CHOCOWINITY — Southside High School students had the opportunity to explore different career paths on Monday as part of the school’s first Career Day.

About 25-30 businesses agreed to come in and set up table displays, describing what their businesses do and how to pursue a career in those fields.

Business representatives came from across Beaufort County, as well as from surrounding areas, including Martin and Pitt counties, according to Heather Nelson, Southside’s college liaison.

“All of us planned from the beginning of the year based on student need and we determined that the 10^th graders and 11^th graders would most benefit, and we looked at the career interests of the students and matched up (businesses to participate),” said Southside High counselor Megan Jernigan.

She said students were prepped for the event during the previous Friday’s advisory period in their homerooms by discussing how to dress, give a firm handshake and utilize good communication skills.

Organizers felt that this particular age group would benefit the most from Career Day, as they are old enough to start thinking about the future after high school but not yet to the point of having made a solid decision about that time, said Victoria Hamill, career development facilitator at Southside High.

School counselor Cristina Zuberbier added that they didn’t include seniors in the event, as most of the time, they already have an idea of what they want to accomplish after graduation.

Hamill said the high school has a system called career clusters, which are occupation categories that are further divided into career pathways of courses and training to prepare students for a particular field.

Among some of the career clusters are information technology, agriculture, tourism and hospitality and business, she said.

The Career Day helped to continue Southside’s emphasis on career goals and expose students to the possibilities outside of the known.

“They just really realize all of the different jobs that are out there,” she said. “We also pointed out to them as we went through that nontraditional roles (i.e., a male nurse) are something that hasn’t been pushed a lot, but now we’re looking more and more to the future.”

Jernigan said the school hopes to continue Career Day in years to come.

“A lot of them (students) don’t have the opportunities to speak with businesses,” she said. “We plan to do it every year. … We hope it will grow each year.”

Nelson added that it was a good event for everyone, as the business representatives enjoyed coming out to the school and students were able to get something out of it.

“I had several students tell me that it was actually beneficial,” she said.

Hamill said the school is grateful to the businesses that were willing to come help with Career Day, and they hope to invite even more to come next year.