Students from Custer Baker Middle School cross Jefferson Street in downtown Franklin. Students visited seven locations around downtown on Tuesday and Wednesday to explore careers and prepare for large-scale projects for the spring semester. Jaden Kennett Daily Diary
Hundreds of fifth-graders from Custer Baker Middle School traveled to downtown Franklin to learn about different businesses and possible careers in their hometown.
Businesses and local government offices opened their doors to students on Tuesday and Wednesday. Students learned from local journalists, police officers, park officials, museum curators, and more.
Students learned how to find a job and what paths they need to take to build a career in various fields.
Students stopped at seven different locations downtown, including the Daily Journal, the Mayor’s Office, KORN Country, the Johnson County Health Department, the Johnson County Historical Museum, Sharp Graphics, and the Franklin Parks and Recreation Department.
Students visited the Daily Journal offices and flipped through sections of the newspaper, learning about the life of a reporter, how advertising works, and more. They visited KORN Country to learn about radio broadcasting and recorded a segment to be broadcast on the radio.
I also learned about how the agencies I visited work together. The students learned that the health department was inspecting the restaurant, and as they were flipping through the pages of the Daily Journal, they saw an article revealing the results of the inspection.
At Franklin City Hall, students learned about the different departments of city government and how their jobs work. On Tuesday, some students watched a biting demonstration by Officer Dustin Scott and K-12 Viber police officers.
On Wednesday, students watched a search demonstration from the kindergarten, where Viber smelled drugs in various boxes. Officer Schuyler Brown taught students about different types of laws and how police officers decide whether to issue a ticket or a warning.
Students asked about K-9 Viber and police Tasers.
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As a former teacher herself, Mayor’s Assistant Missy Jones said it’s very important for students to think about how they can contribute to their city. It’s also important for students to know that there are a variety of opportunities and job options in the city, including both those that require a college degree and those that can be hired straight away.
“The mayor loves it when kids come on field trips. …He also wants to make sure kids grow up there, go to college, or find jobs and want to come back and work in the city they grew up in. I look forward to seeing us build a city that’s the best of the world,” Jones said.
Greg “Mr. Q” Qualiara, an ELA teacher at Custer Baker, said trips like this give students insight they wouldn’t normally get and expand their options. Fifth graders are not necessarily thinking about what they can do when they grow up. They may see their parents’ jobs, but they are not exposed to new careers on a daily basis. He said teachers appreciate that Franklin’s businesses disrupt the routine and allow students to explore new career options.
Elizabeth Peters, another teacher at Custer Baker, said the experience prepared her students for another trip to Biztown, a career education experience offered by Junior Achievement of Central Indiana in the spring semester. He said he would fix it. Students are assigned jobs for an immersive, day-long career simulation, completing tasks that someone doing that job in the professional world would do.
“It really prepares them because they get to see a lot of similar work and see how it works in the real world,” Peters said. “And they will be able to do it themselves.”
Daria Guita, 10, said her favorite part is seeing the Franklin Police Department K-9 at the Daily Journal and the mayor’s office. Geeta said this trip will help her decide what she wants to do in the future.
Wesley Kissinger, 11, said he likes to hear about Mayor Steve Barnett’s daily life and the operations of the health department.
“I want people to come here to Franklin because it’s really fun,” Kissinger said.
Custer Baker teacher Mandy Bechert said the trip provides students with an opportunity to see what the community has to offer for future success. Bechert said some students visiting the location for the first time didn’t know some of the locations were within walking distance of downtown.
This year was the first time Bechert participated in a field trip in her 25 years with CBIS, she said. Bechert said he was “overwhelmed” to see so many businesses welcoming students with open arms.
“I think one of the best things about this experience is seeing how many companies are excited to have kids involved,” Bechert said. “That’s one of the things I really enjoyed about this trip.”
