SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- Spangdahlem students had the unique opportunity to spend a school day outside of the classroom learning about careers that interest them during Job Shadow Day April 23, 2018.
The event was open to all students in the grades 6-12. The students were able to choose from 32 different careers to shadow, including fighter pilot, firefighter, veterinarian, radio host, dentist, and several more.
“Job Shadow Day is an event dedicated to giving students an opportunity to ‘shadow’ a mentor in the workplace during the duty day,” said Taryn Wood, 52nd Mission Support Group school liaison officer. “The purpose is to help students explore future career opportunities while gaining insight into the academic, technical, and personal skills required to be successful in their chosen career.”
One 4th grader, Matthew Vasquez, son of Tech. Sgt. Alden Vasquez, 52nd Comptroller Squadron quality assurance manager, and Maria Vasquez, 480th Fighter Squadron secretary, is thinking of joining the military and wanted to learn more about becoming a fighter pilot. He said the experience showed him that being a pilot is different than he expected.
“I thought being a pilot would be easy, but it’s a lot more complicated than I thought it would be,” Vasquez said. “Flying fighter jets still seems really cool, so I still want to be a pilot when I grow up.”
Students interested in being pilots shadowed 1st Lt. Benjamin Harmon, 480th FS F-16 fighter pilot. During that time, Harmon briefed the students on F-16 basics, showed them a video on F-16s in action, allowed the students to wear and test out various aircrew flight equipment, and escorted the students out to the flightline to view an F-16 up close.
“I remember being in their shoes and thinking how awesome it would be to be a pilot,” Harmon said. “It’s a great opportunity to actually get to show them what it’s all about. Plus, it’s awesome the students have this opportunity to get out of the classroom for the day and learn about something different.”
The Job Shadow program is an annual event and students are encouraged to participate as many times as they can.
“I encourage students to sign up with a different job every year,” Wood said. “If they shadowed Explosive Ordnance Disposal this year, then next year maybe they want to shadow an air traffic controller. This could give them the opportunity to truly see where their interests are and open their eyes to other choices or just confirm to themselves that they know what they want to do for their future career. This program gives students an opportunity to truly experience a day in a job of a career they would like to know more about and lets them make the choice.”