This past Wednesday, November 9, the 116 members of the Monument Mountain’s class of 2025 spent the morning skipping class. There was a school-sanctioned reason for their truancy, however, as 36 local community members representing 11 different professional sectors had arrived to meet the students and share their work stories. The event for sophomores was the first in-person Career Fair the school had undertaken since 2019 and represented, says organizer and Guidance Counselor Sean Flynn, “the first step in reengaging with on-campus programming like this.” They chose the sophomore class for the first step because, “They’re engaged in their academic program, they’re beginning to get more agency over their learning and beginning to maybe pay a little bit more attention to what’s out there.”
The Communications and Performing Arts group, in which I participated alongside freelance storyteller Hannah Van Sickle; Shakespeare & Company actor, director, and fight choreographer Ryan Winkles; and sales and design manager Melissa Hajek, of Tune Street, met over three class periods with 18 sophomores. I’d participated in a similar event at the school in 2019 with the then-freshman class of 2022, who are now out in the world, making their way. In the intervening years, of course, that world has turned upside down, and so has the nature of our conversations, among people of all ages. This was a recurring theme in my debriefs with some of the participating adults after the event.
Executive Director of Greenagers Will Conklin reflected that, “Even this whole ‘career’ thing seems a bit of an antiquated notion.” Conklin was in the Agriculture and Environmental group with Eva Ward, of Ward’s Nursery, and Georgie Godfrey, the Trails Coordinator at Greenagers. What was the gist of the conversation in their group? “I tried to speak more to the day to day, entry level stuff,” said Conklin, “but then I had one fellow ask me about arboriculture, about tree climbing, and what kind of training got me into the field. The more interesting conversations were less about training and more around our life experience, the path that we took. Then there were a lot of them who are just like, ‘I don’t know why I’m here. I just like being outside.’” His group also discussed the personality traits it takes to make it as an arborist, or carpenter, or farmer. It’s about, “being inquisitive, and having an anticipatory nature.”
Monument’s own Adjustment Counselor Pam Morehouse thought her Human Services and Psychology group went very well. “We split them up into small groups. It was an intimate conversation about what we do, and how we got to where to we are. A lot of them were very engaged, with a lot of good questions.”
Longtime educator, counselor, and coach Julie Haagenson, who was in the same group, agreed. “I was impressed at how wide open and thoughtful the students were. It highlighted how important it is to have these sorts of experiences for teens to interact with adults and to share their passions. I found it very inspiring.”
There were several Monument alumni who’d returned to represent their respective fields, including Chris Kinne, VP for Commercial Lending at Lee Bank; Chad Wilson, Auto Technician at Autobahn; Tim Butterworth of the Berkshire Innovation Center, in Engineering and Technology; and Rosario Messina, Stockbridge Police Officer; and West Stockbridge officer Curt Wilton, who just graduated from high school three years ago, in Criminal Justice.
Rich Bradway, Digital Innovation Officer at the Norman Rockwell Museum, in Art and Design, is also a MMRHS alum.
Among the questions raised in our Communications sessions was, “What does freelance mean?” (Consensus answer: It means being your own boss, and taking the morning off for a career fair if you feel like it, but also not having the security of a reliable paycheck every week.)
“What kind of training did you need to do your job?” (Answer: mostly on the job training.)
and,
“What do you think is the most important quality for succeeding in your field [of freelance writing]?” (My one-word answer: “Hustle.”)
The responses of many of our participants reflected the opportunities afforded them in the AV, arts, and drama departments at Monument, and the four of us adults were particularly surprised by the entrepreneurial spirit among a few of our young interlocutors. Chris Paul, for instance, whose stories can often be found on MMTV, the school’s weekly TV show, produced in-house, is also a stone mason, an experimental musician, a baseball player, and a budding director. Another student has a side gig selling shoes. “I’ve got a pair of Yeezy’s [Kanye West’s shoe brand] in my bag,” he said. Rich Bradway was similarly struck by some of the students’ knowledge and initiative. “There were a few kids that must have gotten a pretty good foundation with makerspace stuff at the middle school. They were talking about designing in Blender and AutoCAD and SketchUp and then using that to produce using 3d printers.”
Hannah and I contrasted ourselves with this cohort. “I would have been the 15-year-old with no friggin’ clue,” Hannah said. If someone had asked the 15-year-old me what I wanted to do after high school, I, like one of our sophomores, would have suddenly found the back cover of my notebook very interesting.
Sean Flynn, in his opening remarks to the community volunteers, stressed the fact that no matter how outwardly quiet or inattentive the young people might appear, “They are paying attention. They may be super self-conscious, sitting around with their peers, and they may be afraid to put themselves out there. But you’d be stunned by how much they’re paying attention.” As any adult can attest, you can never tell whose message will land, or what little comment will stick.
My fellow group members remarked in our debrief that the morning felt like a great start, and a stepping stone to build on. Van Sickle said, “I’d be interested in how a convening like today could be carried out in residual ways.” She especially wanted to follow up with the handful of students to whom she’d given her business card, and whom she’d offered to connect with various community members and organizations, like the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative, and the Berkshire International Film Festival. “Creating a network, where we understand and recognize that some kids are going to be really good at advocating for themselves and taking that first step, and other kids are probably never going to do it. How do we help put those resources in front of them, and explore other avenues for being successful?”
Bradway noted that the Norman Rockwell Museum frequently takes in high school age interns. “I will typically have anywhere from one to six people apply for an internship. Sometimes we post them on our website year round.”
Flynn and the guidance team hope to hold a Youth Opportunity Fair this winter, which would be open to all Monument students, to expose them to jobs and internships well in advance of summer vacation. The real value there, as the value of Wednesday morning, is in relationships. “We could have them do a zillion different career surveys, and tons of research online,” he said. “But nothing is going to take the place of hearing people’s stories, and the mentoring dynamic that happens because you’re in these small groups.”
He sees Wednesday morning as a first promising step in the direction of full reengagement. It’s been a long time coming. Twenty percent of these sophomore students’ lifetimes, in fact. But, Flynn said, “We felt like the conditions were in place for pulling this off.”
My group wound up our debrief by referring directly to the elephant in the room, the impacts of the COVID pandemic’s school closures, and enforced social isolation, which did enduring damage to millions of children and youth. “It’s not just them,” Ryan Winkles, of Shakespeare and Company, reminded me. “It’s all of us. Our whole society has gone through a trauma, and now we’re like, ‘Ok, back to business as usual. Let’s go!’”
The benefits of Wednesday morning’s Career Day, on the other hand, might be seen in a much more patient, understanding, and humane light, offering Winkles’ new take on what I’ve always thought of as a transactional word.
“‘Networking’ is just a business term for building community.”
