On February 2nd a select few Holyoke High school students from both the North and South campus participated in the national  “Groundhog Day Job Shadow” event, visiting several different Holyoke locations to catch a glimpse of the daily lives of local professionals. This event was organized by Mr. Belanger and the Chamber of Commerce. Students were chaperoned by Mr. Courchesne and Chamber of Commerce President Kathy Anderson.

The first stop was at Holyoke City Hall, where students met with city solicitor Paul Payer. Payer spoke about how he got into local government and students were allowed to sit in the seats of the city councilors in their chambers. Students, especially those with hopes in one day acquiring a job in the political science field or law, were very interested and asked several questions.

“There’s lots of great opportunities for students to work in public service right here in Holyoke and give back to their community in a meaningful way,” said Payer, “it’s important that we do what we can to encourage kids to explore these careers so they can contribute to Holyoke’s future growth and success after graduation.”

Next, students visited Gateway City Arts on Race Street. There they met with Co-Owners Lori Divine and Vitek Kruta. Students were given a tour and were shown  all the different opportunities Gateway City Arts had to offer. These included a membership to a workshop where there is access to several different tools and someone there to instruct on how to build with all the tools, cubicles that could be rented to work on different projects, for example some were rented by artists and writers, as well as the new restaurant and venue for events such as concerts.

From there, the students went to Gary Rome Hyundai on Whiting Farms Road. Students met with Gary Rome and several different members of his team. The process of buying a car was explained to students as well as much of the history of Gary Rome’s businesses. The students learned about the wide variety of positions at the car dealership, positions  that included  people who repaired and cleaned cars, those who worked on the social media aspect of the business, people who handled customers and the process of them finding the right car and workers who planned events within the business. Of course students also got to take a picture with Gary’s famous dog Jack.

“I was amazed at all the different job positions offered within a car dealership,” said senior Briana Guay. “You don’t realize all the different aspects that are included in running a business.” 

The final stops students were taken to Holyoke Hospital. Students were introduced to several different workers from different fields of the hospital. Many different stories were shared with the students and students learned Holyoke Hospital was a very welcoming community in which you could work your way up within the medical field. Students met with two Phlebotomist, who told about their career and how they got into Phlebotomy Students were then giving a quick tour of the blood lab, where all of their work is done.

“Visiting the hospital was my favorite part of the trip,” said Billy Drohan ’18. “I really want to be a physical therapist so it was super cool seeing where I could potentially work.”  

According to everyone involved, the job shadow was a wonderful experience for students and really opened their eyes to the several different job opportunities offered in Holyoke.