Nova students introduced to world of work over week

LISA PEMBERTON

About 35 Nova students reported to work last week as part of the Olympia independent school’s annual World of Work program.

Throughout the week, students spent about six hours observing — and in some cases participating in — professions of their choice. They also interviewed workers and kept journals. The students are slated to give presentations about their experiences at an event for parents and students at the middle school.

“It’s a way for us to help the kids learn how to reach out to people in the community, because the kids have to make the (business) contacts themselves,” said Nova teacher Eric Fleming. “We also want them to get a better understanding of what it’s like in the working world.”

World of Work is a decade-long tradition at the academically rigorous middle school, and is part of its eighth-grade seminar course.

Participating workplaces included MerchantOS, Bonjour Cupcakes, the Department of Fish & Wildlife, Harlequin Productions, among others.

“I would say the majority of the kids have placements that are in fields that they’re interested in perhaps pursuing as a career,” Fleming said.

Students who job-shadowed employees at the Department of Fish & Wildlife spent a large part of their time in the agency’s science labs.

“They saw the dissection and they were actually able to participate a little bit,” said Science Division manager Erik Neatherlin. “They really liked that.”

At Olympia software developing company MerchantOS, students worked together to write code and build a Web page. They also met with the firm’s designer and programmer, and interviewed its co-founder Justin Laing.

The students said they were impressed with the amount of information they were able to soak up in a couple of afternoons.

“I never really knew what the job was like, or what you would do during an actual day,” said Ben Wilcox, 13.

“They’ve showed me how a company like this functions,” added his classmate John Rosen, 13.

Lisa Pemberton: 360-754-5433 lpemberton@theolympian.com www.theolympian.com/edblog @Lisa_Pemberton