Recently, Canton Middle School hosted its first Career Day of the year, bringing in professionals to speak about their careers with the school’s 8th graders. The eight speakers represented a diverse range of professions – a chef, a musician, a mental health therapist, a lawyer, a K-9 police officer, and a teacher specializing in pulp and paper.

  • Chef – Will Albrecht
  • K-9 Police Officer – Jennifer Robertson
  • Lawyer (and Alderman) – Zeb Smathers
  • Pulp and Paper Instructor – Wendell Godfrey
  • Mental Health Therapist – Mikell Clark-Webb*
  • Biltmore Estate Horticulturalist – Mark Waldroop*
  • Musician (with Balsam Range) – Darren Nicholson*
  • College Advisor (with Haywood Community College) – Laura Simmons

* denotes a parent of current CMS student(s)

Students were given the opportunity to choose two sessions to attend, and the speakers conducted sessions in classrooms and the auditorium. Several of the speakers did demonstrations for the students – like the playing of the mandolin, executing commands with Champ, the K-9 police dog, and paper-making.

The students were engaged and appreciative during the presentations, and many came away with strongly positive new ideas about their future work prospects. Carter Shook, who aspires to one day make music professionally, appreciated learning how to get started in a music career. Maddie B., who aspires to work in medical services someday and possibly become an EMS, was impressed with the K-9 presentation.

“Jennifer [Robertson] is an awesome officer,” Maddie said. “She taught us some pretty interesting things!”

Ivory P. noted, “I’m pretty confident about the career I want to do – and that’s a journalist – but I’m glad I learned about other options.” Similarly, Katherine W. is already leaning toward a career choice – mental health therapy – but the sessions she attended helped open her eyes to the possibility of going more specifically into music therapy.

Co-organizer and CMS guidance counselor Sarah Peterson observed, “It was cool to hear to listen in on the various sessions and hear music playing down the hall.”

Submitted by:  Bill Hunt, Canton Middle School