The STEM career presentation on Wednesday, Oct. 21, was presented by Mrs. Brianna Pagan, an open and informal talk about the opportunities of majoring in environmental science, which allowed for a more close and comfortable environment to discuss in.
This discussion-style, question-and-answer format, guided by career counselors, Clara Ross-Jones and Allison Fujii, engaged attendees to inquire about the day-to-day activities of Pagan as Water Conservation Planner for the City of Long Beach.
Becky Johnson, anthropology major, who attended the talk, likes to keep her options open.
“I was a Chemistry major before, then I realized maybe chemistry isn’t my passion, so by going to this workshop, it’s looking for the different careers out there, different majors,” Johnson said.
The workshop also allowed for a closer, more personal peek into the efforts and time necessary to reach the level of accomplishment that Pagan had arrived at.
Pagan, holding a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and a master’s degree in civil engineering, was insightful about her career and its responsibilities.
“I think it’s almost like two different languages [environmental science and civil engineering]. Environmental science, a policy maker and an engineer, they have their own views to the real world, and I feel my job is to translate these three different languages,” Pagan commented.
She continued, “And I think environmental science is actually a lot of that, is how to get different fields talking about these really complex problems (climate change)… so biologists, chemists, engineers, we all have to work together, they need someone in the middle to translate.”
The water conservation planner encouraged students to seek work experience alongside with an education, in order to distinguish themselves from the mass of identical applicants only having classroom instruction.
Jones said, “[…]We think it’s been very beneficial for students. They’ve come back in our offices and told us that they’ve connected with the speaker, or it was great to hear the speaker talk about the ups and downs of the career choice… so it adds to that personal perspective.”
Adding to that, Jones expressed enthusiasm for the series of workshops.
“So Allison and had an engineering, a biochem and a geology sequence, and so we’re doing an environmental science and an aerospace engineering [coming next],
She added that they’ve been planning for the spring, and will be doing things around Math and computer science.
