A local school held its annual Career on Wheels Day last Friday, giving its students a look into the careers of the area’s professionals.

Eastern Elementary has been hosting the event for the past 10 years, said Elizabeth Picone, the school’s guidance counselor and event co-chair. The students were visited by professionals from Beaufort County and given an inside look at the tasks and responsibilities they uphold daily.

“COW Day is a great way for kids of our age group to be introduced to different careers in the community,” Picone said.

Held inside and outside, the school welcomed several local professionals to give students an idea of what different people do in different professions, Picone said. Among the visitors were a cake decorator, who talked about how to bake and decorate cakes; an instructor from Beaufort County Community College’s Truck Driving Program, which showed an 18-wheeler to students; an investigator with the Beaufort County Crime Scene Unit that showed the students the importance of forensics to solve criminal investigations; an electrical crew with the City of Washington Electrical Department; the N.C. Department of Transportation which brought a dump truck; a woman who makes pottery, who brought her pottery wheel to show students the process of using clay to mold into pottery; and several others.

Picone said the event is part of the school’s guidance curriculum, which involves character education. The event receives a lot of support and donations from community volunteers and is themed around careers that require some sort of wheel, whether it is wheels of a vehicle like the Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS fire truck or the pottery wheel of Carolyn Sleeper.

“The commonality between all the careers is a wheel,” Picone said. “When you have young kids like this, to have a lawyer come in and speak, they’re not going to get it. [The event] gives them an idea of what kind of careers are out there in the community, and it’s just a great way to get all the kids interested or involved because of the wheel aspect.”