Practical Nursing Instructor Sandra Smith tells the career explorers all about Sowela’s high-fidelity mannequins that are used to give nursing students hands-on, clinical experience. (Emily Burleigh / American Press)

Students of all ages toured Sowela Technical Community College’s campus on Tuesday for the inaugural “Career Exploration Day.”

About 120 participants (parents included) met in the Sycamore Student Center and split into four groups and took a walking tour of the main campus, making stops at five different buildings. Sowela’s nursing, culinary arts, criminal justice, aviation maintenance and vehicle maintenance and repair programs were highlighted during the tour. At each stop, the students got to meet Sowela instructors, who told them about the program and the different careers they could have after graduation.

The walking tour was designed for children aged 5 to 18 years old. Alison Dering, executive director of enrollment management and student affairs, said they centered the tour around programs with hands-on components to appeal to the younger children in attendance. The explorers got to crawl into an N890 Jet, see a fully-functioning professional kitchen, and interact with life-like high-fidelity mannequins used by Sowela’s nursing students.

Studies show that children should be exposed to different career paths in elementary school, so Sowela believes it’s never too early to start looking at career options, she said.

“It’s never too early to start exposing our kids to what’s out there and the types of jobs they could have,” she said. “There could be fields they’ve never even thought of because they just don’t know yet.”

The exploration day opened the students’ eyes to new possibilities. For Jagger Lawson, 11, the criminal justice program sparked his interest.

“It was really cool to see the crime scene that they had,” he said. “I loved it.”

Career Exploration Day was also an opportunity for parents to go on an excursion with their kids before the school year starts, Dering said.

“We also know that it’s summertime, and parents are looking for fun and educational things for their kids to do,” she explained. “We thought, what better event than to showcase some of our hands-on programs so kids can get an idea of what we have to offer.”

It was also a good opportunity for parents to see Sowela’s updated campus.

“A lot of times, the parents don’t realize what we have to offer, if they haven’t been here for quite some time,” she said. “It’s just another opportunity for us to showcase our beautiful campus and our state-of-the-art equipment to the community.”

Spots for the inaugural event filled up quickly. Dering said they were happy to see that the community was just as excited about the event as they were. She hopes the tour will become an annual event.

Students who missed Career Exploration Day (and are closer to graduating age) can schedule a campus tour by sending an email to recruitment@sowela.edu.