Many children dream of what they are going to be when they grow up. Ellsworth Elementary School STEM Coordinator Tami Place knows this and implemented the inaugural EES Career Day on Jan. 17.

Place said 13 businesses/careers were represented at Career Day, which included a morning session for fifth graders and an afternoon session with fourth graders.

“The students had to pick three out of six sessions to attend,” Place said. “Each session was 30 minutes long, 20 minutes for a presentation and then the last 10 minutes for questions the students had prepared.”

Fifth graders were able to learn about careers in the State Patrol/DNR, nursing, construction, welding, veterinary and landscaping fields. Fourth graders had to choose from big machinery, police officers, business ownership, farming, HVAC and heating, and a lawyer. 

Representatives included:

-- Brandon Gray from the Wisconsin State Patrol and Kyle Kosin from the Wisconsin DNR who shared their schedules, training and equipment with students. Some students donned tactical vests, peered through night vision goggles, and saw how stop sticks are deployed.

-- Steve Thoner from Kruger-Thoner Builders showed kids what it takes to build a house. They learned that besides a construction worker, there are more people or careers involved like a plumber or electrician that are needed to get the job completed. 

-- Chris Boyle from Black Dog Vet showed students how she diagnoses some animals that she sees. Students were able to “treat” animals at different stations.

-- Welder Stacey Peterson explained what it takes to be a welder, different types of jobs, and how she is constantly learning. She talked about how hobbies can be turned into a career.  

-- Sarah Lardahl from the EES Health Office showed students some of the equipment nurses use on a daily basis, the types of nursing careers available, duties in nursing, people nurses help and how much schooling is needed to become a nurse.

-- Brian Piper and Genna Peterson from Rockworks demonstrated how to keep sand and dirt strong enough to hold a retaining wall

-- Aiden Thorp from Emerald Valley Law had the students debate what was better, a chocolate chip cookie or an Oreo cookie. The students divided up into two groups and had to persuade her why their cookie was the best.

-- Jason Lacy with heating and HVAC talked about  different positions at his company and how they work together. He talked about how he went to school to learn, but he still needed to learn a lot within the company. He brought in several tools and pieces of metal that the kids got to try using.

-- Farmer Konnie Roland talked about what a farmer does, what animals they work with, showed them chicken eggs and had them weigh the eggs, and talked about feed to use with the animals.

-- Chad Johnson from the Pierce County Highway Deparetment talked about heavy equipment operation, truck driving and heavy mechanic jobs. He went through pictures of the rock quarry and talked about the machines needed to get shot rock sized down to gravel, how to get the gravel to the road, then paving the road. Students were very interested in his steel toed boots; they were able to step on his boots to see just how hard they were.

-- Kayleen Jakes from Brushstrokes talked about what it is like to own a business, how she started and where the business is now. The students all talked about their businesses and how they got started. 

-- Village of Ellsworth police officers Sgt. Eric Van Nocker and Cedric Kosnopfal talked about their day-t- day work, what is on their belt, the extra training they needed, how they got into law enforcement and what they really like about their jobs.

“These people took the time to explain what their careers looked like with hands-on materials that kept the students engaged and learning,” Place said. “All businesses talked about what it would take to get to their positions, what schooling they would need, and what day to day looks like.”

Place said the goal of Career Day is to show students just a few of the many careers they may choose to explore in the future.

“Our community has so much to offer our students and for them to be willing to come in and talk and show us hands-on materials that they would use during their days shows me they are investing in our students’ futures as well,” Place said.

Showing kids some of the careers available to them is a small thing the school can do to help them in their future, Place added.

“A big thank you to all the businesses and career people who took time out of their day to help spread the knowledge of what some careers are all about,” she said. “Guests were invited to talk about their careers with hands-on materials. All businesses stepped up and made this day so much fun for our students. I am certain all involved had a great day.”

She’s also positive the kids had a fun day, evidenced by their remarks.

"It was amazing! I learned about how a small business works. I am going to look into owning my own small business,” said fourth grader Reagan K.

"I would recommend it for next year," said fourth grader Gracie V.

"I was interested in construction but listening to the speaker, I would want to try it as a career," said fifth grader Josell L,

" I really liked career day! I learned so much about the careers I can choose, like you can weld underwater," said fifth grader Ryland Hines.

And the learning will continue. Fifth graders recently took a personality test to see what careers might be fitting for them, Place said. Then they worked with a partner who had the same career interest to research and make a poster for their career.

“They will soon be choosing a career to learn about the salary and budgeting,” Place said.