By Dan Walton

Pioneer Staff

A day of professional reflection will be encouraging local students to wrap their heads around what they want to be when they grow up.

On Wednesday, February 11th, David Thompson Secondary School (DTSS) will be hosting two occupational events Find Your Fit by WorkBC, and a locally organized career fair in the evening.

Every student and teacher will be spending one block of their day to experience WorkBCs Find Your Fit program DTSS was the only school to be selected as a host in the East Kootenay. During Find Your Fit, students will be familiarized with hands-on careers that are currently in demand across the province, and which skills are needed to fill them. After schools out, Find Your Fit will become open to the community between 3:30 and 7 p.m.

It opens their eyes to professions and skills that they might not have heard of before, and that we might not be able to show them on a local scale, said DTSS teacher Crystal Woodworth, who is organizing the events.

To boost the visit by Find Your Fit, Ms. Woodworth has also invited local professionals to share their wisdom during a DTSS career fair.

While its intended to expose students to career opportunities, the career fair is also meant to give students a chance to learn the nitty gritty of full-time work.

Its not about students going around and finding out where they can get a summer job its about kids finding out what it means to be a financial planner; what does it mean to be a dietician. Thats the focus.

Local professionals have been encouraged to share their stories with students about how they ended up in their respective profession. Ms. Woodworth would like to see the guest professionals explain how career paths are often unpredictable.

I would like the kids to hear that life is about putting down a whole lot of dots, and eventually they connect into something, she said.