Career Day at Casa Blanca Community School

April 15, 2016

Christopher Lomahquahu

Gila River Indian News

Casa Blanca Community School invited professionals in the Community to present for Career Day on April 7. Employees from GRIC departments volunteered their time to help Casa Blanca students understand various career paths in the Community.

“Guest speakers visit the classrooms, sharing information about [their] careers, informing the students about the education needed to work in [their] field,” said Kim Franklin, CBCS Gifted and Talented Teacher.

Many of the presenters were Community members as well.

“Seeing Native American professionals can inspire our children to achieve greatness and to give them great role models,” said Jacque Bradley, CBCS Principal.

Chef Jose Michael, a chef at the Gila River Health Care Residential Training Center and a Scottsdale Culinary Institute graduate, performed a cooking demonstration and educated the students about his career.

Presenters from GRIC Department of Transportation, Gila River Public Safety and Animal Control were also on hand to present for the students.

For students interested in agriculture, Ramona Button, owner of Ramona Farms encouraged the students to start small gardens.

For the child that wants to become a firefighter and loves the outdoors, Ashton Lynch from the Bureau of Indian Affair Tribal Nations Response Team based out of Sacaton talked about her job as a wild land firefighter.

The Department of Environmental Quality was also stationed at the school to give a description of their work in the Community.

Afterwards Bradley said the career day was a success and involved more Community departments than previous years.