Nicola Mayer | Staff Reporter

Career day is an annual event that all Menlo juniors attend at the beginning of the second semester. The three hour block of time opens with a keynote speaker then allows students to go to three different panels of experts in particular fields they are interested in. This year’s opening speakers were the Beaver brothers of Zazzle, an online retail site, who offered advice to students about starting their own business. The panels of experts covered topics such as finance, law and engineering, and the panelists ranged from Menlo alumni to Menlo parents and family.

The aim of Career Day is to help give students an idea of what they can do later in life. “I hope that [students] get a clear sense that they’re a lot of options for them and not one right path to follow,” Junior Class Dean Megan Downey said. The panelists are chosen specifically to create a diverse group of people for the students to listen to in terms of age, background and interests. Also, at the end of each panel, students fill out a survey to give opinions about each speaker and whether or not they think the people they heard from should be invited back the following year in order to help make each group as helpful as possible.

Although the day has been around for a long time, students have mixed opinions about the event. “I didn’t think it was that useful, it was interesting to see the different opportunities, but it didn’t really affect how I see my future,” junior Kaitlin Frangione said. Other juniors argued that while the speakers were entertaining, their advice wasn’t all that helpful. Some of the advice included “follow your dreams” and “don’t forget hard work” which didn’t elicit a great response from the junior class because of how vague and generic it was.

Others found the event helpful as long as they approached it the right way. “It was very valuable if you asked questions […] I have no idea what I want to do with my life but going to the psychology session really helped me understand the profession and like it more,” junior Avalon Edwards said.

As a whole, most juniors found the opening speakers informative, yet once they got to the panels they were presented with a mixture of good and bad presentations. “Some panelists just rambled on occasion and it was more helpful when it was question and answer instead of just lecture based,” junior Izzy Koningstein said.
To improve the day, juniors felt that there could be some subtle tweaks. One idea was to have a fair to expose students to more opportunities and fields while other thought it would be helpful to have the panels be more in depth so that students who are interested in a specific field can get sound and very applicable advice.