Career Showcase today

OVER 3 000 third and fifth form students from all private and public secondary schools will gather today and tomorrow at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, for the National Career Showcase/UWI Open House.

 

The event is expected to show these young people exactly what are the daily responsibilities of various careers available in this island.

 

Vice-President of the Barbados Association of Guidance Counsellors, Shernelle Belle-Alexander, outlined that there will be over 80 displays, ranging from the more traditional professions to those dealing with entrepreneurship, organic farming, scientific research, sustainable energy, physiotherapy, speech therapy, culinary and automotive arts, to name a few.

 

“When the students go out there and expose themselves, they are often surprised to see how different a profession is and be interested in pursuing it,” she outlined.

 

She pointed out that often many young persons left school unsure of what profession they were interested in and the annual showcase was making a definite difference as they were now beginning to understand what subjects they need to pursue for the profession they want.

 

“That is why the annual National Career Showcase is so good because they have a wide exposure there… We are trying to do this so that they have the opportunity to have the first-hand experience of talking to someone in the field and understand what are the subject choices that they need to make. We find that when there is this focus from an early stage, it serves them better,” she stated.

 

Outlining that guidance counsellors urged students to focus on what their skills and talents are, what subjects they excel at and what they enjoy doing, Belle-Alexander added that due to the showcase and the work of the guidance counsellors, students become a lot more focused in knowing what a job entailed and worked towards achieving their chosen career. (JMB)