As a nurse at Central Peninsula Hospital gives a patient their morning medication, Soldotna High School junior Torie Bartolini takes notes.
Bartolini is following the nurse’s daily routine, as part of her school’s inaugural job shadow day.
“I'm hoping to be able to go through hospice and just take care of people," Bartolini said. "I've done that at a relatively younger age. I helped take care of my grandmother for almost six years.”
Bartolini is one of about 80 Soldotna juniors who signed up. They spent their mornings getting firsthand career experience from groups like Central Emergency Services, the Alaska State Troopers, Soldotna Animal Hospital and several others.
“So many of them are just uncertain, they have a hint of what they want to do, but they're really not sure,” said Megan Murphy, head school counselor at Soldotna High School. She’s the brainchild of the new job shadow day, inspired by Kenai Central High School’s long-standing job shadow program.
“Some of them do know, and so I wanted to bring that to reality," Murphy said. "Let's bridge the gap between education and the workplace, and what better way than to partner them with a field they're interested in and they can learn from the person in that business?”
Also, she says job shadowing looks good on a student’s resume.
Murphy says first, she surveyed students about their career interests. From there, the school partnered with the Kenai and Soldotna chambers of commerce to coordinate job shadow opportunities with local businesses.
Many students were interested in mechanical work, but they couldn’t line up partners in that field this year. Maybe next year, Murphy says. But about 20 of the students are considering careers in the medical field. So, they were sent just a few blocks east of the high school to Central Peninsula Hospital.
Some students watched patients get scanned for X-rays, or get put under anesthesia. Others were placed in orthopedics and extended care units.
Janice Villegas, registered nurse and hospital supervisor, says the program helps relieve pressure on students to leave Alaska to pursue their careers.
“I just would like to really impress upon our community what we have in our back door," Villegas said. "I think that's the biggest, biggest takeaway, is that they don't have to go far if they don't want to.”
Bartolini says the job shadow day may also help some of her peers realize what they don’t want to pursue as a career.
“It truly just gives students an outlook in whether or not they actually want to follow through with this career,” Bartolini said.
Soldotna High School students shadowed professionals in their chosen career paths for about four hours.
