GM students discover STEM careers right around the corner

Some of the presenters at the STEM career conference are from left: Erin Lamson, clinical laboratory scientist; Simon Gascoyne, veterinarian; Will Hoser, physician’s assistant; Carolyn Solzhenitsyn, medical doctor. Photo by Madeline Bodin. Click image to enlarge.

About 20 community members offered career advice to Green Mountain Middle and High School students in special presentations at the school on Friday, April 11.

Students were told that the way to have a successful career later is to get their hands dirty today.

“One of the best pieces advice I heard at a career day when I was your age was, ‘Read, read, read,’ ” said Will Hoser, a physician’s assistant in the emergency department at Springfield Hospital. “I’m going to add that you should also do, do, do.”

Both Scott Wunderle, a landscape architect with the firm Terrigenous in Chester, and Keith Dewey, an architect based in Londonderry, told students that the best way to create designs that work is to spend as much time as possible building things with their own hands.

The day focused on science, technology, engineering and math – also known as STEM. Students learned that these careers can be pursued locally, whether in agricultural science like Sam Comstock, using engineering to design race cars like Kelly Arrison, programming computers like Jim Guerra or using business skills to help a company that makes parts for fighter planes like Mike Leonard.

Dr. Carolyn Solzhenitsyn told students to have confidence in their abilities, adding that her experience shows that they can achieve their career goals even if they get a late start to them. Erin Lamson used PowerPoint to show the students the kind of cells she analyzes in a hospital clinical laboratory. She works at Grace Cottage Hospital and teaches at a community college. She also said this was a career change for her, so it is never too late to make a career goal.

Students also learned that math and science skills are important in a wide variety of careers. “Math is very sneaky,” said Mark Verespy, owner of The Killarney Pub in Ludlow, as he described how numbers and math are a part of every aspect of running a restaurant. Chester Plumbing and Heating’s Arne Jonynas explained the science behind his job, while local builder George Haines described the math he uses every day.

— Madeline Bodin