Career Cafe #9: Lawyer and #10: Senior Operations Manager

We had two WONDERFUL guests this week for Career Cafe at WD!

First, we had Rich Ruohonen, a well known and highly accomplished lawyer from TSR injury law (He's the "R"!).  He really did a great job describing to the kids all the different types of lawyers and specifically what his firm does with injury law.  He gave great examples of his cases and really hit home the point that we all need to be careful as we are driving, because a lot of mistakes can be made and lives can be taken--and that's where he comes in.  I think speaking this point to the 'texting age' was really important!

He even showed the kids his commercial which they all got a kick out of!

Thanks Rich!

Our second guest of the week was Dan Grimm--a volunteer parent!  Dan is a senior operations manager for Koch logistics.  I had no idea all that his title encompassed---but he works with a TON of very well known companies and products we use every single day!  It was very interesting for both the kids and ME to hear what Mr. Grimm had to share about his job and the skills he uses daily!   I think he won them all over in the end by giving out his company teddy bears---what kid doesn't want something to cuddle!? :)

Thanks Dan!

Celebrating PI at Weaver Lake!

Today was a fun day!  We got to celebrate our school wide efforts in PI (positive interactions) and pat ourselves on the back for the over 6,000 positive interactions we have had this year!

We were pleased to have a superstar from our district, Kevin Curwick, who started Osseo Nice Things come and talk about the importance of kindness and being positive.  He was a hit!

Then we had our very own students share some positive and kind words with the school in the form of spoken word.

Probably, the most exciting was the staff pie eating contest--which yes, I DID participate in!  How could I not!? :)

We are so proud of the little program we have began at Weaver and can't believe it all started with 5 women, sitting in a living room brainstorming how to help kids make a positive impact on their school--and now an all school assembly!

Positive things are moving at Weaver Lake!

Career Cafe #8: Occupational Therapist

Today's session was so informative and interesting to say the least--I was definitely intrigued by all of the interesting facts that were brought up by our guest occupational therapist!  She had some great videos to show the kids and even let them try out some equipment that she often uses with her clients--very fun!  Thank you Monica for coming in to speak!

Career Cafe #7: Photography

I am so thrilled with yesterday's Career Cafe!  I had a friend come and speak about her career as a professional photographer.  She takes remarkable photos for St. Kates, weddings, engagements, babies--you name it!  She captured her audience by talking about what led her to her career, what a typical day looks like and what equiptment she often uses.

Our favorite part of the session was having the kids experience photography first hand by being photographers themselves!  Rebecca gave each student a chance to use her super nice camera and "be the photographer".  She had them working their skills in directing, communication and creativity.  The kids LOVED it!  They even got to see a glimpse of how she edits her photos and comes up with the final product!

This was a great session!  Thanks Rebecca!

See some of the snapshots from the session below!

Career Cafe #6: Child Protection Investigators

Thanks so much to our guests for coming out today to share about their career as Child Protection Investigators.  Sounds very interesting and the kids had questions non stop!  They did a phenominal job engaging the small group and highlighting every facet their job to them and what brought them there!

Thanks Mark and Lynn!

Career Cafe #5: David McCoy (Sports reporter/producer)

I was so excited when my personal friend David McCoy agreed to come and speak to our small group of 6th graders about his career!  His career meets the Holland Career Interest code in it's Artistic Social and Investigative realms, so it was sure to be a hit!  He recently moved here to Minneapolis after landing a job at our local news station, WCCO in their sports reporter/producer position.  It's so fun to see him on the news!  He was great with the kids and they really had some wonderful questions to ask him!  He really did a great job of speaking about his education, his daily duties, how he puts his stories together and the realities of being a sports reporter/producer.  I am sure he made an impact on each one of them!  Thanks David!

You can see some of his work here : http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/personality/david-mccoy/

Career Cafe #3 & #4: Actor and Auto Mechanic

What knock out guests we had this week!

Thank you Ross Young and Tony Miller for doing such a great service for our students this week!