School-Wide Career Day Taking Place Monday at MCHS

On Monday the 23rd, Mason City High School students will participate in a schoolwide Career Day. This is the second year in a row students have visited local businesses and learned more about them.

“These businesses are from all different career clusters,” Jessica Sutcliffe, the Work-Based Learning Coordinator said, “We have Mercy. We have Union Pacific, which is the railroad. We have the city of Mason City, their water treatment plants, a whole variety of different places.” 

Sutcliffe took over this project last year. She said it takes months to prepare for career day and tries to make sure it’s something that everyone will enjoy.

 “I’m kind of like a ‘Go big or go home’ type of person. So if I’m going to have my name be tied to something, it’s going to be done well,” Sutcliffe said. 

Each grade level has a different activity to focus on. Ninth graders will take part in a ‘Day in the Life of a College Student sponsored by NIACC. They’ll learn about making schedules and choosing a major. 

Tenth graders will participate in a ‘Careers Extravaganza’. Twenty-eight businesses will come to the school. The plan is to expose them to as many careers as possible. 

Juniors and seniors will be going on buses in the morning to visit different local businesses and shadow them. Each student will go to three different businesses and experience what it’s like to work these jobs.

The two main goals for Career Day are to connect students to local businesses and have the students find things that they might want to do as a career in their future. 

Sutcliffe was asked what businesses look for in an employer. 

“Businesses look for someone who will come to work everyday and someone who is ready to learn.” 

Sutcliffe also said that this is a day where you could meet your future employers so think of it as a first impression. Don’t miss out.