MOUNT VERNON — More than 200 individuals turned out Thursday evening for Family Career Night at Twin Oak Elementary. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles joined the students in visiting a variety of career “stations” — displays and tools of the trade set up to inform folks about the particular occupation.
The exhibits included a dietitian, a dentist, a window maker, an engineer and a baton instructor. A Realtor, banker, photographer nursery owner, veterinarian and mechanic were also among the presenters. Outside stations featured the big equipment which easily captured the students’ attention. Among them were an ambulance, a tractor, a bucket truck from American Electric Power, a concrete finisher, a wrecker, a cable installation vehicle, and a septic tank cleaner truck.
Indoors, third-grader Natalle Plank was intrigued by the interactive display manned by the Knox County Map Department. She said she liked it because “it was really cool to see our house when you’re not even there and you could see it from high above.”
Dressmaker Dorthy Hughes was one of the exhibitors at career night. Included in her display were a wedding dress, other clothing items, and, of course, a sewing machine. She said she volunteered to participate in the event because she likes children and because dressmaking is a lost art.
“I am busy all the time,” she said, “because people can’t find others who sew or do alterations. I learned this from my mother and grandmother, and I wanted to share my talent with the younger generation.”
The event, which included a hot dog supper and door prizes, was partially funded through a grant from the Community Mental Health and Recovery Board of Knox and Licking Counties and was coordinated by the school’s guidance counselor, Rita Ball.
“The goal,” Ball said, “was to let students know that working is a good thing to do, and that they can plan to grow up and earn money for themselves and their families to buy the things that they need and want.”
An ancillary goal was to give families the opportunity to do something together.
The school’s PTO helped with the event and took the opportunity to sponsor a cakewalk and other fundraising activities to raise money for swings for the playground.
