On Wednesday, November 11, 2020, all grade levels received the unique opportunity to embark on the first ever Virtual Career Day offered by the Midlothian High School Counseling Department to educate students about potential career pathways and future opportunities after graduating high school. In an effort to appeal to the wide interest of the student body, various representatives from differing professions shared with students valuable information regarding their wide range of fields, such as: business, government and public policy, helping services, military, and education. 

With November as College and Career Month, the Counseling Department worked diligently to utilize the technology at their disposal to share various career options with Midlo students who may have missed out on vital internships and shadow days due to the pandemic. Despite the challenges accompanying virtual learning and now the introduction of the new hybrid model, Virtual Career Day connected students, regardless of their location, to a number of speakers. “The overarching goal was to expose students to new career options and share real life experiences with students from the professionals that work in various fields that they are interested in,” shares Counseling Coordinator Ms. Loretta Speller, who initiated the event. 

Virtual Career Day saw over one thousand students participate in the three sessions offered at 10:00 a.m., 11:30 a.m., and 1:00 p.m., during which students had the ability to select the career fields most applicable to them, as well as pick a time that best suited their schedule. Eager to learn more about the various careers at hand, sessions maxed out quickly, causing the entire event to transfer to a larger platform equipped to hold an increased audience amount in order to allow each student access to the informational presentations. Accomplished professionals in their line of work, each one hand picked by Midlo faculty, gave students the ability to take the first steps in setting their sights on future endeavors. 

During each informational session, speakers shared insightful presentations with those in attendance, covering topics revolving around education requirements, prior job experiences, and their different approaches that they each took in order to achieve their career goals. Each individual highlighted their varying pathways, sharing with students valuable life lessons that they learned along the way, which instilled motivation in the abundance of young minds present. From a former F.B.I. agent to the principal of Evergreen Elementary School and even the Head of Tax for Netflix, the assortment of representatives undoubtedly gave students an important opportunity to gain exposure to the broad spectrum of careers that they may want to embark upon in the years to come, as well as learn and develop deeper understandings of careers unfamiliar to them. 

The event as a whole received positive feedback from both students and staff members involved. Several students found that by the end of attending a certain session they found themselves having a new outlook on what they ultimately want to pursue, feeling as if they have the resources necessary to guide them in the right direction. “I think it was really amazing to get to hear from people who are currently in these different career fields,” mentions senior Emily Gundel, who holds a particular interest in the F.B.I. and feels Virtual Career Day can “really benefit students in truly understanding what kind of career field they want to pursue and what exactly each of them entail.”

Similar to Gundel’s reaction to the event, junior Molly Geocker views Career Day as “beneficial to students since you may think you like or don’t like the idea of a certain career, but being able to hear the experience of someone who is actually in that specific field gives you a good outlook on what the job actually looks like, which can help you make decisions in the future.” With Virtual Career Day reaching a high level of success, the Midlo Counseling Department hopes to host more events of a similar nature throughout the remainder of the school year to further enrich students while still confined to a distance-learning environment.