By Khalida Sarwari
Working for the FBI isn’t as glamorous as it is often depicted in the movies. If Saratoga High School’s Career Day taught some students anything, it was that.
The point was made by FBI gent Bill Scanlon in front of dozens of students at the McAfee Center on April 1. Scanlon was there to tell Saratoga High School students about his typical day and the types of cases he handles.
“Cases don’t get solved in 48 minutes,” he said, eliciting laughter from the audience. “In 48 minutes we’re lucky if we figure out where we are going for coffee.”
A student asked Scanlon whether there was anything special about his badge.
“Not really. Wanna check it out?”
Scanlon threw the badge down from the stage to the student. “I always keep it near my gun,” he said.
Another student asked him if he uses his badge for “non-FBI purposes,” and Scanlon told him that that was “strongly, strongly discouraged,” before launching into a story about refusing free coffee six years ago from a Peet’s Coffee and Tea in San Francisco after apprehending a homeless man for taking advantage of the free soymilk.
Many a student’s eyes widened when he mentioned the quantity of drugs he has seen in person.
“I’ve seen so many … you could fill this room with pot; it’s mind-numbing,” he said.
At the cafeteria across the campus, another group of students watched A.J. Szenda, an executive sous chef at Apple, make seafood gazpacho. His was one of the more popular sessions, attracting more than 150 students throughout the morning.
Szenda told the students about the various career paths in the culinary field. He talked about his experiences working at Le Mouton Noir, the Plumed Horse and Viaggio Ristorante.
At Apple, Szenda supervises more than 100 cooks and is part of a staff that feeds nearly 6,000 people every day. The task is “overwhelming but manageable,” he said.
One student asked him about his favorite dish to prepare. “I like Spanish cuisine,” he said.
Another student asked him whether his job leaves him with enough time to spend with his family. He was surprised that no one asked him about how much money he makes.
“If you love cooking, it’s not hard work,” he advised. “I would do it all over again given the opportunity.”
When the school bell brought the third and final session to an end, students scattered onto the quad for lunch and talked among themselves about their Career Day experience. In between bites of sandwiches and sips of water, they discussed both the merits of the sessions they’d attended, as well as some of the downsides.
Rachel Hull, a 16-year-old sophomore, realized which careers she didn’t want to pursue. Like all students, she was asked to select three sessions to attend. She chose biotechnology, forensic technician and physician.
“I was thinking about going into biotech, but I learned in research jobs you don’t get a lot of money, so I realized that’s not what I want to do,” Rachel said.
It was about the same conclusion for senior Jared Spang, who had signed up for electrical, mechanical and structural engineering sessions. By the end of the morning, the 17-year-old figured out the engineering field he was most interested in was mechanical. He credited the speaker for that decision.
“I paid attention the whole time,” he said. “He had slideshows of things he’d made, and descriptions.”
And while others still did not know by the end of the morning what careers they were interested in, some came a little closer to knowing.
“I have no clue what I want to do, but Career Day showed me what my hobbies could lead toward,” said 15-year-old sophomore Anjali Manghnani, who chose wildlife biology, environmental science and performing arts for her three sessions.
Next time, the students said, they hope to see some changes that could make their Career Day experience better. Among their suggestions were shorter sessions (30 minutes instead of 40), more choices (five sessions instead of three), making the event all-day instead of half-day and changing the set-up so that speakers are stationed at booths in the quad instead of inside classrooms.
Organized by the school’s college and career center and the Parent Teacher Student Organization, Saratoga High School’s Career Day is held every two years. This year’s event featured more than 70 professionals from across a spectrum of fields, from accountant to zoologist.
Career day at Saratoga High School features everything from accountants to zoologists
