Fourth-grader Sonni Montes decided what he was going to be when he grew up — and all it took was five minutes of conversation with Franklin Park firefighter Bill Brehm.
“We get to cut holes in the roof, break windows sometimes,” explained Battalion Chief Brehm to three students during Career Day on April 10 at Pietrini Elementary School.
Montes was sold.
“That’s what I want to do,” Montes said. “They said they get to break a lot of stuff and save people. I like breaking stuff and helping people.”
On the opposite side of the gym, fifth-grader Jennifer Herrera appreciated the work of a chiropractor.
“I think it’s cool,” said Herrera said. “They help people who can’t feel their legs and help them with bones and muscles.”
Herrera, however, has another career in mind.
“I’d rather be a dog trainer,” she said. “I love animals. Dogs, cats, birds, turtle and hamsters.”
While exposing 9- to 11-year-olds to professions might seem a bit early, teacher and co-organizer Melissa Peterson said such exposure fits in with the new Common Core teaching standards and its accompanying test, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.
“With Common Core, now the bar has been set higher,” Peterson said. “We don’t want them to wait until high school. We want them to make connections in school and maybe understand the level at which we’re requiring them to work.”
About 80 fourth- and fifth-graders moved among 27 tables set around the periphery of the gym talking either to professionals or Leyden high school students representing various professions. Those included veterinarian, dentist, real estate agent, small business owner, banker, lawyer, hotel manager and pharmacist.
Franklin Park Village President Barrett Pedersen was amused by a question from one student.
“One student asked, ‘Are you the actual real mayor?'” said Pedersen, laughing.