It’s not unusual for a high school student to wonder about their future life in the working world. Are the decisions they are making now going to be ones they can live with later on? Do they really want to be a chef? An emergency medical technician? A graphic designer?
Students at the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center had the opportunity recently to sit down with professionals from such fields as cosmetology, emergency medical services, informational systems technology, and the culinary arts and get the “straight scoop” on how these real professionals actually spend their workdays. The weeklong program, which brought many different kinds of professionals into the classes at the Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center to talk about their careers, was part of National Career and Technical Education Week.
“It’s a lot of hard work, but we have a lot of fun as well,” said Sarah Byrne, the assistant dining room manager of the Emerson Inn, located in Mt. Tremper. She spoke of a very cosmopolitan lifestyle in the highest end of the “upscale” restaurant scene, where personnel ranging from executive chefs to pot scrubbers are able to work in any luxury restaurant in the world.
“What happens is that you get to know people in the industry from everywhere in the world, and they have friends all over, so living and working in France or Bermuda or Germany often becomes mainly a process of obtaining a work visa, buying a plane ticket, and having a friend make a phone call,” said Byrne.
“Living, working - and learning – from different professionals abroad is what really makes a first rate chef or restaurant worker,” said Byrne.
“The trade-off is that working for a world class restaurant is very hard work,” Byrne cautioned. “The standards of service are very high, and there is no such thing as too many work hours or overtime pay for them.”
At the CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) class, the students quizzed Mobile Life Support EMT David Grasse on his “typical” day of responding to a wide range of emergencies. Grasse explained that an EMT puts his career on the line every three years, when he/she must become re-certified.
“It allows us to be totally current on the latest technology and treatment models,” Grasse explained.
Strapping a defibrillator to one of the students, Grasse showed the class many of the more common tools of his trade.
“What happens is that we work with standing orders from a supervising physician,” said Grasse. “This allows us to do the standard emergency medical treatment when we reach a scene.”
According to Grasse, many emergency responders come from various areas of general healthcare training. He added that some EMTs also use the job as a stepping stone to enter medical school.
“My last partner did that,” he noted. “He’s currently an emergency room physician at Boston General.”
For Grasse, however, spending a professional career serving as an EMT is exactly where he wants to be. “I love this job,” he admitted. “Even though it can be extremely stressful at times.”
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