Dollars, Decisions, & Discoveries
Photos by Isabella Bryan, BB2C Marketing Intern, Williamstown High School class of ‘26
Story by Anna Cosner, BB2C Storytelling Intern, Williamstown High School Class of ‘26
Figuring out what job you want when you grow up can be an intimidating thing. The idea of needing to have thirty years planned out by the time you’re eighteen is insane. BB2C (Building Bridges to Careers) is helping to make this decision a little easier.
Throughout the school year, BB2C puts on events called Discover Days. The purpose of these events is to help local students learn more about the different jobs in the workforce. Each Discover Day focuses on a career cluster and enlists local businesses to help provide information. There are different sessions throughout the day that explain the different areas of employment in each career cluster.
On Friday, September 19, the Discovery Day topics were Finance, Banking, & Accounting. The event was held at Perry & Associates and Peoples Bank. The sessions included information about the different jobs that can be held in the financial world. Perry & Associates is an accounting business that focuses on assisting people in different ways through the financial system.
Students attended multiple sessions at Perry & Associates, where they were able to meet with many employees and learn about the different ways the financial world works. Students also had a session at People’s Bank, learning about a more concentrated area of finance. A faculty member from Marietta College spoke to high school students, along with some of his college students, during lunch.
One goal of this Discover Day was to teach the students that just because you are interested in a career cluster, such as finance, it does not mean there is only a one-lane road to go on. There are lots of different aspects of careers, and they can be very different.
Forty-five high school students attended the event, coming from Belpre, Fort Frye, Frontier, homeschool, Marietta, Switzerland of Ohio Local School District in Monroe County, Washington County Career Center, Washington State College of Ohio, Wolf Creek, and Warren. Student feedback around the event was positive. Students shared that some of the most significant benefits of attending included:
Learning more about auditing
Retirement plan info
Meeting friends
Knowing about where I should put my money and about taxes
Learning new things about accounting and what it would look like having a career in accounting.
Learning the life of finance and getting more insight into the job I’m looking at for the future.
Getting to see the different departments in People’s Bank.
The students also appreciated the swag they received from the businesses, including pens and sunglasses!
Business representatives also had positive experiences, sharing that “getting to educate students about the future of a potential career,” “demonstrating the possible career paths that you can do with an accounting degree,” and “seeing a student gain clarity about her pathway” were highlights for them.
BB2C’s next Discover Day is on October 29. It is Discover Careers of the Future: Science, Space, Medicine, Mars, hosted by Marietta College.
Thank you to our Discover Finance, Banking, & Accounting Day sponsor and host, Perry & Associates, and our host, Peoples Bank. Thank you to our Discover Day Series Sponsors, ParMar and Smitty’s Pizza.