Some kids want to be ballerinas, race car drivers or firefighters when they grow up. If you ask a high school student where they see themself after college there is a chance they have a specific career path in mind or they might have no clue what they want to do with their life.

The Sophomore Career Symposium, a chance for students to get a glimpse of some career choices in various fields, was held in the Keating Theater during first, second, third, fourth and sixth periods Friday, April 14. Students could choose to attend one or two of the five sessions: Science and Technology, Arts and Communications, Health Services, Human Services and Business, Management and Technology.

While some students may have attended the Symposium in order to miss class, it was intended “for all interested sophomores” to “[explore] areas of business, science, engineering, arts, education, technology and everything in between,” according to the KHS website. Various speakers from each career field came and discussed aspects of their jobs and answered any questions students had. TKC spoke with Cindy Coronado, Coldwell Banker realtor and KHS counselor, Brittany Lomax, litigation lawyer, Erica Trimmer, doctor and Brian Spath, operational supervisor for Cinema St. Louis, about their careers.

Cindy Coronado –  Coldwell Banker Realtor and KHS counselor

“I didn’t know [my job as a realtor] was going to become as big as it was. I thought I was just going to do [it] as a little part-time gig for some extra spending and vacation money, but it snowballed to be full time. But I love [that job] as much as I love being [a counselor at KHS] with kids everyday. I’m fortunate to be able to do both. [One piece of advice to students is to] keep an open mind; explore all possibilities. If you have a passion area, follow it. If you think education sounds like something you want to do then go to summer camps and ask to volunteer, or see if a school needs you to come in after school hours to do some [work] or shadow teachers. Explore, because you don’t know until you try.”

Brittany Lomax – Litigation lawyer

“A case can be hard because of long hours, especially if it’s around the clock and you have to be on top of it, or when you can’t come up with a good legal argument to try to win your case. One case that I have now is unfortunate because a big ship blew up in the middle of the ocean and some people died on it, so that’s why we’re in it. It’s interesting to deal with a lot of different things I normally wouldn’t deal with. We’re talking about ocean carriers and ocean laws and I think that’s the most interesting case I have right now.”

Erica Timmer – Doctor

“The best part of my job is prevention of disease. I do surveillance on someone coming into our hospital with TB, influenza, some type of unknown wound that’s draining some unknown bacteria source. I get to go [to] the lab with the infectious disease physicians and actually see where this patient [acquired] the disease. I get to do all those little pieces of outbreak surveillance. If the patient comes in from another hospital, had been out of town or is a visitor, I get to trace back their steps and follow up with a long line of procedures to see how this patient became ill and what is the best course of treatment.”

Brian Spath – Operational supervisor, Cinema St. Louis

“It’s nice to give kids an idea of what sorts of careers are out there and available. When I was younger I wasn’t really sure what was there for me in regards of career. I wasn’t very forward thinking. I was living in the moment and content with that. But going to school, getting an education and realizing the importance of having a plan and giving yourself an opportunity to learn and grow is really crucial to discovering what you want to do.”