Schools

Partnering Education with Life Experience

High school juniors recently 'shadowed' employees of local businesses as part of an event held by the Bayport-Blue Point School-to-Business Partnership.

juniors recently had the chance to experience the "real world" when the Bayport-Blue Point School-to-Business Partnership held its fifth Shadow Day in three years.

The event, which is usually planned two times a year—one day for juniors and another for sophomores—ran for the majority of the work day during a recent Tuesday. Students chose from a list of local businesses, such as , Sayville Ford and , and "shadowed" employees.

High school Principal Timothy Hearney, who is involved with the planning of Shadow Day, said a few businesses were added this year. He noted that the Partnership fosters a connection between the school district and community. "Students grow a greater appreciation for where they come from," he said. 

Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Business teacher Doug Monsell emphasized the importance of this day for the students. "They're getting outside of the building to see people working for a real business, and they can decide if it's a possible career choice for them or not," he said.

The morning of the event the participating students gathered in the high school auditorium for a pre-Shadow Day pep talk from Monsell. "Remember you're representing us when you're out at the job," he said, then "warned" students, "I do visit every location throughout the day."

Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

High school junior Dennis DeVito chose to work at Sayville Ford for the day. "I work on cars, I spend all of my free time working on a '67 Mustang, it was my dad's first car," he said. Though he is familiar with mechanics, DeVito said he'd "like to learn to work on more models" on Shadow Day.

Emily Sarich, Jordan Collins and Arielle DiCocco were all heading to James Wilson Young Middle School to shadow a Spanish teacher, a gym teacher and an English teacher, respectively.

Participating students were aware of the advantage this experience could give them when contemplating colleges and majors. Sarich said she enjoys Spanish, and she thinks it's fun to learn about other languages, "It's [Shadow Day] a good opportunity for me to figure out if teaching is something I would want to do," she said.

Collins said she has always been interested in pursuing physical education, "I'm into sports, I thought it would just fit me," she said. English is DiCocco's favorite subject in high school, so she'd like to experience a day in the life of an English teacher. "It would be nice to teach kids how to write poems and stories," she added.

A Shadow Day for high school sophomores is tentatively scheduled to take place in February.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here