It has not been a normal year for high school students throughout the country.
In a time where COVID-19 has kept everyone at home for classes, other rituals of the high school experience have not adapted to the online world. Field trips don’t exist, college visits have been canceled and homecoming dances have been scrapped.
Marcela Lovo, an AP Spanish teacher from Wheaton High School in Montgomery County, Maryland, wanted to bring a bit of normalcy to her students while practicing their Spanish-speaking skills.
She reformatted an annual career day she hosts every year to a digital event, bringing professionals to her virtual classroom to discuss their careers.
“This is the time for them to start thinking about college or their future,” Lovo said. “I think that this is the perfect time to bring these people in so the kids can start doing some research for their college or scholarship applications.”
During in-person learning, Lovo invites several professionals to speak to students in small groups and answer their questions in Spanish only. To fit it in the digital space, the reformatted event was divided into two class periods with students giving a panel of career professionals questions in a town hall format during their zoom class.
Speaking Spanish was the only rule that transferred over to the new virtual setting.
“Even though we are virtual, I think my students need that extra push from people who are not their teacher,” Lovo said. “I can encourage them all I want and maybe be successful, but I want them to see people just like them. People who also speak Spanish, and have faced obstacles in life, who they can relate to.”
Between the two classes, 11 different professions were represented, featuring an array of educational backgrounds and upbringings. It includes accounting, logistics, medical, communications and real estate.
Jenifer Rivera, an esthetician from College Park, did not go a college or university. Instead, she elected to go an esthetics school in Reston, Virginia, before returning to start her own business. Despite small insecurities in her Spanish, she decided to participate in the career fair.
“It was great,” Rivera said. “I love how engaged the kids were. If anything, I was kind of shocked of how engaged they were and willing to ask great questions. I loved it.”
The invited professionals told stories of adversity and hard work to achieve their goals in their profession. Irma Franco, a pharmacy safety officer for Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, spoke on the challenges of being a Latina working in the medical field and the discrimination that she faced in her first set of jobs.
Her words gained the attention of 11th grader Beatriz Vasquez Lopez, who wants to study medicine after high school. She said she’s received some pushback as a Latina aspiring to get into the medical field as well.
But after hearing Franco’s words and the advice of the other professionals, Lopez said she’s properly motivated now to fight for her dream career.
“Now I have this inspiration and this drive and motivation to go,” Lopez said. “I know it is going to take a while to get there, but I’ll do anything it takes to get my career.
There were some things that did not translate well virtually. Melina Anderson, a 10th grader, said that while the digital format did not take away from the opportunity of meeting people, having a physical event allows students to be more observant.
“By being virtual, it does restrict in certain areas like being able to show us stuff that you do in a job or body language,” Anderson said. “It is different.”
The feedback is important, Lovo said, as she plans to do career day again but in-person next year. Yet, the virtual event provided the most engagement in her two classes this school year, with more students speaking on camera than usual.
“If next year we cannot do it in person, I’ll do it again in virtually,” Lovo said. “Just knowing how much it will benefit my students.”
