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Goodbye, Doctors, Lawyers; Hello, Game Designers, Astronauts

Students will have the opportunity to hear a diverse group of speakers at Palo Alto High School this March, during 'career month.'

Paly students may step out of their high school bubble to think about the real world for at least a few hours over the coming weeks when they hear a diverse group professionals speak during “career month."

The speakers span 20 different careers, from a game designer to a plastic surgeon, NASA astronaut, stem cell researcher and fashion designer.

It's all part of the program "Excellence: Finding Passion in Work and Life," a project started three years ago by Christina Owen, who is in charge of the volunteer and career center at Palo Alto High School. Owen formed a committee with other parent volunteers who have been essential in obtaining the varied speakers by using their friend-friend connections. The committee has organized professionals to speak every day at lunch for the first two weeks of March.

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“Students in high school face tremendous pressure to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives," Owen said. "This is a way for them to gather more information from experienced people who have made that trek, to empower students to create their own unique career.”

One goal of the project is to organize a diverse line-up of speakers, emphasizing the idea to students that there are numerous career paths they can pursue. The speakers vary considerably in educational experience; some went to college and graduate school, while others went straight into their careers.

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“There are speakers who faced incredible challenges in establishing their careers, and others who discovered early on what they wanted to pursue,” Owens said. “Each speaker has found a successful path, but they are all very different. Some found their careers through serendipity and being in the right place, others through years of hard work and planning.”

Owens initiated the project more than two years ago by surveying students to find out what careers they were interested in. She used the data to find speakers from these careers. The committee went to great length to recruit some of the speakers who are prominent in our community, such as Emmet Carson, the executive director of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

“We had to go through the proper channels and invite him early in the process,” Owens said. “We are so excited and lucky to have him that he is the only one speaking on Monday, March 7th.” Carson will speak at the Haymarket Theater, while most other professionals will speak in the ERC, a smaller auditorium.

Paly students say they're are excited for this event and the opportunity to discover different careers.

“High school seniors really don't know what they want to do in life—I sure don't,” said Gadi Cohen, a Paly senior. “I think that it's so important for us to be exposed to different careers so that we could start forming ideas of what we want to do with our lives."

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