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A mayor, an investigator, a chef, a lawyer, an author, a basketball instructor, a news reporter, an allergist, an HVAC repair man, and many more- all stood before eager middle-school students during Cheatham Middle School’s (CMS) annual Career Day. During a two hour block on the morning of November 15, 27 professionals from a wide array of fields spoke, interacted, and answered questions from 5th through 8th-graders.
CMS has been hosting Career Day since 1998 when Jeanne Rose brought it over from Sycamore Middle School. The school’s 7th and 8th-grade counselor, Tara Canterbury, took over the efforts when Rose left eight years ago.
![Jeanne Rose and her son, James](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4ee95a_0ac97fcac1f54ec5a3a95cd621819303~mv2_d_3024_4032_s_4_2.jpg/v1/fill/w_147,h_196,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/4ee95a_0ac97fcac1f54ec5a3a95cd621819303~mv2_d_3024_4032_s_4_2.jpg)
“The students need to hear about careers that differ from the ones they see in their everyday lives,” says Canterbury.
Alongside Mary Griggs, the CMS 5th and 6th-grade counselor, Canterbury spends months organizing and coordinating the beneficial event that both students and local professionals gain so much from.
“In addition to this, I do several types of exploration projects with students to help them find a career they love. If you are not happy within the job where you spend most of your day, you probably are not a happy person,” she says. “I want each of my students to find a career that makes them as happy as I am. That is my goal in all of this.”
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