Chase Your Dreams!

We have been working really hard for the last 6 months to prepare for Friday's career fair and with 226 professionals volunteering their time to come and meet with you, I can honestly say that it should be a great morning.  But, I have to be honest, not every possible career will be represented.  We have done our very best to get a wide range of careers so that you can talk to people in different fields.  There are also some more popular careers where you will find multiple individuals in the same job which provides you with a great opportunity to find out how various people view their jobs and the differences that exist even within the same type of career.  (For example, there are all different environments where nurses work, etc.)

My favorite career fair related story from the last 3 times we have held this event was actually connected to a career that we were not able to get represented at the career fair.  Yes, you read that right - a job that we could NOT get represented.

In case you are not aware, we invite all different people to complete the career questionnaire so that they can be compiled in the Career Resource Handbook.  This Career Resource Handbook is available for you to look at any time in the front of the counseling center and I also have a copy in my office.  All of the career fair participants as well as those who were willing to answer the questions even if they couldn't attend the career fair are compiled together into this binder as a resource for our students.  There are always kind people who complete the career questionnaire even though they know they cannot attend - for example, this year an Executive Producer from the CBS Television Show, Big Brother, did the survey.

So, back to my favorite story... and I have to say that this is in my recollection of it so some of my details may be off, but it is close.  Brooke was one of my students and she was interested in possibly pursuing a future career as a Dolphin Trainer.  Brooke loves people, she loves animals, she loves dolphins, she loves to swim and she always thought that this would be a fun career.  But, as you can imagine, there are not many dolphin trainers living in central Ohio so we were not able to find anyone with that career to attend the career fair.  Brooke and I had talked about this being an area of interest so when I saw that someone living in Florida had completed the career questionnaire for her job as a dolphin trainer, I couldn't wait to show Brooke.

Brooke ended up talking to the woman on the phone and found out that she was the aunt to another WKHS student.  Later, when this woman was in town visiting her family, Brooke and her stepdad, Mr. Green, went to meet with the dolphin trainer to talk about her career background and experiences.

I will never forget the excitement of Brooke's smile as she told me about their meeting and, possibly for the first time, really believed that she might be able to pursue this as a career.  Brooke had learned that she needed all of those qualities that she had previously identified in herself in order to be good as a dolphin trainer, but she would also need to believe in herself and have the courage to chase her dreams.

Although it has been many years since Brooke sat in my office and had that conversation with me, she followed through and chased her dreams and today is working with dolphins!  I couldn't be prouder of Brooke for all that she has accomplished.  So, even though she wasn't able to make the perfect connection to the career field of interest to her at the WKHS Career Fair, she still used the time effectively and ultimately made a positive connection that helped her.

I hope that you will follow in Brooke's footsteps.  Never lose sight of your dreams and be willing to put your whole heart, time, energy and talents toward working to make them a reality.  And remember, explore and talk to lots of people during the career fair.  If your exact job of interest isn't represented there is still a lot you can learn from the people who are there and be sure to check out the Career Resource Handbook later because you never know what you will find.

Thanks to Brooke and her family for sharing the pictures and for giving me permission to share her story - it really is awesome, isn't it?!?  :-)