SUDBURY -- Many grade nine classrooms across the north will be close to empty Wednesday, as students step out of school for the day to join the workforce to explore different career options.
It's all part of national Take our Kids to Work Day.
The annual event helps students get a hands-on experience at a trusted adult's place of work and enables them to start thinking about potential careers.
Two female students, Olivia and Valerie, accompanied their parents to the CTV studio in Sudbury this year. They were both given behind-the-scenes tours of all of the departments at the TV station.
Valerie Raymond says it is interesting to see what her mom does all day while she is at school.
"I really love it because I can see behind-the-scenes of what my mother does and it's such a caring environment, everyone is really nice. I got to meet the team and sit at the desk where I watch people tell me the news and it was a great experience! They have all this really cool technology that I really thought never existed because I've never been here. It's such a great experience and I wish more would be open to it because I loved it, it was so much fun," said Raymond.
The Sudbury police service offered a unique experience for several grade nine students.
From checking out a police cruiser to seeing the inside of a jail cell, 19 students went to work with their parents on Wednesday. They got to learn and experience more than just what mom and dad do every day.
Carrie-Lynn Hotson works in the human resources department of the Greater Sudbury Police Service.
"We’ve been participating in what used to be called' job shadow day since' about 2006. As of 2014, we started making more of a more formal day called 'take our kids to work day' and we create a program for our kids to come to work and see what all of us do," says Hotson.
The grade nine students had a full day of presentations from the communications centre, forensics, criminal investigation division and tactical unit.
"I work in human resources. My husband is a road sergeant. My daughter, who’s here today, would only really know those two jobs, so our service has so many other things that we can offer students and we want to show them that if you go to school for different things, that we have careers here for you." said Hotson.
Hannah Weston’s parents both work for the service. She says when it comes to her future career; she’s not quite sure where she will end up.
"I kind of want to be a doctor. I want to be an obstetrician, so I don’t know. I think it was cool to experience this. I might want something to do with this, but maybe not; I don’t know." said Weston.
Weston’s mother, Sergeant Laura Wawryszyn, says "we can’t share a lot of the details of what we do with our kids for confidentiality purposes, however, now that she’s here and is exposed to the different areas and what’s available in the organization; I think it’s an eye opener."
While Hannah might not choose a career in policing, her father Detective Sergeant Bob Weston says the day still provides important life lessons.
"It exposes them and educates them in relation to the roles, the responsibilities, the expectation of today’s workplace, and it also stresses the importance of staying in school and getting an education," said Detective Sergeant Weston.
Police officials say many past participants in Take our Kids to Work Day have gone on to begin a career in the field of policing.
