Texoma 8th graders exploring their futures at SOSU’s career event

DURANT, Okla. (KXII) -SOSU hosted their 9th annual “It Starts Now” 8th Grade Career Discovery Day.

Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Teresa Golden said, “It brings in 8th graders to explore all careers, of course we hope college is their future but we also talk about many other career avenues for these students.”

Over 600 Texoma students attended Thursday’s event, “it’s mostly Oklahoma schools, a lot of the local schools like Durant and Calera, but there’s a whole range,” Dr. Golden said.

Dr. Golden said students even attended ‘Advice Sessions,’ “about interviews, do’s and don’ts, the reality of how much salary you need to support what you like to do.”

And she added that it’s important for 8th graders to receive these lessons before they reach high school.

“There’s a lot of research that says around 7th or 8th grade a lot of students have already kind of made up their mind what they wanna do and it’s a great time because they’ve got high school ahead of them to start taking chances and finding things out and maybe changing their minds,” Dr. Golden said.

Annabeth Sutherland from Bennington Public Schools aspires to be a veterinarian but is grateful to explore other career options, “because if vet doesn’t work out, then I’ll have to have a backup plan and it’s always good to have a backup plan.”

And while the students grabbed lunch they had a chance to hear from Oklahoma motivational speaker, Quinton Jones, “so I need you to understand what direction you going in.”

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