Byck Elementary hosts kid-centric career day

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - At the beginning of the school year, Byck’s counselor asked fifth graders, “What do you want to be when you get older?”

Their answers decided the various business professionals brought in for career day.

From nail technicians to realtors and music producers to cosmetologists, Byck Elementary’s career day connected students with their passions.

The school partnered with Global Game Changers, a local non-profit organization that teaches kids their talents and shows them how they can make a difference.

The non-profit teaches students their heart plus talent is their superpower. The career day showed students how their superpower translates into the job market.

“When I get older, I want to be a pediatrician, an author, or a teacher,” Fifth Grader Danya Landrum said. “I like to write in my spare time. I want to be a teacher or a pediatrician because I have younger siblings and I’ve learned how to take care of kids.”

More than 20 African American professionals attended Byck Elementary’s career day.

A majority of the students are African American. School leaders said bringing in professionals who share the same ethnic identity helps students see themselves in the industries they aspire to be in.

“The thing I strive to do is to give kids visions of what they can be with people who look like them who are already there,” Byck Elementary Counselor Letisha Broadus said. “Being able to bring those professionals in and to speak to them and say this how I made it, and you can do the same, is important for students.”

Teachers inspire students to see what their futures can be. Career day shows students their dreams can be a reality.

The event showed one Byck teacher that one of her former student’s dreams did come true.

”This morning when I went outside with the first graders, it was so exciting just to see the kids engaging with the firefighters and EMS team we had,” Byck Elementary Staff Developer Sarah Yost said. “Then one of the firefighters said ‘Mrs. Yost!’ I turned and it was one of the former students all grown up and being great.”

This is the second kid-centric career day Byck Elementary has hosted.

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