At the end of April, the school hosted their first series of career seminars, featuring experienced professionals, college professors and industry experts.
On April 28, the nursing and healthcare seminar took place.
“The students came for the EMT first response seminar,” Estelle Chen, the school’s college and career readiness counselor, said. “Many of them [are] actually interested in doing medical or nursing later on. They learned [about] EMT, which will open doors for them to pursue nursing or medical fields earlier.”
Students who attend the seminar can derive benefits for future college pathways and careers in their specific fields.
“We learned from the EMT group [the] AMR (American Medical Response), [which] is an organization in San Diego,” Chen said.“They actually provide recommendation letters for our students who complete the EMT [program] because once you have first hand experience dealing with patients, that will accumulate your hours.”
Attending the seminar at school can greatly help with a more seamless transition for students looking to pursue medical school. EMT school is often completed as a bridgeway or job while studying at medical school. If multiple students apply for the same competitive nursing school, the student who attended a career seminar, specifically the one that is hosted at the school, can have a greater advantage of getting accepted, according to Chen.
On May 1, the marketing, business management and economic consulting seminar took place.
“We had a senior executive [at the seminar], who did a finance and business economics major and worked in Wall Street first, and then started his own consulting business,” Chen said. “[He] helped over 50 banks expand their business. Then we had a lady, [a TPHS alumni], and she, like me, went to a multinational company to work first … and then she left her job, and started doing social media during [COVID-19].”
The guest speaker was very successful in digital marketing and social media, according to Chen. Her story and perspective on the business world shows how no one’s career journey is black and white.
“If you continue to work for a multinational company, you never have the opportunity to explore your own strengths on [a contrasting] side [of industries],” Chen said.“You [will] never know [if you] could be a successful entrepreneur. So by [students] hearing this, I think it’s actually helping our students open up their minds. [By] thinking about [other] options, [even] if they never get into the colleges they want, they … may not be completely disappointed.”
These seminars open doors for student’s futures, beyond high school and college. Torrey Pines Business CTE (Career Technical Education) pathway offers “a program of study that involves a multiyear sequence of courses that integrates core academic knowledge with technical and occupational knowledge to provide students with a pathway to postsecondary education and careers,” according to the California Department of Education.
The fire rescue and EMT seminar was hosted on April 30, and on April 29, the engineering and computer science seminar took place.
These courses provide students with a lifetime of information, and attending the career seminars only benefits those who participate.
Chen estimates that next year’s career seminars will take place either before or after AP Exams, so all students have the opportunity to attend.
“I highly recommend that the students sign up next year,” Chen said.
