Lights, lifts and sirens couldn’t hold a candle to a couple of logs at Eastern Elementary School’s Careers on Wheels day.
Careers On Wheels is a half-day event where community volunteers are invited to introduce the entire student body (more than 700 students) to different careers that involve wheels.
Students enjoyed going to each station learning about the careers and the importance of education in their futures.
Kindergarten teacher Jennifer Walker said students hooted and hollered at the Jenkins Logging presentation.
“The kids are always the most excited about the Jenkins log truck,” said Walker. “He does a wonderful job with them. He is jumping all over the place and makes the kids laugh.”
The presentation pitted boys against girls. The students tested their strength by trying to move a log. Only the girls’ log had wheels that made their task a breeze.
“The girls pulled that log, and the boys were just flabbergasted,” Walker said. “He also incorporates a lesson about their future and how they can do anything.”
Friday’s event continued a school tradition. The school has held a COW day each year for about 10 years. The day is usually a part of the school’s core standards on safety.
This year’s COW day was postponed because of poor weather. That meant teachers had to scramble to replace a few volunteers originally scheduled to speak.
Some of the community partners who attended included Coca-Cola, Washington Electrical, Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS Department, Jenkins Logging, N.C. Highway Patrol, Washington Police Department, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, Beaufort County Community College, Red Cross, N.C. Department of Transportation, Suddenlink, Beaufort Area Transit System and WITN-TV’s weather section.
“Special thanks to Frank’s Pizza, Lois Hoot and EES PTA for their support,” Walker said. “We had about three to four people that could not come. It was a big effort to fill the spots.”
Walker measured the success of the day by more than the logging presentation. She said students returned to their classrooms with dreams of being firefighters and driving the vehicles they saw at the event.
“It’s for the kids. Even if you can’t go to a station, just walking by the fire truck and having a fireman speak to you has a profound effect,” Walker said. “It makes their entire world.”
Walker said the event gets students excited about school and their community.
“And that’s so important for kids this age. Kindergarten and first grade are the building blocks of their education,” she said. “When they can see what these jobs do and set goals for themselves, then they want to do better and work harder in school.”