Area high school students recently experienced how classroom education intersects with the working world during a day of job shadowing at the Savannah River Site.

“The goal of the program is to ensure that each student, when he or she leaves the site, feels more confident about their decision to pursue a particular career or field of interest,” said Gladys Moore of the education outreach program at Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, the site’s management and operations contractor. “We want this experience to have a positive impact on all involved — the student and the mentor — even if the end result is the student now believes another type of job needs to be explored instead.”

To date, most SRS job shadowing participants have been interested in the field of engineering, though
there are hundreds of different occupations at the site.

“February is Job Shadow Month for us; however, we provide the opportunity to shadow site employees throughout the school year,” Moore added. “We devote the resources needed to give students an upclose and personal insight into the job they would one day like to fill.”

South Aiken High School student Kayla Meyer recently spent a day with SRS medical personnel,
observing medical procedures, health-related testing and equipment calibration.

“My time at SRS was valuable and the people there were great,” Meyer said. “This learning experience will help me decide which nursing field to choose.  Right now, I think it will be emergency medicine.”