Connie wanted to be a journalist someday so she chose Palau Horizon for her Job Shadow day. “I wanted to see how journalists gather information, lay the paper and do the whole printing process,” she said.
The Job Shadow day is part of the vocational program for sophomore students of PHS where they get to see up close how a certain person does his or her work, said Ibuuch Tomoichi, principal of PHS.
Tomoichi added that the students went through interviews with the school counselor to determine their interests and what career they want to pursue in the future.
The partner agencies, both public and private, took in the students and showed them how their industry and a particular work are done.
Police Station, the Fire Department, the Hospital, schools, as well as some auto shops, Palau Community College, Palau Pacific Resort, Palau Royal Resort were some of the agencies that participated in the program.
Tomoichi added that in junior year the students will have another similar activity called Mentoring program where they will spend a week working in a company with a certain person. And during senior year, they will have their career practicum.
“One of our goals is to prepare students to get entry level positions once they get to finish high school,” said Principal Tomoichi. “If they decide that they want to stay in Palau for a while before they go abroad to pursue college, at least they have the skills.”
Connie said she thought the whole process in putting up a newspaper was complicated. “But it was not,” she said. “I enjoyed it. I’ll probably be back here for the mentoring program next year.”
The students are expected to prepare a thank you letter for the person who spent time working with them and write a report on what they have learned during the day.
