COSTA MESA : Professionals Attend School Career Event

Bright balloons and butcher-paper banners dressed up the entrance of TeWinkle Intermediate School in Costa Mesa this week, welcoming professionals who came to the campus to give talks about careers to about 800 students.

About 30 lecturers spoke each day during the two-day event. The professionals produced an odd calm over the usually rambunctious afternoon classes as students listened with more attention than usual.

“Oh, it was really good,” said eighth-grader Joyshua Sieka about the talk she heard from a marine biologist. “He told us all about the seals and how they’re endangered. It was interesting.”

The student said she has her heart set on a career in that field of science, and listening to the guest speaker was a perfect match.

The speakers at the school’s first career event also included seven Spanish-speaking professionals. Represented careers included the military, law enforcement, small business, real estate, medicine, counseling and the arts.

The event also included a special day Tuesday for the school’s eighth-grade students to meet college counselors from neighboring UC Irvine and Orange Coast College and to learn about college preparatory courses they need to take next year in high school.

On both days, the students got crash courses in basic life skills from some of the speakers.

“Having ambition or desire without having the tools is like having 1,000 gallons of gas and no car,” said Barbizon modeling agency representative Ingrid Jones, a sharply dressed woman who captivated the young teens.

Erin Bergman, 13, attended both the modeling talk and a presentation by an FBI representative. She said she’s leaning toward a career either in law or with the federal investigators.

“I saw ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and that lady was one,” Erin said about the movie’s lead character, a rookie FBI officer. “I think it would be fun if I would do that.”