Eighth-graders open their minds to explore a variety of career options

By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger

DAVENPORT — Thirty-two vendors shared information about their careers with eighth-graders from Scott County Catholic schools March 7 in the Rogalski Center at St. Ambrose University. The annual career fair gave students the opportunity to explore possible careers. Students from Lourdes Catholic School in Bettendorf, All Saints, John F. Kennedy and St. Paul the Apostle Catholic schools in Davenport participated. Emma Wolf, student specialist at JFK, said the career fair allowed students to open their minds to explore a variety of career options.

Students filled out a questionnaire prior to the career fair identifying their interests. Leigh Johnson, a counselor at Lourdes, said each student visited 13 vendors throughout the day and met with a priest or woman religious regarding religious vocations. Girls listened to Sister Anthony Worell, OSF. Boys met with Father Dale Mallory, chaplain at St. Ambrose; Father Dane Dickinson, parochial vicar at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Bettendorf, and seminarian Blake Riffel.

Eastern Iowa Community College’s technology department offered two stations: one on cybersecurity and another on the college’s information technology program. Faculty member Roberta Osmers explained that the cybersecurity station used cubes to teach programming. “When you connect the cubes, you create a robot” that can perform different tasks. The IT station included a 3D printer and a computer pulled apart. Students discovered they could learn to pull apart and reassemble a computer.

Osmers noted a fine line between data security and computer server accessibility. Businesses need to realize the more holes in security, the higher risk for malware attacks or cyberattacks, she said.

To demonstrate, a display featured pieces of foam to look like Swiss cheese. An accompanying piece explained the Swiss cheese model of defense in depth. No amount of security is perfect, Osmers noted. Adding layers makes it harder to attack a server and more likely to prevent an attack or address it immediately. Examples of layers are browser security, web protection, anti-phishing, exploit prevention, malware protection, firewalls and  shutdown/uninstall protection. Raine Morford, cybersecurity program director at EICC, said it takes more time for a business to bring servers back up after a malware or cyberattack. Most businesses take several days to a week. “Anything more is unacceptable.”

Suzette and Matt Sawvell of Wild Woods Taxidermy in Davenport were new to the career fair. Suzette was familiar with the event through John F. Kennedy Catholic School and had been a presenter there previously. The family started the business in 2023 after Matt had dabbled in taxidermy as a hobby. “It was his passion that turned into a business,” Suzette said. Matt showed student how to place glass eyes into an animal form.

Focusing on the example of a deer, Suzette said the first thing a hunter typically does is take the meat to a meat locker for processing and bring the shoulder and head to the taxidermist. The taxidermist removes the outer layer (cape), cleans and preserves it through a tanning process. Antlers and glass eyes are added to the deer form and clay is used to shape the eyelids. The taxidermist sews the cape onto the form and dries it for weeks. Details such as whiskers and the look of a wet nose are added. Conservation offices also use taxidermies to create displays for educational use, Suzette said.

Lourdes student Tate Perkins described the career fair as “very eventful and fun.” He visited the physical therapy and Catholic education vendor spots. All Saints student Liah Mederna said her favorite career spot involved teaching. St. Paul the Apostle student Caleb Cook said the career fair was “a cool way to see what we might want to do in the future.” His favorite spot was law enforcement. “It was fascinating.”