On Wednesday, May 28, juniors were given the opportunity to participate in the Job Shadow Program.  Though all juniors could fill out an application, the guidance department could only offer shadowing spots to the first 50 applicants .  The program, which offers students the opportunity to shadow someone who works in the potential profession of their choice, gives students exposure to a particular career.

“Job Shadow is an opportunity for students who have interests in certain careers or jobs that want to see what a day in the life is like,” Thomas Brown, one of the guidance counselors in charge of job shadow, said.

Through job shadow, students have worked in fashion, marketing, engineering, marine biology, theater, nonprofits, and even the medical and law fields.

This year, Claire Sampson ’15 shadowed Dr. Karol at Internal Medicine Associates of Westport.

“I got to go into the exam room and watch Dr. Karol meet with her patients, along with ask specific questions in order to diagnose,” said Sampson.

Though Sampson is not sure if a medical career is in her future, she believes that her day spent shadowing Dr. Karol was valuable nonetheless.

Another student, Amelia Tavernisi ’15, shadowed the architects at Lathrop Architects where she watched them discuss different aspects of the design of a house.  During her day job shadowing, Tavernisi discovered that architecture isn’t the way she always saw it depicted on television or in the media.

“It’s not the stereotypical blue paper designing,” said Tavernisi.  “It is all on the computer.”

Through the job shadow program, Tavernisi had the opportunity to both discover more about a job she found interesting and to gain invaluable insight into a possible future career.

Brown summarized the quality of the experience for the participants.

“Instead of talking to somebody about it or reading about it on the Internet, they can actually see what that person does on a day to day basis and get a real inside look,” said Brown.