It is never too early for children to learn about the array of career options in the world, and St. Patrick Catholic School students in Jacksonville had the opportunity to interact with many professionals from various fields during its annual Community Helper Day on Jan. 27.
According to pre-k to third grade lead teacher Ryanne Wilkerson, who helped organize the event, Community Helper Day has been taking place for roughly seven years, and it started just for pre-k students before the entire school was incorporated for the first time last year.
“We want our students to aim for their very highest potential,” principal Chris Meyer said. “For some of them that’s going to be college and beyond and for others it will be pursuing trades. Opportunities like this, especially being able to incorporate our law enforcement and special forces, with us being so close to the base (Florida Air National Guard), are so important.”
This year’s event was also part of St. Patrick’s Catholic Schools Week festivities, which made it even more special.
The day included both a career day component, where students learned about career fields such as law enforcement, first responder, beekeeping, esthetician, and military, and although it was a frigid morning, it did not deter the curiosity and pure joy on the children’s faces.
Fire trucks, police vehicles, JEA bucket trucks, a school bus, and a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office helicopter were all featured as part of the touch-a-truck portion of the day, where students got to climb in and experience in a unique hands-on way.
“So many of the kids are just fascinated and in awe of all the tools, from the vests to the helmets,” helicopter pilot Matthew Dori said. “It’s interesting and fun to watch them take it all in.”
Many community members volunteered their time to make the day a reality for the students, with a couple of the presenters, such as Dori, being parents of St. Patrick students.
“It’s great for the kids to get a chance to see their parents in this role,” Meyer said.
According to Meyer, it is great to imagine that one of the children may choose to go into one of the various careers on hand and they will be able to look back and reminisce about the first time they learned about that career path when they were in grade school on Community Helper Day.
As a way of saying thank you to all those who offered up their time, goody boxes were prepared by students for each volunteer and community helper to take home as a token of appreciation.
This included pre-k students coloring thank you cards that were handed out with the goody boxes, as the entire school had a role in saying thank you for making the day possible.
Photos by Anthony Richards
