Job shadowing answers basic career questions
North Lenoir High students Jazalynn Sutley, foreground, and Sarah Jones watch the monitors in the Jones-Lenoir 911 Center during Thursday’s job shadowing adventure.
One big question loomed over Kelsey Price’s interest in becoming a veterinarian.
“I need to see if I can handle a surgery,” the North Lenoir High senior said last week at Northside Animal Hospital. She was spending the morning at the Kinston veterinary clinic on a job shadowing adventure offered as part of LCPS’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) program. Observing Dr. Jimmy Shaver in surgery was on the agenda.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m very excited about it. I’m ready.”
Kelsey Price, a senior at North Lenoir High who’s considering a career in veterinary medicine, tours Northside Animal Hospital with employee Jamie Godwin during the first of seven job shadowing events LCPS is offering students in its Career and Technical Education program this school year.
Answering the basic questions – essentially, what does a person in this job actually do – is at the heart of the monthly job shadowing sessions that CTE students can sign up for this school year. On Thursday, 29 students from Kinston, North Lenoir and South Lenoir high schools fanned out to visit 13 different businesses and institutions, from UNC Lenoir Health Care to the marketing department of Kinston’s Chick-fil-A.
“This has been great. It’s been very helpful, too,” said Kelsey, who had not been part of job shadowing before. “Dr. Shaver’s been teaching me things about X-rays and about the blood samples and things.”
Jazalynn Sutley, a North Lenoir senior, was on her third job shadowing outing as she explores occupations in which she can “help people.” Last school year, she visited Lenoir Community College and the Lenoir County Social Services Department. Next month she plans to job shadow an emergency room nurse. She spent Thursday morning at the Jones-Lenoir 911 Center.
“I want to do something to help people and I felt like this was a really good thing to do to help people because you talk to them every day,” Jazalynn said. “Getting to calm them down and telling them what to do, I feel like you’re actually doing something to impact the community.”
Ketia Moore is certain of her direction after graduating from Kinston High, where she’s a junior this year. “I’m definitely going to college for teaching,” she said.
Ketia Moore, a junior at Kinston High, was undeterred in her plans to become a teacher after spending a morning with pre-kindergarten students at Southeast Elementary School. ‘They’re kids, they’re loud, but they are really enjoyable,’ she said.
She got a taste of what a career in the classroom might be like by spending the morning at LCPS’s pre-kindergarten site at Southeast Elementary School. At the end of her stint there, she was undeterred.
“The kids are really sweet,” she said. “They’re kids, they’re loud, but they are really enjoyable.”
The next job shadowing event is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 17. Businesses, non-profits and other institutions in the county interested in being a part of the program should contact Jessica Shimer, the district’s career development coordinator, at jshimer@lenoir.k12.nc.us or at 252-527-9184.