Students urged to take risks, make mistakes at District 67 career day

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A Golf Middle School student tries out the camera of Sun-Times Media photojournalist Joel Lerner during the school's career day Jan. 31. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 10, 2012 8:05AM

“The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker” it wasn’t.

Golf School District 67’s first career day garnered a wide variety of guest speakers from entrepreneurs to tradesmen to a couple of local celebrities.

The program grew out of discussions among the district’s partnership-committee members, Superintendent Jamie Reilly said.

The district serves residents of Morton Grove and Niles.

“Career Day is a way to get the community linked in,” Reilly said. “And it’s good for the students to hear about some of the (employment) opportunities out there.

Visiting with students through an online video feed, comedian Chris Williams ended one of his discussions by telling students, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you can’t do something. Get as much knowledge and education about whatever it is you want to do.”

Sarah Kustock, Comcast sports anchor, told a group of students that her job entails using many of the skills they’re learning in school right now.

“The No. 1 skill is writing,” she said of her profession. “Even though I do a lot of speaking, just about everything is written first.”

The second skill is speaking, she said, noting she was terribly shy about public speaking, even in college.

“That made the job challenging,” she said.

Kustock recommended paying attention to academics.

“You need good grades even if you don’t know what you want to do,” she told the students. “With what you’re learning, you never know what you’re going to use. Always being prepared for the unexpected. Be ready for anything. You’ve got to roll with it.”

Kustock also advised not getting overwhelmed by a mistake.

“We all make them,” she said. “The secret is to learn how to make yourself better. Don’t let it weigh too heavily on you.”

And as tempting as it is to do something that comes easy, Kustock suggested working on the weak spots.

She used as an example taking a job covering hockey games even though she know nothing about the sport.

“I took the criticism,” she said of her lack of knowledge showing through in the early broadcasts. “But now I’m comfortable with it.

“It was hard; it was challenging; but sometimes you need to take a risk.”

Student Brandon Nguin, of Morton Grove, said he enjoyed the variety of speakers.

“There was a lawyer, a comedian, a sports anchor,” he said. “There’s a lot of (job) choices out there.”