Recapping Career Day 2024
Grade 11 Career Day at St. Michael’s College School (SMCS) was once again an overwhelming success, bringing together traditional and non-traditional approaches to educate and support SMCS students considering various career paths.
This year’s event marked the 20th anniversary of Career Day at SMCS. Keynote speaker Rob Nickerson began the morning with an inspiring session where students worked through a series of role-plays on communication and collaboration in preparation for entering the workplace after secondary or post-secondary studies.
In the afternoon session, students participated in a fireside chat with a diverse slate of guest speakers as well as speed rounds in which students, in groups of 10, had a chance to speak to individuals in diverse industries. Each round lasted 10 minutes, allowing students the opportunity to talk to at least five industry professionals. Students had the chance to ask questions, network with industry experts, and learn about our guest speakers’ educational pathways and job opportunities.
“Grade 11 Career Day was another huge success, and we were fortunate to be led by another accomplished list of speakers representing diverse industries,” says Dr. Daniel Lumsden ’96, event organizer and SMCS Community Engagement and Learning Lead. “We successfully provided an interactive and inspiring opportunity to foster student engagement and provided students with a better understanding of various industries.”
Check out what some of our Grade 11 students had to say:
“The career day that we had was very interesting. It was good to know the different types of career paths different people took and how they got there. I liked the range of jobs that there was. It helped me gain a better understanding of what I want my career path to be.”
– James Wright
“Career Day was very interesting and gave me a good understanding of all different kinds of jobs. Each presenter had a different job and story, which was also good because we were given different views on business. Overall, it was a good day, and we learned many things and were shown that you can take many different paths and still get to the same endpoint.”
– Kian O’Connell
“Overall, I would rate Career Day successful because these people were separated into different groups to speak about their jobs, and it was a very unique way to do it. In the end, I rate Career Day very successful and helped students find a path to university.”
– Nolan Warfield
“I really enjoyed Career Day. I loved how it started off with a lot of energy. The initial speaker did a great job getting our energy up that early in the morning by using his emotions and getting us to do things in groups. The next part of the day was just as good. I liked how it later became a space where we could learn about what it meant to be in fields like business and what you have to do to achieve these goals.”
– Giuseppe D’Addese
“Career Day featured many different opportunities for me and all the other Grade 11 students at SMCS to take advantage of and use the information provided to better understand our future. However, I feel the first half of the day was much less efficient than the second half. I liked how we were able to have an actual conversation with a person already pursuing a certain career, which allowed us to understand what their lifestyle is like.”
– Giovanni Di Battista
“Career day was a great day to learn life lessons from experts across a broad range of fields and their journeys to becoming successful. We also learned lessons about teamwork and the importance of helping our friends out before they begin struggling so much that we are unable to help them. I would like to thank everyone who helped put this day together as well as everyone who took time out of their busy jobs to come talk to us.”
– Theodore Gingras
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