In an exciting day filled with career education, second graders from Edgewood Elementary School visited Ohio Hi-Point Career Center in Bellefontaine on Wednesday, March 20.
The second graders spent three hours on campus being doctors, trainers, veterinary technicians, police officers, and teachers. Students were broken into small groups and rotated between six career pathways. The students learned about healthcare careers as they used teddy bear doctor kits in OHP’s Health Careers Academy program to treat their "patient," learned about body movements in Exercise Science, checked out a cruiser with the Criminal Justice students, interacted with a variety of animals in the Animal Science program, read "We are a Family" and made friendship bracelets in Education Academy, and enjoyed some yummy tacos from the Culinary Arts students in The Sloan Kitchen.
"We asked the second graders on a scale of 1-10 what they would rank the day, and they said 1,000,” said Angie Walls, OHP’s Education Academy instructor. “We'll take that as a good sign." Walls and her Education Academy students helped spearhead the program for the Edgewood Elementary students. Within the Education Academy, students prepare to become future educators, teachers, and coaches.
The career exploration program was made possible through career awareness grant funding. These funds covered transportation for the Marysville students to and from Ohio Hi-Point’s campus, as well as supplies for the day and take-home materials, such as the teddy bear doctor kits.
Throughout the school year, Ohio Hi-Point has partnered with several other school districts to provide career learning, including building candy dispenser kits, learning how to take blood pressures, designing and printing their own stickers, practicing braiding skills and nail painting, programming robots, and more.
"This was a natural fit for us," said Walls. "We believe it's important to highlight different career fields and pathways at an early age. My Education Academy students are able to work collaboratively with other OHP students in different program labs to create and design lessons, and then my students adjust the activities to fit the grade level they are teaching, and then deliver those lessons to the partner school students."
She also said the collaboration with the school districts they work with has been incredibly important. “All the schools we’ve worked with have been great; I appreciate their support as we coordinate these activities. We are a resource for our community, and we’re happy to be able to deliver fun and educational experiences to younger students.”
For more information about Ohio Hi-Point's programs or the career exploration initiative, please visit www.ohiohipoint.com/exploration.