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Ms. MaryLynn Ryan speaks to students about television broadcasting. Ryan recently left CNN after 25 years and retired as Vice President and Bureau Chief of the Southeast region for CNN/U.S. She currently works for Georgia Public Broadcasting as the Vice President of News.

St. Pius X hosted Career Day on Friday, November 8, an annual event that invites members of the school community to speak about their professions with juniors and seniors. 

Students got to choose two presentation sessions to attend from a list of almost 40 different career fields, including aviation, nursing, law, fashion design, dentistry, and television broadcasting.

“The speakers were interesting and informative,” said senior Aggie Brewster, who attended biology and software development sessions. “I was able to learn more about a job that I knew nothing about.”

As a college preparatory school, Career Day is a valuable experience that encourages students to think about their future career paths, which is important as college looms around the corner.

Senior Margherita Ceccagnoli, who is interested in international business, said that she was most excited to see how passionate the speakers were about their career fields as well as learn more about the types of classes and internships she would need in college.

“I think it’s important to understand the path that I need to get on to get to where I want to be,” she said. 

The day was especially enjoyable to some seniors who already know what they want to pursue in the future. 

Senior Natalie Gresham, for example, wants to become a neonatologist. She’s known this was her calling since she was about three years old, and she participated in hospital internship programs over the summer to lay the groundwork for her career.

“I really enjoyed the surgery session because it made me consider what classes to take in college to prepare for my career,” she said.  

Senior Mollie Albert wants to be a psychiatrist, and on Career Day she was able to speak to a psychologist who furthered her interest in this area of study.

“During the psychology session, I realized how interested I am in how the brain functions and how I can help people in the future,” she explained. 

Senior John McKimmy wants to become a researcher in the pharmaceutical field, so he attended a session on clinical trials.

“I learned about the different phases of clinical trials and the thoroughness you have to take before releasing a drug to the public,” he said.  

Highlighting the importance of the day, senior Nicole Gresham said, “It’s not what you learned from Career Day, it’s what you take away that you can later implement into our future professions. That itself is invaluable.”