What do you want to be when you grow up? I'm sure that's a question you often heard as a kid. It's something that every child thinks about and for which they have an answer. Maybe it's a doctor, lawyer, police officer, nurse, or teacher. Perhaps it's something a little more exotic, like an astronaut, pilot, or NASCAR driver.

When I was in junior high, I thought about becoming a veterinarian or a pediatric nurse. I love animals and children, and the thought of being able to help them when they were sick appealed to me. However, after working a year as a candy striper at St. Catherine's Hospital, and spending a much shorter time volunteering at Macafee's Veterinary Clinic, I discovered that these were not the occupations for me. As much as I adored animals and children, being around them when they were sick or hurting was not something I could handle.

When I was in ninth grade at McCook Junior High, our counselor, Dennis Irwin, started us thinking about our future careers. He talked to us about some of the jobs available in the world, education required to get them, and average salaries. One of the things he had us do was take a career assessment test.

After we took the test, we were given a list of possible careers that were most compatible with our likes and abilities. If I could have seen into the future, I'm sure I'd have been shocked that my occupations as business teacher, child-care provider, newspaper columnist, or domestic engineer did not appear on the list of careers picked for me. I remember feeling slightly puzzled by two of the career choices: minister and forest ranger. However, I now see that as a mother and child-care provider I do spend a large part of my days "preaching" to kids and putting out small "fires" that erupt around here.

Deciding what career paths to follow is even harder for today's high school freshmen. With the tremendous increase in technology over the last couple of decades, there are now more career options to consider. In fact, many of the jobs that will be available in the future don't even exist yet. Talk about not knowing what lies ahead of you!

However, thanks to the foresight of former MJH counselor Dennis Irwin, and the continuing efforts of English teacher, Pam Wolford, McCook's freshman class has had an eye-opening experience looking at careers and job opportunities that exist in our area. For the last 30 years, a Career Day has been held in McCook where these students can talk to panelists and shadow someone in their chosen career field.

Mrs. Wolford starts the career unit after Christmas break by having the students take a variety of career surveys and tests to determine their areas of interest and abilities.

(I wonder if any of them have been pegged to be forest rangers as I was.) They interview people about their career paths, read articles about new career fields, and even play games that deal with careers.

The culmination of the unit is Career Day, where more than 40 area adults come to the high school to participate in panels and describe their careers to the freshmen. The panelists cover a variety of careers from blue collar, labor-intensive careers to professionals. One group of panelists talks about how to fill out job applications and how to dress and answer questions during a job interview. Representatives from the military, NCTA, MCC, Southeast Community College, UNK and the State Patrol also come to encourage students to start making visits and smart class choices.

During the afternoon, the students interview and job shadow someone in their career field. It gives them an up-close look at what is done on the job and what might be expected of them if they choose this career. This is the part of the unit that the students like best and where they can visit one-on-one with someone who actually does for a living what they would like to do someday.

After Career Day comes the fun part! The students each write a five-page research paper on the career they chose. An outline, bibliography, and note cards are also required with the paper. This will be the first of many papers that these students get to do throughout their educational career.

Poor Mrs. Wolford then gets to grade the 100- plus papers. For the next couple of weeks, she carries them wherever she goes and checks them in her classroom, at her dinner table, or in bed at night. This year she even got to haul several of them to Colorado while she sponsored a youth ski trip. After many hours of grading papers, she is left with an aching back, eyestrain, and the satisfaction of knowing that another career unit has been successfully completed.

McCook Community College and the Nelson Institute also offered a Career Quest Career Fair for area sophomores this past month. It was a one-day offering where local business people and workers came to the college and talked about their careers with small groups of students. They were kind enough to share with these young people about the education required, the difficulties, and the benefits of the jobs they work each day.

Our thanks go to everyone involved in these worthwhile projects. Thanks to the employees and business people who take time off from work to participate in a panel or to be interviewed by a student. Thanks to the businesses that "donate" their workers and let them spend time away from their jobs to help the school system.

Thanks to Dennis Irwin for planning and implementing this project three decades ago and for all the enthusiasm and work he put into it. Moreover, special thanks to Pam Wolford for spearheading this massive effort of time and people and for grading all those research papers!

We are lucky to live in a place where our young folks are cherished and people will go that extra mile for the youth in our town. This is but one small example of how our area residents are always willing to help, to encourage, and to support our young people.

And it's another reason that makes Southwest Nebraska such a great place to live.###