Mr. Weigel

"Follow your passion."  That may be the best career advice that we can give our children.  It may also be the hardest thing for a teenager to do these days.

When I was a kid (yes, it's going to be one of those posts) if we said there was nothing good to watch on T.V., it was because we only had three channels.  Five if the weather was good and you could nudge the dial just right to pick up a Dayton station.  My kids have hundreds of stations, plus a computer, plus video games, and cell phones.  They are bombarded with input; yet, I can pretty much guarantee they will be bored two minutes after summer starts.  When I was a kid everybody started doing something for money by age 12.  You mowed lawns, walked dogs, babysat or delivered the newspaper.  We were crazed to get our driver's license the moment the state said we could.  Now that we are all afraid to allow our children to be more than 5 feet from us without a cell phone and a chaperone, and our kids are so use to being directed and protected in all aspects of their lives, they lack experience.  They don't build forts, mow lawns, babysit, make mud pies, and maybe even eat a few of those mud pies on a double dog dare.  Yet we expect them to choose what career path to follow at 18 when they have almost no experience on which to build their decision.

This year, Max took an engineering class.  I'm pretty sure that everyone in his school wants to be an engineer, a sports manager (which I can't believe is actually a degree) or a doctor.  It must be some rule or something because almost all of them pick those careers.  My dad was an engineer.  My brother is an engineer.  I'm not really totally sure what an engineer does, other than object to spending money and tell corny jokes.  I wasn't so sure Max really knew either.  When he was signing up for classes last year, there were two high school engineering classes offered.  We read the descriptions of both and he chose to take one this year.  He LOVED this class.  It gave him the opportunity to build things like motors and tools.  It turns out THAT is what an engineer does, which is kind of surprising considering how woefully lacking my father and brother are when it comes to home improvement projects.  Max even had the opportunity to weld.  He came home that day and said, "I think I want to be a welder."  It's the first time that Max has expressed a genuine interest in any kind of career.  I looked up the average salary, benefits, job outlook and earned income vs. training expense and decided that was a dandy idea!  He is going to take a class over the summer to see if that field or a related field is something he would truly like to pursue.  It may not be, which is alright.  The important thing is that Max is gaining experience so that he can find the path to a career he enjoys.

Mr. Weigel, thank you for providing Max with an experience that piqued his interest.  Not sure what path he might follow in the long run, but I know your class is helping him find his way.  That is an amazing educational gift.