Students get first-hand look at careers

Jarad Huddle knows a bit about law enforcement -- and he’s only in high school.

The Fremont High School student has been shadowing Dodge County Sheriff Steve Hespen and his deputies as part of the School-to-Career program.

“This whole School-to-Career thing has been awesome for me,” Huddle told business and education leaders this morning at the School-to-Career Appreciation Breakfast.

“I can’t see any problems with it,” Huddle added. “I had the time of my life. I’ve been able to see up close what (deputies) do, what they have to deal with in everyday life and why there is so much controversy.”

For Huddle, the experience reinforced his career aspirations.

School-to-Career gave Taylor Jeppsen, who will graduate from Fremont High School on Sunday, a chance to explore two different career opportunities.

For part of the year, Jeppsen shadowed Julie Dillon, a counselor at Clarmar Elementary School. Initially, he thought about a career in education and Dillon provided him with insight about the possibilities.

One day he was asked to read to students about bullying.

“That was one of the most rewarding times I had during School-to-Career because the kids were smiling. I thought it was really rewarding,” he said.

But after the first quarter, “mid-life crisis hit. I didn’t know if I wanted to go into business or if I wanted to be a teacher,” Jeppsen said.

He spent this past quarter at the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce, shadowing Allan Hale, chief executive officer.

Both experiences have helped him in making a decision about college. He’s headed to Wayne State College in the fall, where he will major in elementary education and Spanish with a minor in business.

School-to-Career not only provides a learning experience, but Huddle added it can be fun.

“You can’t really summarize how much fun you have when you do something like this,” he said. “This gives us as high schoolers a great experience in life.”

School-to-Career has been in Fremont since 1998 and through the efforts the Fremont Area Chamber of Commerce has been expanding in the past year. A grant from the Fremont Area Community Foundation allowed the program to expand into Arlington, Dodge, Logan View, North Bend and Scribner-Snyder high schools.

Hale said the program will expand into four more high schools in the next year.

The program also presented service awards to four individuals and the companies or schools they represent. All award winners have been involved with School-to-Career for more than five years, Hale said.

Winners were Kim Beam of R.L. Fauss Inc., Larry Hladik of Kelly Group, Joe Sajevic with Fremont Public Schools and Neil Feser with Archbishop Bergan Catholic School.