Career Day 2020

Students connect virtually with airman, scientist
Posted on 10/21/2020
Amiah Berry

Students across campus had individual experiences this month learning firsthand about different career fields, with the use of virtual technology.

Kindergartners were fortunate enough to link up with a former Kinder Mule now serving the U.S. Air Force, while Middle School SINGS students were able to connect with a scientist studying fish in Canada.

During Career Day on Friday, Oct. 9, at the Kindergarten Center, students Matthew Feltz and Preston Johnson came to school dressed as soldiers, which prompted paraprofessional Pilar Hopper to make arrangements to FaceTime her daughter Amiah Berry of the PBHS Class of 2019, who completed her Basic Military Training over the summer.

“…I told the boys they had a surprise phone call from my daughter, a real soldier, and they smiled really big and I took them out in the hall so they could talk,” Hopper recalled. “She asked them if they wanted to be soldiers when they grow up and they both said, ‘Yes.’”

Berry proceeded to teach the kindergartners how to properly salute, as well as make a war face. The Poplar Bluff alumna is currently attending technical school at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, and will be stationed at Fort Sam Houston in Texas at the end of the year.

Earlier in the week, a group of Middle School students participated in a video chat with Hannah Harrison, a scientist who is working toward her doctoral degree in Guelph, Canada after serving in the Peace Corps for three years. Harrison grew up in Alaska.

“She mainly studies salmon and she spoke to the students about how she studies the salmon, working in fisheries and on fishing boats, as well as her work experience in the Peace Corps,” explained Krista Yarbro, teacher over the gifted program.

Yarbro linked up with the scientist via Skype a Scientist, an online database. Rather than selecting a specific field of study, she said she chose “any scientist” in order to expedite the pairing process. She plans to connect her class with another scientist through the program in the near future.

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Cutline: Amiah Berry of the U.S. Air Force teaches kindergartens how to salute on Career Day. (Note: She is strictly wearing her hat indoors to display her uniform for the students).

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