What could be better than a career that involves canceling school when the weather is bad? Or a job that requires you to set cars on fire to document how they burn?
Learning what people do at work all day was the goal of Career Day, held Wednesday for 8th-grade students at Lincoln Junior High School in Naperville. As part of a career unit in language arts, more than 300 students learned firsthand about various jobs from 32 visiting speakers.
Dr. Don Weber, superintendent of Naperville District 203, discussed leadership qualities and the education required to run a school district. The students then asked for some vital information. How much money do superintendents make, and do they “choose the snow days?”
Weber offered a salary range of $50,000 to $175,000 for Illinois superintendents.
“And I’m the guy that cancels school,” he assured them.
Weber proceeded to tell the students why he decided to keep schools open on Tuesday, despite the fact that the adjacent District 204 closed because of a shortage of bus drivers.
“Come June 11, when you’re doing what you want to do at 9 a.m., you’ll be glad you’re not making up a snow day,” he said.
Career Day began with a keynote speech by Alan Krashesky, an ABC-TV (Channel 7) news anchor, who spoke about his progress in the broadcasting business.
The event has a long tradition at Lincoln, but this year’s lineup of speakers included more representatives from the arts and trades, said Kathy Renn, parent organizer of Career Day.
“The teachers especially wanted more speakers from the arts, because we had had a lot from business fields in previous years,” she said. Renn recruited two artists, a professional musician, an animator and an actor/choreographer. She added a plumber and heating/cooling expert to the schedule.
Down the hall, Tom Kuhn of Naperville was discussing his career as a mechanical technologist at Packer Engineering. His job requires participation in teams that reconstruct accident scenes as part of investigations.
“We had to pick up a car and put it upside down in a ditch,” said Kuhn. “Then we had to light it on fire. There are lots of ways to light a car on fire, and we observe how it burns.”
Such a day at the office sounded pretty good to Kyle Hagen, 13.
“I’d hate to get stuck with a job that’s not exciting,” he said after Kuhn’s presentation. “I want to be able to do something different every day.”
