Students at Custer Baker Intermediate School cross Jefferson Street in downtown Franklin. Students visited seven locations around downtown on Tuesday and Wednesday to explore careers and prepare for a bigger project in the spring semester. Jayden Kennett | Daily Journal
Hundreds of fifth-graders from Custer Baker Intermediate School traveled around downtown Franklin to learn about various businesses and learn about careers they could have in their hometown.
Businesses and local government offices opened their doors to students on Tuesday and Wednesday. Students learned from local journalists, police officers, parks employees, museum curators and more.
Students learned how to find jobs and what path they would need to take to have a career in various fields.
Students made stops at seven different locations across downtown including the Daily Journal, the Mayor’s Office, KORN Country, Johnson County Health Department, Johnson County Museum of History, Sharp Graphics and the Franklin Parks and Recreation Department.
Students toured the Daily Journal office, where they leafed through sections of the newspaper and learned about the life of a reporter, how advertising works and more. They traveled to KORN Country to learn about radio broadcasting and got to record a segment that aired on the radio.
They also learned about how the agencies they toured work together. Students learned that the health department inspects restaurants and while leafing through the pages of the Daily Journal they saw an article revealing the results of those inspections.
At Franklin City Hall, students learned about the different departments in city government and how each works. On Tuesday, some students watched a bite demonstration with Officer Dustin Scott and K-9 Officer Viber.
On Wednesday, students watched the K-9 do a search demonstration where Viber sniffed out drugs from a variety of boxes. Officer Schuyler Brown taught students about the different types of laws and how an officer gets to decide between tickets or warnings.
Students asked questions about K-9 Viber and police tasers.
As a former teacher herself, Missy Jones, the mayor’s assistant, said it was really important for students to see how they can serve their city. It’s also important for students to see the different opportunities and job options within the city, both that require a college degree and ones that allow students to go straight into the workforce.
“The mayor loves when the kids come in for field trips. … He also is hopeful that we build a city that kids want to grow up in, go to college in, or find a job and come back and work in the city where they were raised,” Jones said.
Trips like this give students insights they don’t normally have and open up options, said Greg “Mr.Q” Quagliara, an ELA teacher at Custer Baker. Students in fifth grade don’t necessarily think about what they can do when they grow up. They may see what their parents do, but they aren’t exposed to new careers on a day-to-day basis. Teachers appreciate businesses in Franklin disrupting their day and allowing students to explore new career options, he said.
Elizabeth Peters, another Custer Baker teacher, said the experience will set students up for another trip during the spring semester when they’ll travel to BizTown, a career education experience put on by Junior Achievement of Central Indiana. Students will be assigned jobs for an immersive, day-long career simulation where they will complete tasks someone would do working that job in the professional world.
“It really prepares them because it lets them see a lot of similar jobs and see how it works in the real world,” Peters said. “And then they get to do that on their own.”
Dahlia Guita, 10, said her favorite part was the Daily Journal and seeing Franklin Police K-9 at the Mayor’s office. Guita said the trips will help her decide what she wants to do in the future.
Wesley Kissinger, 11, said he liked hearing what Mayor Steve Barnett’s day-to-day looks like and how the health department operates.
“I want people to come down here to Franklin because it’s really fun,” Kissinger said.
Custer Baker teacher Mandy Bechert said the trips provide the students with an opportunity to see what their community has to offer for their future success. Some students visited places for the first time and weren’t aware of some of the places within walking distance of downtown, Bechert said.
This was Bechert’s first year participating in the field trips in her 25 years at CBIS, she said. It was “overwhelming” to see how many businesses welcomed the students with open arms, Bechert said.
“I think that has been one of the coolest parts of this experience, is just seeing how many businesses are excited to have the kids involved,” Bechert said. “And so that’s one of the things that I’ve really enjoyed this trip.”
