Students at Hancock Middle-Senior High School recently learned about three different career fields they could enter once they graduate.
Hancock students have had numerous opportunities to explore various career paths.
On January 30, students interested in the medical field met with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ralph Salvagno.
The group met with Salvagno after school so those who attend Washington County Technical High School studying health professions could also be part of the conversation.
Salvagno spoke about his decision on going to medical school and then spoke with each student about their career choices, cautioning them to keep their options open.
Following Salvagno’ s talk, Julie Teter from the AHEC, or Maryland Area Health Education Center, spoke to students about a camp offered to those students interested in medical careers.
The camp is called Exploring Careers in Health Occupations, or ECHO, and is a weeklong camp that takes place June 23 through June 27.
At the camp, school students are housed at Frostburg State University and take park in a host of day trips to medical centers and colleges in Allegany and Garrett Counties and Baltimore to learn about various health occupations.
There is a $150 cost for the camp, which covers room and board, as well as all travel expenses.
AHEC is a rural community-based organization that serves Appalachian counties in Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
Health careers weren’t the only career paths students were introduced to at the school.
A day after the medical field talks, on January 31, 10
students from Hancock Middle-Senior High School traveled to Phoenix, Maryland, to tour the Sheffield Institute for the Recording Arts.
There, students learned about three programs offered including audio recording, video recording, and live production.
Students were able to sit in the sound recording studio to watch and listen as a professional sound engineer mixed recordings of some well-known music.
They also met with a video recording artist/instructor who walked them through the video recording process and took some professional headshots for the interested students.
Students were also led through the elements of live production.
“The Sheffield Institute has worked with some very famous recording artists in their studio and their students have worked with some of the most famous recording artists in a host of venues through out the world,” said Career Coach Susan Mott.
On February 3, Mark Garner, the representative for the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, or PIA, visited the high school to talk to graduating seniors about the training program offered at PIA’s branch at Hagerstown Regional Airport.
In the 16-month program, students would graduate with a diploma/certificate in Aviation Maintenance Technology.
The program prepares students for the FAA Airframe and Powerplant Certification Exams.
Interested students took home information on the program to share with their parents, Mott said.