Looking at possible career paths

Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Eighth-grade students from Teche Area middle schools toured Iberia Parish Career Center on Tuesday for the third annual Career Day, which the Career Center’s Principal Chris Broussard said would give students a glimpse at potential career tracks.

Broussard estimated 400 students from all middle schools in Iberia Parish  walked through the Career Centers’ doors to view demonstrations from the Center’s teachers and instructors.

“We’re trying to get them to where they can make an intuitive decision about what they want to go for,” Broussard said. “We introduce them to different classes we offer … classes, certifications and those kind of things. (Certifications are) not just a piece of paper they look at. They’ll know what the requirements are.”

The Career Center offers two tracks: one for academia and another for career and technical skills, which the middle school students at Career Day saw first hand, albeit sometimes from a distance for safety reasons.

Iberia Parish Career Center Assistant Principal Trina Broussard said most students who leave the center go on a career path as opposed to a four-year college.

“When they come they don’t realize what we offer,” she said. “Once they see an opportunity to take a class, they think, ‘I can do more. Maybe I can have a career in this field because I want to enjoy it,’ or they can want to be a doctor, take CNA (certified nursing assistant classes) and realize they don’t want to be a doctor. It opens their eyes that it might not be what they wanted it to be.”

“The difference between a career and tech diploma (and one for a four-year college) is they will need an industry-based career certification,” she said.

“We have the T2 (certification) and auto tech and auto body ASE (automotive  service excellence certification.) Our guys (are) taking same tests they need at Musson Patout.”

Chris Broussard said students showed more interest this year.

Haliegh Broussard, 13, of Anderson Middle School, said she wants to become a neurosurgeon one day but learned about other career choices with her peers.  

“Welding, it’s not only boys,” she said. “Girls can do it, too. If someone wants to be a teacher they can go into child care.”

Students as young as sophomores can learn welding, carpentry, barbering, heating and air conditioning and sewing. Students can train to be a CNA, a first responder or work within the oil and gas industry as well.

Trina Broussard said the school provides a “hands on experience so they can decide if that’s the career they want.”

“We try to simulate how it would be in each field in the work world, exposing skills  and what’s necessary just to hold a job,” she said. “Even if they don’t become a CNA or a welder, they have the background to be successful at any job.”

“When they leave high school, they are ready to go to work,” Chris Broussard said.