Career day, Celina Record

Celina High School hosts first Career Day event in nearly a decade Lisa Ferguson, lferguson@starlocalmedia.com Mar 4, 2016 More than 20 years after he graduated from Celina High School, local businessman Cleve Rasor headed back to visit his alma mater this week. The owner of Rasor Insurance in Celina was on campus Wednesday, along with about three dozen other area business leaders, to address students as part of Career Day at the school. “For me, it’s a great time to talk to young people about American entrepreneurship and just try and give them an edge on thinking ahead and planning for their future,” said Rasor, who graduated from the school in 1993. This was the first time in eight years that Career Day, largely coordinated by the Greater Celina Chamber of Commerce, had been presented at the high school. “We wanted to reintroduce it and … make it the best experience we possibly can for our students to be able to see what they’re working towards as far as goals are concerned with a professional career,” Celina High School Principal Bill Hemby said. Wednesday’s events kicked off with a catered breakfast for teachers and school staffers, followed by a presentation to Chamber of Commerce members by Celina ISD Superintendent Rick DeMasters and a tour of the campus. From there, the school’s 689 students broke into groups to hear business professionals speak. In advance of Career Day, Hemby said he surveyed students to learn which fields of study and occupations piqued their interests. The list included several medical field professionals, certified public accountants, a farmer, a city attorney and representatives from the banking industry. Hemby forwarded their responses to Karla Scheve, a Chamber of Commerce board member tasked with securing speakers for the event. “We hit a lot of the [occupations] that they wanted,” she said. “One thing that I’m passionate about is connecting the many layers of (professional) expertise and talent and ingenuity and entrepreneurship from the Chamber with our young people,” she said. “It just seems like a waste if we’re not getting some kind of a connection.” During his presentation, Rasor described to students the competitiveness of the insurance business. “You’re competing with a global market,” he said. “There are people in their basements in India selling insurance, competing against me in Celina, Texas.” Before selecting a career, Rasor advised students to consider where they wish to live, how they envision their workday schedule and even the clothing they’d prefer to don on the job. “Plan how you want your life to go before you plan your business,” he said. Celina Assistant Fire Chief Kyle Mills said he was “honored” to be asked to participate in Career Day, and hoped to explain to students the nuts and bolts of firefighting. “Probably the biggest misconception is that we fight a lot of fire. We don’t fight a lot of fire,” he said. “Where we make the most impact, in my opinion, is being able to help people through emergency medical services.” Mills said four recent Celina High School graduates are employed with the fire department. “We’ve been pretty lucky … getting Celina kids.” His career advice: “Don’t limit yourself, No. 1, and, No. 2, if you chose to do something that you love to do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Sophomore Zoie Barnett, who aspires to one day become a school athletics coach, said it was helpful to sit in on a Career Day presentation from Celina High School coach Nick York. “He just basically talked about how to get the job and what you need to do in college to be successful and what subjects you should take,” said Barnett, 16, adding that she learned “you can’t really be in it for the money. You have to be in it for the kids or the people you’re actually helping.” Students were also addressed by motivational speaker Rick Rigsby, a former journalist and college professor who for a time served as chaplain for the Texas A&M University football team. Rigsby shared with students that he felt he had squandered his high school years by acting as the class clown. “That was my problem when I was your age,” he said. “I didn’t know who I was. All I valued was making people laugh. All I valued was hoping that you’d like me. All I valued was hoping I could impress you … and as a result of that, I missed opportunity after opportunity.” Because of his actions, Rigsby said, “I missed the Career Days of life. I don’t want y’all to miss that.” He told the teens, “America really needs you … to choose the best career you can,” whether that is becoming a parent, a military serviceperson or furthering their education. “Whatever your next step is, start telling yourself, ‘I have value.’” Rigsby encouraged students to use their wisdom to “impact people.” Scheve said she hoped the Career Day presentations would make students feel “inspired,” and help them “understand that nobody has the same skill set, personality or interests that they do, and they need to develop this. “We want to encourage them to follow and do what they’re passionate about, and also to understand that it takes hard work.” Follow the Celina Record on Twitter @celinarecord.