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Business & Tech

Middle School Students Learn Another Type of Lesson at Career Day

Cooper Middle School hosted its second annual Career Day Friday. Students learned about more than 20 jobs including architectural engineering, public relations and welding.

“Don’t chase money; chase happiness.”

That was one message Cary Chessick, CEO of Restaurant.com and keynote speaker at 's Career Day, gave to more than 200 eighth-grade students Friday.

“Happiness equals success. Success does not necessarily equal happiness,” Chessick said.

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Chessick, a Northbrook native and who practiced law for eight years before starting the restaurant gift certificate business told the audience of students, teachers and volunteers there were important differences between jobs, careers and callings. When you follow your calling, you can’t wait to get up in the morning to go to work, he said.

Cooper Principal Pamela Kibbons said Career Day was held in conjunction with a national initiative for take your child to work day next week, and provided more opportunity for students to explore career options.

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“All students may not have access to a parent that may be able to do that, so we wanted to broaden that opportunity here,” Kibbons said.

Donna Safa, an eighth-grader who attended a breakout session about finance directing led by Patty Chaplinski, said the experience gave her a better understanding of what types of careers interest her.

“Before I had no idea, and my options are wide open,” Safa said. “And now I’m starting to choose more specific places and fields. I definitely want to do something involving money and math.”

Safa said Chessick’s presentation was very interesting.

“To be able to have something that’s your calling, I think that’s something really important to have,” Safa said. “For him to be able to just drop his job before [as an attorney] and follow his dream is definitely inspiring.”

Pam Waits, a human resources professional who led one of the breakout sessions, said she volunteered because it was a way to give back to the community.

“I think it’s important to give back to young people,” Waits said. “I have always found mentoring an important part of my career, whether it be being mentored or mentoring my employees or other people. And I love students, and I figure if I can help them figure out what they want to do with their lives, that’s pretty important.”

Eighth-grader Jeff Nelson said before Career Day he had some ideas about what careers may interest him, and the experience gave him a clearer picture of what he had in mind. Before the event he was interested in dentistry, cooking, engineering and something with animals.

After attending a breakout session on training dogs, Nelson said he was leaning a little more toward working with animals. He said he learned about the different fields available in animal care including veterinary, dog training and dog performing.

“I’ve always liked animals, and it just seems like it would be a fun job to do,” Nelson said.

Another message Chessick emphasized with students in his presentation was to say “thank you” to someone every single day. Students picked up on the idea.

When Chessick asked if they had questions at the end of the presentation, one student raised his hand and said, “I just wanted to thank you for coming today.”

Chessick smiled and said, “You got it.”

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