MBE Career Spotlight Series highlights interesting jobs

The career spotlight series at Mountain Brook Elementary is off to another great year.

The series was started by MBE school counselor Anna Carlisle and is supported this year by PTO members Erin Teague, Kaira Catenacci and Hill Weathers. It is designed to expose MBE students in fourth through sixth grades to new and interesting careers.

Because children can have limited ideas of the careers that may be available to them in the future, the goal of the series is to expand their horizons and inform them about the educational and professional paths the featured speakers took to achieve their career goals.

Over the past few years, MBE career spotlight speakers have included U.S. Congresswoman Martha Roby; award-winning chef Chris Hastings; former NFL player, current football analyst and sports show host Greg McElroy; NASA engineer Steve Creech; and Director and CEO of Birmingham Museum of Art Graham Boettcher.

Paula Branch, a sixth-grade student, said that she appreciates that the speakers “take time off their jobs to come tell us really cool things about their jobs.”

This year’s series kicked off in September with remarks from Chris Cooper of Boyd Brothers Transportation, who also brought in a company truck for the students to walk through and experience. Speakers for the series are asked to explain the impact their careers make on society, and Cooper discussed the importance of truck drivers to the local delivery of products and the economy.

In October, Princeton Baptist Medical Center CEO Mike Neuendorf spoke to the students about his career in hospital administration, as well as his military experience. Other speakers lined up for this year include U.S. District Judge Annemarie Axon and an FBI agent.

Sixth-grade student Luke Catenacci said that it was interesting “hearing all the stories [the speakers] have about their days at work.”

MBE hopes that this series will encourage students to consider new careers and motivate them to continue on a path to achieve those goals.

Submitted by Carla Ward.