Fourteen-year-old Pearson McCreary doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up, but he knows that checking out jobs is a good starting point.
The A&M Consolidated High School freshman is one of 55 students between the seventh and 11th grades participating in a job shadowing program over the summer. He's clocking in at two businesses partnering with the College Station school district's Career Connections program: Thorn Music Center and Mitchell & Morgan, LLP.
"I think I'd get out of it what it would be like to work there and whether this is an option in my career," he said. "That's what this process is trying to help us do. I'm figuring it out."
Career Connections Coordinator Kathy Polzer said the program allows students to experience what a professional goes through.
Polzer, a science teacher at A&M Consolidated Middle School, said program leaders sent out applications in February to about 3,000 companies in the area and 30 or so signed on, which is typical for the 15-year-old program.
"Each of our mentors is very valuable, and we appreciate them providing the opportunity," she said.
Students get to view the list of companies and can take advantage of sampling as many as they'd like, Polzer said. Companies provide the times they have available and how many students they can take at a time, she said.
The program clears up misconceptions about what certain jobs entail and helps students make decisions about the future, she said. Students from Bryan and other schools have even participated after hearing about the program, she said.
"We like to have a wide variety of jobs available for students to shadow. Especially in middle school, we find they sign up for lots of opportunities with very different types of occupations," she said. "They're curious, and they're just investigating different careers to find out what suits them best."
Polzer said students are encouraged to be as active as possible while job-shadowing. Depending on the profession, they could be 100 percent active or just have the chance to be an observer.
Companies that signed up this year are from engineering and science industries, health professions, human development, protective services, construction, arts, media, business management, marketing and more.
"Even as young as middle school, they are making decisions about what they want to do in the future," Polzer said.
The program also allows for networking and has in many cases led to companies hiring the students for summer jobs, she said.
"While some students are watching TV and playing video games during the summer, these students are actively involved in their future. They're really making that investment to find out more about their future career," she said. "We really value our mentors. They're sharing their careers and what they do with a student, whether they realize they've made a difference -- it really has a impact."
Polzer said it's less important that a student discovers immediately what they want to do in years to come, and more vital that the program helps students get first-hand information about the workforce.
Josh Thorn, owner and operator of Thorn Music Center, said he agreed to put his company in the program because he's always wanted an opportunity to give back to the community.
"When I was in school, I think it would have been really cool to see the other side of academia," he said.
Thorn said this is his first year to participate and six students are shadowing at his business. Students are shadowing on the sales floor and learning how to manage a business while others are in the repair shop, he said.
Stacia Roberts, 13, who attends A&M Consolidated Middle School, said she's shadowing at Thorn Music Center, at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum and CSISD Extended School Year program for special needs children.
Roberts said it was important for her to plan for what comes after graduation.
"I really don't have anything else to do this summer, that and it gives me stuff to make sure I know what I want to do when I grow up," she said.
College Station police Sgt. Janice Kemp said the department has participated in the program since it started.
Kemp said the department only had one student sign up this year, and officials are letting students watch police interviews and listen to live calls coming into the department. She said she also tries to stress the variety of people living in the community with whom the police department deals.
"You have so many different cultures and people from different countries going to college here," she said. "When I started, I was faced with people who didn't see women in a place of authority."
Kemp said many of the classes in school have ties to the profession -- science in investigating accident scenes and writing for crafting their reports.
"It gives them the opportunity to see what they're doing in school is really preparing for what they may want to do one day," she said.
Krystle Klos, head technician at Kingdom Animal Hospital, said the program helps get out the message about the importance of vaccines, preventive care and spay and neuter for animals.
"We try to drill it into the kids so that when they go home they tell their friends and parents," she said.
The students have the opportunity to follow technicians around and help the doctors, she said. Klos said she tries to show them all aspects of a veterinary clinic, from the kennel workers whose jobs aren't just about cleaning cages to the front desk receptionist who often have to deal with emotional customers.
"Being a vet is dealing with people as well," she said.
The students can't participate in surgeries, but are allowed to watch as the doctors explain the procedures.
Bettye Milborn, Texas A&M University associate director of counseling and a licensed psychologist, said any program to help students discover what they want to do in life is beneficial.
Texas A&M is different than some universities in that a student has to enroll with a declared major, she said.
About 70 to 75 percent of students change their major at least once. Milborn said whether it's Career Connections, volunteering at organizations or taking a summer job at various vocations, it will help students in the long run if they learn how the working world operates.
"Lots of students will chose majors without a really good idea of what's involved in the field," she said. "It's no surprise because, really, our vocational interest and our knowledge about opportunities available to us really don't crystallize until we're about 25 years old."
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