Cascade Lodge students get exposure to different careers
Published:Wednesday | June 3, 2015 | 11:31 AMOrantes Moore
CASCADE LODGE, St Mary:
PROFESSIONALS FROM industries such as banking, telecommunications and the civil service travelled to Newstead Primary School in Cascade Lodge, St Mary, on Monday to share knowledge and information during the students' annual Career Day Expo.
The event, which aimed to establish the link between education and career, targeted grade five and six students by exposing them to a cross section of entrepreneurs, employees and business professionals.
After delivering a workshop introducing the students to banking services, financial adviser at Victoria Mutual Building Society, Ocho Rios, Andrew Grant, said it was essential that children be encouraged to think about their futures from as early as possible.
"In a country like Jamaica, we find that a lot of people aren't sure of which career path they should be taking, and so many of them end up leaving school not knowing where to go in terms of planning for the future.
"Starting this early and educating the children about different jobs, careers and qualifications helps to get them in the right mindset and enables them to understand what they are capable of doing and match themselves with different careers from early, which will really assist them going forward.
"It was great fun. The children responded well and I think they garnered a lot of knowledge from the information we brought them," he told Rural Xpress.
The school's grade three teacher, Patrice Lewis, who helped organise the event, added: "What's happening here today is important because we know the children are our future leaders, and so, we have to get them in the right mood and mindset from now.
"This year, we had a past student of the school, who is now a lawyer based in Ocho Rios, come and talk to the students, likewise a pastor, an entrepreneur, and representatives from Lime, VMBS, the police force, and the fire department.
"Also, we set up a little village where the children could do hands-on activities, work with tools, and gain more understanding about the different professions.
"This is our second annual event and it's been really good so far. I think it's made a real difference to some of the children. I've seen a different perspective from them in terms of looking beyond government-sector jobs and understanding that every profession is vital to the community and the world at large."