Liidlii Kue/Fort Simpson - Students at Thomas Simpson school took a break from normal classroom work on Nov. 8 to get a taste of the careers for which their education could be preparing them.

With some guidance from Raymond Michaud, right, Carla Norwegian solders a copper pipe and fitting. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photos

Community members representing 12 different occupations were invited to the school for the afternoon as part of Career Day to give students an idea of what their job involves.

Career Day is a yearly activity where students are encouraged to learn about possible jobs through fun and inventive means rather than a lecture format, said Freda Blyth, one of the organizers.

"The point is to get the kids involved in activities that make them think about occupations," said Blyth.

To keep things interesting the school varies the format that is used for the event.

"Every year we try to do something a little different," Blyth said.

This year students were divided into groups based on their school houses. Each group rotated through three of 12 possible half-hour sessions winning points for their house depending on how well they completed their assigned activities.

"I think it went well," Blyth said.

During the day students learned about a variety of occupations from working for Enbridge to being a local politician.

At the fashion design station students were hard at work using needles and sewing machines. In half an hour students were challenged to use assigned materials to design and create a small creature.

Working together on a creation called Mr. Square, Hillary Deneyoua and Elisha Simms said Career Day was affirming decisions they'd already made.

"It's making me realize I want to be a social worker," said Simms.

Despite spending her first session at the restaurant management station learning the tricks of being a server, Deneyoua said she was sure being a military photographer was still the job for her.

For Bradley Thom the best session of the day was culinary arts where the challenge was to prepare an appetizer tray from raw ingredients.

"I liked it because I like cooking," said Thom.

Although he enjoyed the session, Thom said it hasn't changed his mind about his goal of being a hockey player.

"They didn't do anything about hockey but I'd still like to do it," said Thom.

If his hockey career doesn't pan out, Thom said his backup is to join the military.

Even if they weren't convinced to change their career goals, instructors said students were enthusiastic about trying different activities.

At the kindergarten teacher session, students learned how to write out a lesson plan and then had to put it into action by teaching two kindergarten students. Faced with the challenge of teaching two young children, high school students rose to the occasion, said Val Gendron.

"They all did really well," said Gendron.