While the second semester is an exciting time for seniors, 75 of them have the opportunity to go out into the real world to build their job experience and resume.

  Career Opportunities on Location Week is an opportunity for students to get an idea of what it’s like in the current job field.

  “Seniors get a chance to test out different career fields and decide whether or not it is something they want to pursue in the future,” College and Career Coordinator Christina Wallace said. “Some students go all through school and say, ‘I’m going to be a teacher when I grow up. It’s going to be awesome.’ And then they go through college and get into their internship and say, ‘Oh, this is not awesome.’”

  Wallace said that’s why it is just as important for students to find out what kind of jobs they don’t want to do, as it is for them to find out what positions they want to do.

  “We have many students who go out to COOL Week and come back like, ‘Yes, that was  awesome, and it confirms everything I want to do with my life.’ But there are others who say, ‘You know what? I learned I want to do something else for a career.’”

  As there are many career fields to pursue, students involved must choose one path to study for the week. The goal is for them to learn necessary skills and get a feel for their chosen work environment.

  “We have a broad range of jobs,” Wallace said. “I work off of a spreadsheet that is about 500 lines long. We have everything from medical, to film, to political science, to hospitality, engineering, aerospace, photography, real estate, marine biology and anything you can think of.”

  Wallace said that while students learn content knowledge, they also learn what employability skills are necessary for their chosen profession. She said seniors also learn soft skills like the ability to work well on a team, communication and other traits they may not learn in college.

  “It’s a well rounded experience,” Wallace said. “Every year I have kids that, at the end of COOL Week say ‘I just want to keep working. I don’t want to go back to school, I want to keep doing this.’ They enjoy working on teams and on projects, and they learn a wide variety of skills.”

  Any student who participates in COOL Week must have training the last week of January, and anyone who is waitlisted, still has a chance to get in.

  “We’re still getting new businesses who want to participate in COOL Week, and some are saying, ‘We want 10 kids,’” Wallace said. “Regardless if somebody’s waitlisted, like if numbers one through 75 didn’t request that type of job, but number 76 did, and wants that type of position, they are in.”