Event “Think Different - more Exact!” at A. Upītis Skrīveri Secondary School
On 29 April 2010, a Student Career Day event for students of grades 10 through 11 called “Think Different - more Exact!” took place at A. Upītis Skrīveri Secondary School. This event was held in response to another event called “Think Different - more Exact!” organized for Latvian students on 3 and 4 February 2010 by the team of the Project “Natural Sciences and Mathematics”, in which students from A. Upītis Skrīveri Secondary School participated as well. The aim of the event was to stimulate students’ interest in natural sciences and mathematics by showing the ways how to make use of the knowledge obtained at school in scientific inquiry and innovative entrepreneurship.
The event in Skrīveri was very varied. At the beginning of the Career Day students met former students of Skrīveri Secondary School that had studied natural sciences and built successful careers. During the course of the conversations the graduates of Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Faculty of Medicine of Riga Stradiņš University and Faculty of Geography of the University of Latvia emphasized a number of major elements which should be developed already at school: determination, languages, communicative skills, tolerance and logical thinking.
Later students had excursions and visited several enterprises – Pļaviņas Hydroelectric Power Station, door manufacturers, Jeld Wen Ltd, an international American enterprise, and Daugava, a diversified company, whose dairy products and ecological bread are sold in the whole Latvia.
As students had split into groups in order to exchange their experiences, they made presentations on what they had seen during the day after excursions. As a result, students drew conclusions regarding conditions for a successful career and company.
At the end of the day a contest – quiz and relays – was organized by the students of grade 11 where students competed among classes showing their erudition in natural sciences and history, as well as demonstrating their wit and skills.
When asked to evaluate the event, students said that it had been a very eventful and interesting day. The meeting with former students that fetched the audience with their stories as individualities and made students think about career possibilities was regarded as the best part of the event. Excursions and the contest broadened students’ experience as well. At the end of the event students suggested establishing such a Career Day as a school tradition and organizing it every year.
The event in Skrīveri was very varied. At the beginning of the Career Day students met former students of Skrīveri Secondary School that had studied natural sciences and built successful careers. During the course of the conversations the graduates of Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Faculty of Medicine of Riga Stradiņš University and Faculty of Geography of the University of Latvia emphasized a number of major elements which should be developed already at school: determination, languages, communicative skills, tolerance and logical thinking.
Later students had excursions and visited several enterprises – Pļaviņas Hydroelectric Power Station, door manufacturers, Jeld Wen Ltd, an international American enterprise, and Daugava, a diversified company, whose dairy products and ecological bread are sold in the whole Latvia.
As students had split into groups in order to exchange their experiences, they made presentations on what they had seen during the day after excursions. As a result, students drew conclusions regarding conditions for a successful career and company.
At the end of the day a contest – quiz and relays – was organized by the students of grade 11 where students competed among classes showing their erudition in natural sciences and history, as well as demonstrating their wit and skills.
When asked to evaluate the event, students said that it had been a very eventful and interesting day. The meeting with former students that fetched the audience with their stories as individualities and made students think about career possibilities was regarded as the best part of the event. Excursions and the contest broadened students’ experience as well. At the end of the event students suggested establishing such a Career Day as a school tradition and organizing it every year.