Registration for the Career Out program started on Tuesday, Jan. 22. Career Out is a program that provides seniors insight on future careers during a three hour job shadowing experience to verify if they would like to pursue a career in those fields.

“Students will get an in-depth look at various industries and career paths,” LISD Director of Strategic Partnerships Lindsay Ayers said. “There is a difference in meeting someone in person and observing them work in their native environment than what they can understand from a guest speaker or from reading in a textbook.”

Seniors will work side by side with familiar industries, giving them a grasp of how the corporations work daily.

“We have over 80 companies registered right now,” Ayers said. “Some of the larger companies include Southwest Airlines, Balfour Beatty Construction, Atmos Energy, Mannatech, Inc., DATCU Credit Union and a lot of opportunities with local city governments.”

Businesses are actively looking for students to participate in this program. Those who participate will gain a general understanding of their roles and expectations from employers. With hands on experience like this, future employers will be impressed.

“One of the main things I hear from employers overall is that finding good employees is very hard,” Career Preparation teacher Marshan Naragon said. “Career Out makes [the students] a better employee.”

The goal for this program is to show students career paths they may be interested in and could follow in their later years. By providing them opportunities to try out a mentored version of the work field, the seniors can judge if that’s what they’re meant to do.

“My hope is that this program will give seniors exposure to careers they may not know about [and] have a chance to explore a career they are interested in,” Ayers said. “This is especially important since they are about to move on to college or a career; I desire to give them a chance to either affirm that they are interested in what they think they want to move on to pursue or they will cross something off of their list.”

By partaking in Career Out, seniors can acquire hands-on exposure to various jobs. They gain a closer comprehension of how each worker is an important part of each company.

“I’m a part of the program because school isn’t my only priority,” junior Senth Wright said. “Another priority of mine is work. I come from a low-income family so I also need to make sure that I can work to provide for my family and also for myself as well.”