Students look to their futures during College and Career Day
By Eliav Appelbaum eliav@theacorn.com

WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers POLITICAL SCIENCE COMES TO LIFE- Assemblymember Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita) talks to students about careers in government during Wednesday's Simi High College and Career Day.

Assemblymember Cameron Smyth fought the traffic on Interstate 5 and arrived at Simi Valley High School just in time.

Smyth, who serves the 38th District, which includes parts of Simi Valley, Santa Clarita Valley and the San Fernando Valley, was at the school for College and Career Day to speak to students about government and public service.

There was only one problem: Room N6, where he was told to go, was occupied by Chico State.

That's how busy Simi Valley High was on Wednesday for the career day event, which gives students the opportunity to meet with professionals in a wide variety of fields, and speak with prospective colleges, all on the same day.

Sure enough, the school didn't leave the firstterm Assembly member out in the cold morning for long, finding the right room, B7, for Smyth to present his workshop.

"Events like this are one of the favorite parts of my job," Smyth said. "You really get an honest response from high school students."

And that's exactly what Smyth got, answering questions from an engaging group of students.

Simi High was able to integrate Career Day during the week by getting 900 sophomores to take the PSAT test for free.

The PSAT, which normally costs $12 per student, was free for sophomores because the Simi Valley Education Foundation matched all funds from a local fundraiser. Meanwhile, the majority of freshmen, juniors and seniors attended three workshops from a selection of more than 50.

By getting students to take the PSAT earlier, Principal Steve Pietrolungo said he hopes sophomores will start thinking about and planning for college sooner.

"Every 10th-grader who wasn't thinking about college might get a good score and start thinking about going to college. I hope they're thinking, 'Maybe I should take harder courses,'" said Pietrolungo, who spearheaded the career day presentation.

The principal estimated that about 300 freshmen and juniors also took the PSAT on Wednesday.

The other students had a variety of workshops to choose from, including presentations by geologists, doctors, lawyers, nurses, firefighters and members of the armed forces.

Junior Evan Green, 15, discovered more about the importance of college, attending workshops by Chico State and Moorpark College.

"I wanted to get a sense of what college is like," said Evan, who is also a starting cornerback for the football team.

He also attended a workshop conducted by Dan Jordan, the budget director for the city of Simi Valley, and Chris Oberender, a civil engineer in public works for the city.

The representatives of the city gave a broad look about government. One exercise that particularly piqued students' interest was what they would choose to do to build a city from the ground up.

"We wanted to give them a feel for what city planning is about," said Jordan, who has taught a public financial management course for graduate students at USC for the past five years. "This is the first time I've been inside a high school classroom for a long time. . . . They asked some good questions and I think we got them thinking actively thinking about the little things about building a city and how it relates to city planning."

Oberender also enjoyed interacting with the students.

"It was fun," he said. "They were a good group of kids. They were very energetic and enthusiastic. I think refreshing's the word I'm looking for. It's fun to be involved with the youth of the city."

David Leekley, a 16-year-old junior, also found Jordan's and Oberender's workshop informative and interesting. Plus, career day wasn't just another day of school.

"I found it helpful," David said. "I learned more about Simi. . . . It's pretty fun compared to a regular day. It's productive. It's helping me figure out what I want to do."

Smyth talked about how he got involved in politics and encouraged students to put their work into whatever path or career they choose. And he also told them not to fear failure.

"It's not in my biography, but I lost the first time I ran for public office," said Smyth, who lost in his bid to join Santa Clarita's City Council in 1998. "Everyone fails, there always bumps in the road no matter what you do . . . I analyzed what I did wrong in my campaign and fixed it. Two years later, I ran again and was the top vote-getter. I'm not saying that to boast, but I was willing to put in the work and I had the focus of what I wanted to do."

Besides Smyth, Simi Valley also welcomed school board members Eric Lundstrom, Jeanne Davis and Rob Collins, and with City Council member Michelle Foster. The school board members and Foster attended the events as guests, however, visiting classrooms and seeing how the students reacted to the workshops.

"This gives kids an idea of what's next," said Lundstrom, who attended workshops by Smyth, one about careers in treating cancer and another that helped seniors with their college applications and essays to UC and state schools. "Maybe something will spark their interest," he said, "it gives them an opportunity to meet people they normally might not meet."