michael Iseman, both with Startup Junkie Consulting in Fayetteville.
"It showed me I could do whatever I want to do," Corbin said. "I have lots of inventions I would like to pursue. I think it's a good thing and will help students decide what they want to do after high school."
Williams hopes the program will help solidify goals students have after graduation.
"We want them to be able to articulate, 'This is what I want to do. This is why. This is what I'm planning to do to get there,'" Williams said.
General News on 10/07/2015