Exploring careers: Heather Pietrykowski came to the fourth grade career fair to talk about her work as a beekeeper during Nederland Elementary School’s Career Week. PHOTO BY SARA SANDSTROM[/caption]

Nederland Elementary School (NES) had a special week learning about many different jobs and career opportunities from community members. All week the students heard from a variety of people and what they are an expert in.

The week started off with an all school assembly with a librarian, firefighter, scientist, artist, lawyer, and journalist each giving a short presentation about what they do on the job. They also shared something they learned in school that now helps them with their work today.

Throughout the week different community members came to NES to share what they do for a living. Preschool and Kindergarten students got to meet Jeramy Meyers and his crew. The kids were delighted to get into some of the equipment they brought. The third through fifth graders had separate career fairs where they could meet and have conversations with people.

At the career fairs there was a beekeeper, physician’s assistant, nurse, senior manager of data science, a student who attends Boulder TEC, and an excavator to name a few. The younger classes had presentations with a doctor, social worker, an artist, a software engineer and an arborist.

The goal of the week was to expose the students to a number of different jobs and careers that are available to them. Some of these jobs require trade school, some apprenticeships, some a university degree and some people learned on the job. The pathways look different for each of us.

Organizing the event were NES school counselor Kristen Kron and NES parent Ashley Kardos.