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PHS students participate in Job Shadow Day

Local bankers, attorneys, morticians and even a reporter had extra shadows

following them on Wednesday.

The shadows were Pittsburg High School sophomores participating in National Job Shadow Day.

In 1999, PHS students in English 10 classes began job shadowing, according to Koeta Bryant, PHS School to Career coordinator.

"For the last five years, all sophomores have had the opportunity to job shadow a community business, industry or professional person," Bryant said. "Each year approximately 150 students spend the morning at a job shadow site."

The event is sponsored by the Pittsburg Area Business Education Alliance and USD 250, and a committee of members from the alliance and the school district match student request with volunteer business, industry or professional hosts.

Hosts this year included Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center, Names and Numbers, Superior Industries, Pittsburg State University, the City of Pittsburg, KOAM TV, Crossland Construction, Pitsco, Brenner Mortuary and The Morning Sun.

Students have a folder of assignments to complete as part of the job shadowing activity, as well as a list of questions to ask their hosts.

Jenny Stevens spent her morning at Brenner Mortuary, shadowing Steve Ward.

"I visited the embalming room, which was pretty interesting, and got to explore the casket room," she said. "It was pretty awesome."

Stevens said that she is considering a career in mortuary science. More and more young women are choosing this field, according to Glenn White of the Brenner staff.

"In past years, the ratio of men to women enrolling in mortuary science programs was something like 90 percent to 10 percent," White said. "These days, it's more than 60 percent men to 40 percent women, or possibly getting closer to 50-50."

Ian Short shadowed Michael Wonderly in PSU Food Services at Gibson Dining Hall.

"I followed the chef, and he said that math was very important in his job," he said. "He let me cut up a tomato. Then I got to eat spaghetti with marinara sauce and some Chinese food. It was really great."

Short loves food - both eating it and cooking - and often helps his mom by preparing meals at home. "I'm very much interested in working in a restaurant, and this was a good experience for me," he said.

Nadine Stoll job shadowed Nikki Patrick at The Morning Sun. "I love to write and I want to travel," she said. "I'm not sure, but journalism might be a good fit for this."

She got a taste of reporting by tagging along to interview her classmates for this story.

"I never thought I'd get to go on a field trip with this, but I think I've enjoyed this the most," Stoll said.

She added that she believes the job shadowing is a useful experience for students. "The school is always telling us that we need to think about our future careers, and it's good of them to give us this opportunity to find out about various jobs," Stoll said.

Stevens said that she believes her visit to Brenner Mortuary "has made a difference in my life. You've only got a certain amount of time to live, and you should enjoy it while you can."

The Morning Sun, (www.morningsun.net) February 23, 2006