Beacon Hill Career Day offers professional insight to teens
Beacon Hill hosted its sixth annual Career Day on Friday, March 14, bringing together a panel of six local businesspeople including Hailey Lautzenheiser, far left, Art Hamsher, Robert Hershberger, Martha Joy Troyer, Chad Wagler and David Miller, all of whom provided insight into employment opportunities and more.
Part of the purpose of any school is preparing children for the future, and recently, a group of local business entrepreneurs came together at Beacon Hill Community School to provide some insight into some of the possibilities awaiting young teens, not only in the future, but even now.
Beacon Hill hosted its sixth annual Career Day on Friday, March 14, bringing together a panel of six local businesspeople who shared their insights and perspectives from their respective jobs with Beacon Hill’s fifth grade through 12th grade students.
The event was created to provide information on some of the job opportunities available to young people on a local level while at the same time encouraging them to follow their dreams and create their own employment strategy should they desire to become a business owner someday.
“It’s grown a lot over the years,” said Joy Zuercher-Pyle, superintendent at Beacon Hill. “Initially, we started bringing in single individuals throughout the year, but we found it was kind of disrupting the schedule, so we started Career Day to bring them all in together as a panel.”
She said it has created an avenue for teens to hear a variety of business leaders talk about work ethic and willingness to learn, job interview etiquette, how they were inspired to develop their work ethic, and many other business attributes.
“I think this gives the kids much more perspective, and they listen to these local business leaders in ways that become more meaningful than simply hearing it in the classroom,” Zuercher-Pyle said.
The panel included Hailey Lautzenheiser, co-director of HR at ProVia; Art Hamsher, retired manager with Dutchman Hospitality; Robert Hershberger, owner of RL Hershberger Construction; Martha Joy Troyer, owner of Wild Fox Café; Chad Wagler, shop supervisor with Mullwoods; and David Miller, owner of Apple Creek Forestry.
Career Day’s objective is to bring in a variety of business leaders from all around the Wayne, Holmes and Tuscarawas areas.
Historically, the event would include a Q-and-A panel, followed by a job fair with 10-20 business booths and mock interviews for the eighth-graders with those business leaders to practice the interview skills they learn in careers class.
However, because the school is still in its infancy stages of both growing its classes to a full K-12 curriculum and its move into the former Mt. Eaton Elementary School building, the school leaders decided to host a smaller, modified version of Career Day that does not have the job fair but still has the Q-and-A panel and the mock interviews.
“We hope to expand back out to include our job fair again next year once we get settled in,” Zuercher-Pyle said.
She said Beacon Hill is currently planning to put up a building on the property to host its home economics and outdoor trades programs, something she said would be a more efficient space for guest presentations, which should optimize what sorts of career events the school can host in the future.
As for the information being doled out by the panel, there was plenty of wisdom flowing as they shared their thoughts on several posed questions.
The panel discussed their first jobs, talking about how opportunities exist all around young people today if they keep their eyes open and work hard.
Troyer said when she was young, she wrote an essay paper on what her dream job would be, and hers was about her restaurant, “Allsgood.” She said even when she dreamed about it, she never thought it would truly happen, but years later she finds herself living out her dream.
“If there’s something you’re passionate about, don’t think it’s not possible because it definitely is,” Troyer said.
In sharing their thoughts about what employers are looking for when it comes to those interviewing for jobs, while looking the part was a trait shared by many, one simple trait continued to shine as the most important.
“When I’m looking for employees, if you’re nervous, that’s fine, but the most important thing is that you need to be willing to learn,” Hershberger said.
Troyer agreed, talking about having a willing spirit and adding there are three Cs she looks at when hiring someone, those being character, competence and capacity to learn.
Lautzenheiser said when they hire, they seek out high-character people rather than solely focusing on ability.
“One of our biggest things we value is integrity,” she said.
Wagler added to that, stating like many other area companies, Mullwoods seeks genuine people who seek to be servant leaders.
Finally, Miller said employment opportunities abound, jobs that are fulfilling and well-paying, whether that is working for someone else or paving your own way in life.
“It’s all out there if you’re willing to work and go after it,” Miller said. “Approach it like, ‘If I don’t make it happen, nobody will.’ Motivate yourself and go for it if you want to live your dream.”