Local Business People Love Rogers Career Day

The 900 students of Rogers Middle School will have ideas aplenty to dream about May 18 when a swarm of local working adults will share their professions with the Belmont Shore 6th-to-8th graders.

The 2nd annual Rogers Career Day offers a stunning array of choices of which many students might never have known. That dozens of these jobs are held by people right in the neighborhood says something about the rich community in which we live.

Consider just a few of the 60 guests' jobs: IPhone game design; selling Dr. Pepper; singing, painting, mathematics, the sciences; three branches of military. Perhaps they've already thought about solving crime, but what about running the office at Medeival Times, running a city, watchdogging its spending, piloting a ship, building airplanes, building houses, designing houses, designing interiors, keeping someone alive and breathing during surgery, documenting stories on film, caring for the spine, caring for zoo animals? (Okay that one we know a few have considered because we've known the zookeeper for seven grades now).

Now consider the parent power this community brings to so many school events, because most of the guest speakers have children at Rogers. They were recruited and invited months ago by the PTA to volunteer the half morning to give kids a taste of the range of opportunities they can work toward.

I grew up with a boy who was a talented singer, but his parents had him convinced that nobody ever makes a living at anything they love as much as my friend loved to sing. The practical job that would offer so much security and accomplishment to someone else bored him so much he was actually dreading growing up. Career Day changed that for him and his parents, who were thrilled to hear from a professional singer supporting her family.

Reading this list of just a sampling of job fields represented May 18 is fascinating to consider comprising our neighborhood, given most of the visitors live here. According to the PTA's Career Day Committee Chair, Michelle Ascheri:
Actor
Artist
Painter
Senior Software Developer-Xerox Corporation
Dance Studio Director- Marrillyn McDowell Studio of Dance
Co-Artistic Director of LB Shakespeare & KJAZZ
Documentary Film Maker
Journalist/Editor
Designer
Landscape Designer
Radio Communication System Engineer
Vocalist & Singing Teacher
Executive Administrative Assistant of Medieval Times
Coldwell Banker Commercial
District Sales Manager for Dr Pepper/ Snapple Group
Deputy Chief Economist
Realtors
Owner/Director of City Employees Associates
Patent Portfolio Manager, Boeing Company
President of Marketing Company
City Auditor
City Manager of Gardena
Community Action Team/ Executive Director
General Manager of Torrance Marriott South Bay
Chef
Test Engineering Manager for Integration, Test & Launch
Architects
Anesthesiologist/ Physician
Chiropractor
Family Medicine
Nurse Practitioner
Ophthalmologist
Orthodontist
Clinical Supervisor of Outpatient Therapies
Nephrologist
Radiologist
Social Worker
Health Department Manager
Health Educator
Corporate Development Manager for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Police Detective- LAPD
Detention Officer-HBPD
Administration Bureau Chief, LBPD
Lawyers
Air Force Academy
Army
Coast Guard
Owner of Hair Salon- Beehive
Biologist
Environmental Consulting
Senior Geologist
Naturalist
Solar Power Consultant
Ship Pilot
Media Relations/ Government Affairs Long Beach Airport
Truck Driver
iPhone Game Designer President of JLOOP Brand & interactive
Professional Skater/ Motorcyclist
Los Angeles Zoo Keeper