From May 25 to June 12, Townsend Harris High School hosted Virtual Career Day to introduce students to professionals across various careers. As a response to coronavirus and the absence of a traditional Career Day event, these virtual meetings were established to allow students the possibility to understand the different career options that are available to them. Virtual Career Day was made possible by the efforts of many THHS students, faculty, and alumni. Assistant Principal of Guidance Veronica York, junior Emmanuella Borukh, and senior Annlin Su were among those involved; Annlin and Emmanuella were the main coordinators of the event.
When commenting on the overall experience of organizing this event, Emmanuella said, “We worked with the alumni association to gather guest speakers. After working together for a few weeks, it all came together and we set up a 3 week virtual career day with over 70 speakers.”
Ms. York did not respond to requests for comment.
A spreadsheet was shared with the school community that included the names of the various professionals, a description of their careers, and links to the Google meets which THHS students were able to attend at the allotted times. There were many different professionals who took part in this event: a political director, school counselor, athletic director, etc. The professionals not only educated students about their jobs, but also gave them time to ask questions that they had during the meeting.
Emmanuella explained, “Students can look through the career options and find the ones that interest them. Not only will students learn about the path it takes to succeed in that field and profession, but students can get their specific questions answered.”
Sarah Rabb, a freshman who attended the pediatric cardiologist and energy engineer sessions, said, “This event was very convenient to attend and I was able to ask a lot of questions to those presenting their careers through Google Meet.”
A lot of effort went into creating this event due to the magnitude of presenters who took part in it. As a primary organizer of the event, Senior Annlin Su stated, “SU Board members and other volunteers from the Leadership class and Grade Leaders reached out to presenters… A lot of promotion is put into Virtual Career Day since we have over 70 speakers and we have to encourage students to explore their options.”
For professionals who attended the event themselves, the experience was an important way to give back to the THHS community. Yelena Dzhanova, a politics reporter for CNBC, described her experience by saying, “The event showed me that high schoolers are interested in the path to become a journalist. It showed me that young people care about the news and current events. I enjoyed returning to the Townsend Harris setting. Townsend to this day remains one of the biggest influences in my life.”
The last few Career Day sessions took place on Friday, June 12.
