Around the community, there are many job shadowing opportunities available for students at Hastings High. Job shadowing can benefit students by helping them to decide what career path they want to pursue or broaden their perspective on what life after college would look like.
Jeff Bittfield, one of the counselors at Hastings High, strongly encourages students to take advantage of the Mentoring Works Career Connect program, in which a student is matched with an employer.
“You can only learn so much about a career through learning and researching. It is best to experience it,” Bittfield said.
Aden Ortegren, a senior at Hastings High, job shadowed at Bert’s Pharmacy in hopes of going into the pharmaceutical field. Everyone has a different experience when it comes to job shadowing, but, for the most part, students agree that they walked away from the experience with more knowledge than before.
“I wouldn’t say that I necessarily enjoyed job shadowing because I just went and watched a pharmacist work for a while. However, it was a very positive experience for me because I was able to learn a lot of information about pharmacy and the schooling required to become a pharmacist that I couldn’t have gotten from anywhere else,” Ortegren said.
The range of job shadowing opportunities varies greatly, as another senior, Nick Tulis, had the opportunity to job shadow at “What the Dickens”, a local bakery.
“My favorite part is how independent they allow me to be; somedays I can walk in, I get ready and they give and explain a recipe to me, then I get all of the ingredients and make it. Of course, they are there and look over from time to time but it’s still nice,” Tullis said.
There are very few downsides when it comes to job shadowing, and it can benefit students greatly.
“Honestly I think people should take advantage of what the program offers, you get to choose how often you go what times and if you decide you don’t wanna go one day it’s no harm since it’s your choice to go anyway,” Tullis said.
Job shadowing is a highly regarded experience and can help prepare everyone to take the next steps of their life after high school.“Finding a career that you are interested in and good at is a big decision. We would rather have a student find that out now rather than later in life,” Bittfield said.
