Howell High School’s annual October career month was taken to a new level this year.  Career month is dedicated to helping seniors and Howell High School students make a plan. It was filled with numerous activities that can help make the future seem not so scary. 

“As a student, I think career month is a great opportunity. I think it’s so important to learn about different careers and paths I can take in my life, and find one that will be best for me,” sophomore Adelaide Ellis says.

This career month is run by the Howell High School Interact Club.

“The Interact Club is a philanthropy organization, we are kind of overseen by the Rotarians, which is the Rotary Club here in Howell. We do different service projects both on the local level as well as the national and international level,” interact club staff advisor, Ms. Kym Clark says .

The first career talk of the year was hosted by the Interact Club on October 25. The talk took place during flex, in the auditorium. 

“The career chat aspect used to be a part of career month, and then COVID kind of hit and we’re bringing that back. So again it’s not necessarily going to be just the month, this is kind of the kickoff, but every quarter we’ll have a different group come in and give career chats because it’s very important to try to immerse yourself and have an opportunity to discover what you may want to do after high school,” Ms. Clark says.  

A panel of about 10 speakers from the Health Sciences careers were questioned by two MC’s, and at the end the audience was able to ask questions. 

“I’m somebody who’s interested in Health Sciences and I think it’ll be really interesting to hear the responses of what exactly are like the best parts and worst parts of the job, what exactly they do, just because I feel like that’s something that’s interesting to me and I feel like I’m going to have a very fulfilling experience with it,” president of interact club senior Sydney Schimmel says.

More activities happening during career month include a series of job shadow days, a career talk, a lunch and learn after the career talk. The lunch and learn was where students could sign up to talk to a specific panelist about their career. 

“I personally feel like actually talking to people who are in the field can really make a difference on maybe resources that you need or things that the internet doesn’t tell you about that specific job. I just feel like it’s going to be a lot more interesting for students who are interested in these specific careers but overall I think people will just be more inclined to learn about it because there’s actual people right here willing to talk about it,” Schimmel says.

These specific events have been created to help the students start planning their future.

“I think for seniors, it just going to help them out a lot as they start applying for college and then hopefully for underclassmen they start, again, kind of just immersing themselves in opportunities and maybe discovering what path they might want to take in the future,” Clark says. 

And many of the students were excited for these events to explore different career options. 

“I feel that other students will take advantage of this opportunity, as it is so important to think about your career, as it is vital to a successful future,” Ellis says.

Another goal of career month is that the students learn many lessons about making a plan. 

“I feel like that’s the main theme is don’t just pick, you know, a safe job just to make other people happy, do what you think would make you happy and just explore different options,” Schimmel says.

Career talk among other career month activities were here to help making a plan less difficult. Next year, career month will bring students another opportunity to explore options for their futures. 

“It’s okay to change that plan, you need to be flexible, try out as many things as you can and see what works for you and also make a list of what doesn’t work for you,” Clark says.