• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Students learn about careers in changing economy

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Margot Harris, a women's health nurse practicioner with Mercy Health Sysytems, addresses a group of students during Milton High School's career fair Thursday. Medical fields were quite popular with this year's crop of students.

MILTON — Graphic design is fun and rewarding, but it's not fun and rewarding every day.

Sometimes, you're designing a cool new logo for the Wisconsin Lottery, Mary Terry told a group of Milton High School students. Other days, you're choosing font type and size for a company handbook.

"Being creative is supposed to be fun, but you've got to be efficient," she said.

Terry, co-owner of Terry Print Solutions in Janesville, was one of more than 50 professionals speaking Thursday at the Milton High School Career Day.

The school holds the event every other year with the help of the Boy Scouts, Milton Community Fund and Janesville Noon Rotary Club. The event gives students a realistic look at a wide variety of careers, organizer Andy Olsen said.

Most career fairs take place in gyms where students wander from station to station, he said.

Milton surveys the students before scheduling the speakers to find out what they're most interested in. Thursday, students attended three sessions of 45 minutes each, learning about what the speaker does, what education the job requires and how they can start preparing now.

Speakers represented everything from X-ray technician to zoologist, farmer to fashion designer. Olsen even got a marine biologist and professional athlete, two of the hardest ones to find, he said.

In the 10 years Olsen has organized the event, he's seen interest in medical and computer careers grow, he said. The top 10 careers from this year's survey involved health care.

That's good news in Rock County, where a growing health care industry offers one of the best hopes for replacing jobs lost to manufacturing, officials have said.

It's also good news to nurse practitioner Margot Harris. She enthusiastically told students about her job in the women's clinic at Mercy Health System.

She said the country will be short 275,000 nurses by 2010.

"There's always job security in nursing," she said.

Senior Brianda Clemente and junior Tolani Blagogee are thinking along the same lines. They said they'd like to go into health care because they could help people and challenge themselves.

Plus, people always need doctors and nurses, Clemente said.

Students said they aren't too worried about the recession right now, but it is affecting the way they think about the future.

Sophomore Erick Klossner said he's thinking about entering the Air Force after high school.

"There aren't a lot of jobs out there," he said.

Still, students have to find careers they love, Terry said.

"Don't choose a career because you think you're going to make a lot of money," she told them. "Choose a career you think you're going to be happy with for the next 50 years."