About 500 elementary and middle school students from the Socorro Independent School District took charge of their futures at the 11th annual Career Awareness Showcase at Pebble Hills High School on Sept. 20, highlighting the importance of exploring career options and preparing for their future paths.
Fourth- to eighth-grade students met with representatives from leading businesses and industry partners, who shared insights into the training and education required for various careers, helping them gain a better understanding of what those jobs entail. They also explored valuable future career opportunities through Socorro ISD’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and academic academies, setting the stage for a successful future.
Among the participants was Makaio Waldo, an eighth grader at Col. John O. Ensor Middle School, who is interested in becoming a pharmacist. Waldo and his parents attended a presentation on the pharmacy technician program at Socorro High School’s Health Professions Academy.
This year’s showcase featured five alumni from the pharmacy tech program who are now first-year pharmacy students at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Sebastian Estorga, who began the UTEP pharmacy program in August, spoke about his experience in Socorro’s pharmacy program, hoping to inspire future pharmacists like Waldo to pursue their dreams.
“I want to let these kids know the opportunities that are in pharmacy, the different types of, you know, people that are in them. It's a very diverse group from all backgrounds. And I want to give them an opportunity to see, like, that anybody can do it,” Estorga said.
Like Estorga, Waldo said he wanted to enter the healthcare industry to help people.
“I went into the presentation because I think it's just the right field for me, and I believe I can help people,” Waldo said. He said the presentation reaffirmed his career choice.
“It's really reassuring to me that they're showing us and that they care and that they're taking the steps into nurturing us into becoming better people for jobs like pharmacists,” Waldo said.
SISD offers 14 state-recognized and 16 nationally identified career clusters with 43 specialized instruction pathways. All six comprehensive high schools provide early college high school programs, advanced academic academies and Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools (P-TECH). Eighth graders can apply for these programs and Mission Early College High School starting on Oct. 1.
SISD CTE Director Dr. George Thomas said that the showcase provided an excellent opportunity for students, especially eighth graders, to explore the various career options available as they prepare to select their endorsements for high school.
“Kids just like adults, they change their minds. It's almost daily,” Thomas said. “The more exposure they get, the more information they can discern between the different careers that are available, the better chances they'll have of choosing something that may best support them.”
Karla Iscapa believes it is beneficial for her sixth-grade daughter at Montwood Middle School to start exploring her future career options now, whether she aspires to be an artist, lawyer or computer scientist.
“As parents, we want to make sure that they're not only going to school to just take the classes for the now, but we also want them to think about the future, about how having good grades from now on is really going to affect their opportunities for scholarships, whatever classes they decide, how it could open up doors for them,” Iscapa said. “I think it's really important that the district starts putting them in this pathway early on.”
Iscapa’s daughter, Kamila Hernandez, said she was unsure about her career path, but she was interested in both art and engineering.
“I came to explore and see what I could do when I'm older because I still don't really know,” Hernandez said. “I think I'll walk out of here being more confident.”