Mr. Nick Fulton’s senior Free Enterprise class took numerous individual trips to an array of locations to participate in personalized job shadows in early November.

Students were able to visit places that either were in the field that they were interested in or were related to their interests.

Mr. Fulton, who teaches history and Free Enterprise as Powell High School, said there were 53 students who participated, and he had some help organizing from Mrs. Lora Wells.

“The process starts with the counselors completing an interest inventory,” said Mr. Fulton. “Then, based on this we give students choice on their preferred placement locations.

“After that, Mrs. Wells and myself start to make initial phone calls to introduce the students to supervisors and determine interest in participating. Then students must contact the supervisor prior to job shadow day to finalize placement details. We try to do all of this in about a month.”

Some students visited elementary schools, physical therapy institutions, art studios and hospitals. Among these seniors was Olivia Hobby; she job shadowed under her uncle who is an orthopedic surgeon, employed at Billings Clinic in Montana.

Hobby was able to sit in and observe two surgeries-a knee replacement and a spinal operation.

“I saw a lot of different positions in the O.R. that I didn’t know about and that was really cool,” Hobby said. “I’ve debated going into medicine for a long time and this definitely gave me more career options to look into.”

Hobby said she “definitely” benefited from this opportunity, and Mr. Fulton said the feedback from students generally was upbeat.

“This semester we had very good reports” he said. “ Most of the time, overall, it is a very positive experience for the students. Mrs. Wells is creative with placements, and we always seem to be able to send students to some very interesting locations. I think students like to spend a day learning about careers in a non-traditional school setting.”