As the graduation date approaches, seniors are in a frenzy trying to figure out their future. For those going to college, we must pick a career path to follow for the next four years while others are going straight into their trade. 

     Picking what career path you want to take can be quite difficult when you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. However, Leander Independent School District seniors don’t have to worry about going in blind. LISD offers Career Opportunities On Location, otherwise known as COOL Week to all graduating seniors. 

     COOL Week provides the opportunity to spend time on-site in the industry where they have an interest in pursuing a career. This allows students to try out careers before they enter post-secondary education and training.

     This year COOL Week was spread out through two weeks Feb. 28-March 6. I had the opportunity to participate during the first week, at Hill Country News. However, my experience was a little different than everybody else’s. Instead of staying onsite all week, we went around to visit everyone else during their COOL Week to interview them for a story that we wrote at the end of our internship.

     Me and my team of students from the other LISD schools were given the freedom to choose whoever we wanted to interview for our article. We interviewed students at Jonestown Police Department, Kendra Scott, Zynga Gaming Company, The Bob Bullock Museum, The Blanton Museum of Art, Leander Fire Department and Leander Middle School.    

     Throughout the week I learned so many things about journalism that I had never known. I’ve always been taught to follow every journalism rule there is, but our site coordinator taught me that it’s great to know these rules, so then you know when, why and how to break them to make your story better. 

     This week also taught me that I may not want to write for a newspaper after I graduate college. Although I enjoyed it a lot, interviewing students at all of these bigger companies made me want to strive to work for a bigger corporation, rather than a local newspaper.